• Myles Garrett remains the top edge rusher: The reigning Defensive Player of the Year earned a league-best 94.7 pass-rush grade, and his 27.3% pass-rush win rate was one of the highest marks in PFF history.
• Aidan Hutchinson is coming for the elite tier: Slotting in at No. 6 on this list, Hutchinson racked up 101 quarterback pressures in the regular season, ranking second only to Micah Parsons.
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Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
Our positional rankings roll on with edge defenders. The league is ripe with some incredibly talented players at the top, and here is how they stack up.
Garrett was nothing short of sensational in 2023, with a league-best 94.7 pass-rush grade. What else is new? His 27.3% pass-rush win rate was one of the highest marks in PFF history.
It was the fifth straight season that Garrett recorded an elite pass-rush grade.
Garrett was the top dog in pass rushing for 2023, but Parsons was right on his heels with a 93.7 pass-rush grade and a 24.2% pass-rush win rate. 2023 was the third straight season of Parsons earning an elite pass-rush grade. He has been consistently unblockable since coming to the NFL.
Bosa was close to Garrett and Parsons in pass-rush grade in 2023 (92.3), and his 21.8% pass-rush win rate ranked fourth in the league — behind Garrett, Parsons and Bryce Huff. Bosa is a consistently dominant force every year.
Watt led the NFL in sacks in 2023 (19) and placed fourth in pass-rush grade (91.7). Watt’s 16.2% pass-rush win rate is what puts him fourth on this list, but he’s still in Tier 1 for his consistent one-on-one success.
Crosby is often the first name mentioned outside of “The Big 4” above, but it really should be viewed as a “Big 5,” given how impactful Crosby has been for years. 2023 was his third straight year of earning an elite overall grade, and it was his first elite run-defense grade while maintaining a pass-rush win rate above 15.0% and notching 94 quarterback pressures.
Hutchinson ascended to an elite level in his second season, earning a 91.4 pass-rush grade. His 101 quarterback pressures in the regular season ranked second only to Micah Parsons. His pass-rush win rate also leaped from 12.2% in 2022 to 21.3% in 2023.
Just when Mack is supposed to be slowing down, he recorded his highest run-defense (90.8) and pass-rush (86.3) grades since he was a Chicago Bear in 2020. At 32 years old, he was back to his elite ways in 2023.
Many eyes were on Allen to see how he would follow up his six-sack season in 2022 ahead of a contract year. It couldn’t have worked out better for him, as he recorded a career-high 16.5 sacks and a 20.3% pass-rush win rate. It was the best version of Allen we’ve seen yet, and he was also a solid run defender for the third straight year.
Hendrickson earned an 84.1 overall grade and a 90.7 pass-rush grade in 2023. His consistency feels quite underrated. The only players with more sacks than him over the past four years are T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett.
Phillips wasn’t repeating his elite 90.1 pass-rush grade from 2022 in 2023, even before his Achilles injury, but we know he still has that potential. Though his pass-rush numbers were down, he earned the highest run-defense grade of his career last season (77.4).
Gary’s overall grade has gone down in each of the past three seasons, from 89.8 in 2021 to 84.4 to 80.9. His pass-rush grades and win rate have steadily dropped, as well, but they aren’t poor marks.
Gary is one of the most explosive edge rushers in the league, and a bounce-back year could easily vault him into the top 10 of this list.
While Lawrence hasn’t always been as flashy a pass rusher as other top-tier edge defenders, 2023 was his second time in the past three seasons of grading as an elite run defender. Throw in the fact that he has recorded a single-season pass-rush grade below 78.0 only once in the past seven years, and you have one of the more underrated defenders in the league.
Bosa has slowed due to age and injury, but he is still a very solid edge defender. He hasn’t played as much or as well as we’re used to, but 2023 was his second straight season with a pass-rush grade above 80.0 and a run-defense grade above 70.0. Even if he doesn’t get back to elite Bosa status, he is still a reliable, all-around three-down edge player.
Huff has been on an absolute tear as a pass rusher over the past two seasons, recording pass-rush grades of 88.0 and 86.8 with pass-rush win rates of 25.6% and 22.9%. His run-defense grades remain poor, but he is very impactful as a pass-rush specialist.
Chubb recorded career highs in run-defense grade (71.1), pass-rush grade (84.9) and even coverage grade (88.5) on his way to an 89.5 overall grade in 2023 before tearing his ACL. We’ll see how quickly he can get back to form, but the latest version of him was his best yet.
Hunter quietly recorded double-digit sacks in each of the past two seasons with nearly identical 80.1 and 79.1 pass-rush grades and 85 and 84 pressure totals, respectively.
With Hunter now in Houston, we’ll see if he can continue to perform at a high level opposite Will Anderson Jr.
You can’t just use the Myles Garrett effect as a way to brush off Smith’s 85.3 overall grade and 86.6 pass-rush grade in 2023, as he had nearly identical numbers the previous season in Minnesota, as well. The 31-year-old has posted back-to-back seasons with a pass-rush win rate above 18.0% after going through back surgery in 2021 missing all but one game that season.
Reddick is third on the NFL sack list over the past two seasons (27.5). The pass-rush specialist moved from Philadelphia to New York this offseason, and we’ll see if he can keep up his effective pass-rush ways.
T.J. Watt isn’t the only edge rusher of note on the Steelers’ defensive line. Highsmith earned an elite 90.2 overall grade in 2023 with an 85.9 pass-rush grade. His 18.1% pass-rush win rate and 69 total pressures were both career highs, and he has 21.5 sacks over the past two years.
Anderson was very solid in his rookie campaign. He recorded a 77.4 run-defense grade and a 76.6 pass-rush grade while racking up 68 quarterback pressures and posting a 16.4% pass-rush win rate. Another step forward in either category could get him into the top 15 or maybe even the top 10 of this list for 2025.
Burns has yet to take that true next step into a near-elite category like his talent suggests he can, but 2023 marked the second-best pass-rush grade of his career (75.2) and the highest run-defense grade of his career (62.7). Perhaps the key to unlocking his true talents was moving from Carolina to New York this offseason.
Sweat is coming off two very solid seasons, combining for 20.5 sacks across two teams. His average pass-rush win rate during that time is still below 15.0%, but he was a much-needed boost to the Bears’ defensive line and should continue to be so.
Even at ages 34 and 35, Brandon Graham was still getting it done. He recorded a 90.1 overall grade in 2022 and an 84.0 mark in 2023. His run-defense grades remain steady, and his pass-rush win percentages of 20.2% and 19.8% in each of the past two seasons were two of the higher marks of his 14-year career.
Van Ginkel had a career year in almost every category in 2023, earning a 91.2 overall grade with a 90.6 pass-rush grade. His 53 quarterback pressures and 18.1% pass-rush win rate were both by far the best marks of his career. We’ll see if he can continue that impactful play with the Minnesota Vikings.
Rousseau enjoyed his most successful season across the board, with career-high grades in run defense (79.6) and overall (87.2) this past year. He is still looking to take the next step as a pass-rusher, as he has yet to eclipse double-digit sacks and recorded a 15.5% win rate in 2023.
Judon missed most of the 2023 season with a biceps injury but still managed to record an overall grade above 70.0. However, his 61.4 pass-rush grade was his lowest since 2017, as was his 8.5% pass-rush win rate. He’s a smart, reliable veteran, but the 31-year-old’s ceiling may be declining.
At 30 years old, Clowney posted the third-best overall grade of his career in 2023 (83.8). He has always been a stout run defender, but this past year produced his highest pass-rush grade in the NFL (79.0). His 16.5% pass-rush win rate and 85 quarterback pressures were also the most in a single season. He’ll look to bring that high-floor edge play to Carolina in 2024.
Granderson put together the best two seasons of his career in 2022 and 2023, with overall grades of 80.5 and 74.0, respectively. His run defense has been his calling card, highlighted by grades above 70.0 in each of the past two years. His 62 quarterback pressures in 2023 were by far the most in any single season in his NFL career.
Thibodeaux’s grades took a step back across the board from 2022 to 2023. And although he recorded 11.5 sacks, his pass-rush win rate dropped from 9.5% in 2022 to 6.4% in 2023, and he produced only three more pressures despite playing 111 more pass-rush snaps.
Thibodeaux is still a very talented player, but he needs a bounce-back 2024 season.
Greenard enjoyed his best season as a pro in 2023, with a 78.2 overall grade thanks to a 73.2 pass-rush grade. He finished the year with 12.5 sacks and a 12.8% pass-rush win rate. He’ll now look to build on that as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
Sweat didn’t have as strong a 2023 season as in 2022, but his 72.1 pass-rush grade last year was still respectable and his 14.4% pass-rush win rate was a career high. His 53.1 run-defense grade was a career low, though, and so he needs to bounce back to climb this list.
Davenport missed most of 2023 due to an ankle injury but even before then was having the worst year of his career grades-wise. He’s in a new spot now, moving from Minnesota to Detroit in the offseason, and had four steady years in New Orleans before 2023. The hope is he can return to that form with the Lions.
