Edge defenders aren’t just edge-rushers. That’s a big part of what they do, of course, but there’s a lot more to being a transcendent player off the edge than just pinning one’s ears back and attacking offensive tackles. You have to have a comprehensive array of pass-rush moves, you must combine power and speed together in a package that’s difficult to block, and you must be able to define your rush path early in the rep.
In last week’s episode of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” we set out to build the perfect defensive line, and Greg talked about the attributes required for the best edge guys in the league at any given time.
“One thing I’ve learned, not only from watching tape but also from talking to coaches, is that to be a good edge-rusher, you have to be able to control the high side,” Greg said. “If you cannot win off the edge, it’s very hard to be a quality pass-rusher. Because winning off the edge and being able to threaten and challenge off the edge, forces offensive tackles more often than not to break down their technique. They do not want to get beaten off the edge, and if you get them to break down their technique, then you can work with your moves and your counters. Then you can work back inside.
“And you see this with a lot of guys — they’ll take two or three steps to the edge, and they get the offensive tackle to do what we call an ‘over-set. They’re so conscious of not being beaten off the edge, because that’s a quick path to the quarterback, that they turn their bodies to the sideline, and that opens them up to the inside quick counter.”
More than that, the 11 players in this year’s list of the best edge defenders had to meet these criteria:
- How often can you get to the quarterback without help — from teammates on the line, blitzes and overload fronts, and from stunts and games? High-quality solo pressures and sacks mean a ton; if you’re more a product of scheme and design and those around you, that’s fine, but not quite what we’re looking for here.
- Gap versatility will serve you well on this list. If you can rush the passer from multiple gaps, you’re more indispensable to your defense.
- Defending the run is important, but this is mostly about how you get to the quarterback over and over.
- Sacks aren’t necessarily weighted more than quarterback hits or hurries; it’s all about how you got into the backfield.
Without further ado, let’s get into this year’s list of the NFL’s 11 best edge defenders. Also, you can read our other 2023 positional lists as we move ever closer to the top 101 players in the NFL today in late July.
The NFL’s top 11 linebackers
The NFL’s top 11 slot defenders
The NFL’s top 11 cornerbacks
The NFL’s top 11 safeties
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise indicated).
11. Josh Allen, Jacksonville Jaguars
“The other” Josh Allen was selected by the Jaguars with the seventh overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Kentucky, and he’s been a productive pass-rusher through his NFL career as long as he’s been on the field. Allen made the Pro Bowl in his rookie year with 12 sacks and 49 total pressures, but there’s little doubt that 2022 marked his best season to date, though his sack totals have never quite met that 2019 mark. Last season, Allen had seven sacks, 21 quarterback hits, 49 quarterback hurries, and 37 stops — everything but the sacks represented a career high. Starting every game for the first time in a season certainly helped. It also helped that Allen had 2022 first-round pick Travon Walker on the other side of the line for a bunch of snaps, but Allen did enough on his own to get himself on this list pretty easily.
On this sack of Dak Prescott in Week 15, Allen simply bulled future Hall of Famer Jason Peters right into his quarterback.
Allen can also work speed-to-power, as he did on this sack of Philly’s Jalen Hurts against left tackle Jack Driscoll in Week 4.
Enemy blockers had best be ready for Allen’s inside counter and gap-jumping abilities; we imagine that Titans right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere had more of an awareness of it after this Week 14 sack of Ryan Tannehill.
10. Jaelan Phillips, Miami Dolphins
Phillips’ two NFL seasons are a pretty good indicator that sacks are far from the only barometer for any edge-rusher. Selected by the Dolphins with the 18th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Miami, Phillips had 10 sacks in both 2021 and 2022. But as he became a more well-rounded pass disruptor, his quarterback hits shot up from seven to 19, and his quarterback hurries blew up from 22 to 48. He also had 16 stops in his rookie year, and 42 last season.
Two of Phillips’ 10 sacks last season came from 3-tech looks, and opposing guards didn’t seem to enjoy dealing with him. In Week 4 against the Bengals, left guard Corsell Volson had a whale of a time against Phillips’ moves to the pocket, leaving him (literally) holding on for dear life.
Phillips has developed a great knack for separating from blockers with his hands, and that happened last season to Josh Allen’s particular dismay, as two of Phillips’ sacks from the outside came as a result of Buffalo’s blockers having no real answer for that. Add in Phillips’ speed to and through the pocket, and it’s a spicy meatball.
No discussion of Phillips’ attributes would be complete without discussing his killer spin move, which can foil blockers from just about any gap.
9. Matthew Judon, New England Patriots
Judon was selected by the Ravens in the fifth round of the 2016 draft out of Grand Valley State, and through his first five seasons in Baltimore, he was a highly effective, if nationally anonymous, multi-position pass-rusher. Then, Judon signed a four year, $54.5 million contract with $32 million with the Patriots before the 2021 season, and everything changed. Bill Belichick and his staff decided that Judon would be better as a (nearly) full-time edge guy, and Judon has wreaked utter hell on enemy quarterbacks ever since. Last season, Judon had 17 sacks, 34 quarterback hits, 38 quarterback hurries, and 35 stops.
The Patriots can run all kinds of creepers and fake rushes against opposing offenses in part because Judon wins so often from the edge. That was quite evident on this sack of Joe Burrow in Week 16, when he took Bengals left tackle Jonah Williams to a bad place with the old-school stack-and-shed.
Judon was absolutely unstoppable in Week 9 against the Colts with three sacks and five total pressures, and on this sack, he went straight through the entire right side of Indy’s offensive line with some serious lateral speed and gap awareness.
He was equally ridiculous in Week 7 against the Bears, with three sacks and six total pressures. On Judon’t first two sacks of Justin Fields, he simply waited for Fields to break the pocket, and forced the losses from there. On the third sack, Judon just decided to level right tackle Larry Borom with the inside counter.
8. Brian Burns, Carolina Panthers
The Panthers were a heavy blitz team in the 2022 season, sending extra rushers on 31% of their snaps, which ranked sixth in the NFL. That shouldn’t at all diminish what Burns did last season. The 16th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Florida State had a career-defining season in 2022, racking up 13 sacks, 11 quarterback hits, 44 quarterback hurries, and 32 stops. With blitz-heavy teams, you want to look at sacks with four or fewer rushers, and Burns had five of those last season. This sack/forced turnover against the Broncos and right tackle Cameron Fleming in Week 12 showed how Burns can just wear a blocker out in space.
This was a Burns pressure against the Buccaneers in Week 17, and it showed him where you don’t often see him — as a stand-up player inside the tackles. Here, Burns looped around right end Yetur Gross-Matos, and very nearly came down with Tom Brady as the prize. Burns played just 2% of his snaps inside the tackles last season, but he had three pressures in just 22 total plays. This was also a four-man rush.
And if you’re going to pull against Burns, you’d better get to your spot in a big hurry, because Burns has the speed to get to the quarterback before you can square around to protect him. Lions right guard Evan Brown experienced this negative phenomenon in Week 16, and Jared Goff really didn’t like the result.
7. Haason Reddick, Philadelphia Eagles
The Cardinals selected Reddick out of Temple with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 draft, spent the first three seasons of his NFL Career trying to turn him into an off-ball linebacker, and then figured out in 2020 that Reddick could actually be a pretty decent edge-rusher. Progress! Problem was, that marked Reddick’s contract year, and after a 2021 season with the Panthers in which he was probably the NFL’s most underrated pass-rusher, Reddick signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Eagles that included $30 million guaranteed.
Reddick made sure that this contract was yet another one of Howie Roseman’s “How did he get away with that?” moves by leading the league in sacks with 21, and only Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons had more total pressures than Reddick’s 87. Of course, that included a full playoff run, and a Super Bowl appearance that might not have happened were it not for Reddick’s efforts.
The 2022 Eagles didn’t blitz a lot — 25% of their snaps, which ranked 14th in the league, but they did play a lot of five-man base fronts, which gave their edge-rushers certain advantages. So, let’s look at a couple of Reddick’s 11 sacks with four down linemen, just to keep things even. Here, against Giants right tackle Evan Neal in Week 14, Reddick gave the first-round rookie a couple of ju-jitsu moves, and that was it for Daniel Jones.
And on this sack of Ryan Tannehill in Week 13, Reddick initially engaged left tackle Dennis Daley before jumping two gaps to get to the quarterback. That kind of lateral speed is just tough to deal with.
Reddick’s pull/slide move is also a thing of beauty, and kind of unexpected for a 6-foot-1, 240-pound man. Former Jaguars (and current Chiefs) right tackle Jawaan Taylor could attest to that fact.
6. Danielle Hunter, Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings managed to steal Hunter in the third round of the 2015 draft, because work on the LSU alum was that he had all the athletic gifts in the world, but that his pass-rush plan wasn’t so much a plan at that point. By his second NFL season, Hunter had proven the doubters wrong with a 13-sack, 54-pressure season, and he’s been great ever since when healthy. That’s been an issue of late — Hunter missed the entire 2020 season with a neck injury, and a torn pectoral muscle limited him to just seven games in 2021.
But last season, a fully recovered Hunter blew up just about every enemy offense he faced with 13 sacks, 12 quarterback hits, 51 quarterback hurries, and 43 stops. This was especially impressive as Hunter and his teammates were operating in a defense coordinated by Ed Donatell that didn’t do anybody any favors from a schematic perspective. Vanilla would have been a flavor upgrade. One wonders what things will look like for Hunter with new DC Brian “Zero Blitz on Every Down” Flores in the fold.
Whether there were extra defenders at the line of scrimmage or not (more often not; the Vikings blitzed on 21& of their snaps, which ranked 19th in the NFL), Hunter has a frighteningly complete array of skills to bring down quarterbacks. Here against the Giants in Week 16, Hunter was working left tackle Andrew Thomas on a four-man rush that started with a blitz look, and Hunter simply drove Thomas right into Daniel Jones’ general vicinity.
If you want speed to power around the arc, Hunter can make that happen all day. He did just that against the Colts in Week 15.
Commanders offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas allowed four sacks in 356 pass-blocking snaps last season; Hunter was responsible for two of them in Week 9, as he simply couldn’t deal with Hunter’s speed around the edge. Over the years, Hunter has learned all the subtleties to match perfectly with the gifts he was given.
5. T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
Watt was the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year, and he ranked first overall in our 2022 list of edge-defenders. Unfortunately, injuries robbed him of seven games last season, but he still racked up seven sacks, four quarterback hits, 20 quarterback hurries, and 25 stops, and he looked very much his old self by the end of last year’s campaign.
Watt’s speed rush around the edge has always been a force multiplier, and that was again the case on this sack of Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley in Week 17. Right tackle Morgan Moses couldn’t even square himself to Watt by the time Watt was around him. You’d better be attacking Watt from a shallow depth if you’re going to catch him that way.
Watt can also okey-doke tackles with quick speed counters, and he did that to Taylor Moton of the Panthers in Week 15. Watt gave Moton a little kick to the inside to force the set, and then swiped Moton out of the way to get to Sam Darnold.
Throwing two blockers at Watt, as the Browns did in this Week 18 pressure of Deshaun Watson, doesn’t generally have much of an effect, either. If a healthy T.J. Watt is at the top of next year’s list of edge defenders, it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
4. Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas Raiders
2019 was the year in which the Raiders had three first-round picks — Clelin Ferrell, Josh Jacobs, and Johnathan Abram — and famously refused to pick up any of their fifth-year options. (Though they should have done that with Jacobs). In any event, that draft got a lot better in the fourth round for then-general manager Mike Mayock when the team took Maxx Crosby out of Eastern Michigan with the 105th overall pick. Only T.J. Watt, Aaron Donald, ad Nick Bosa have more pressures than Crosby’s 152 since then. Last season, Crosby totaled 15 sacks, 22 quarterback hits, and 44 quarterback hurries, with 57 stops along the way.
Whenever you talk about Crosby as a pass-rusher, you have to start with what’s probably the best spin move in the NFL. In Week 11, Broncos right tackle Cameron Fleming fell victim to that move, and Russell Wilson was done for that particular play.
Crosby isn’t just about speed and juice to the quarterback, though — at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, he can bring an impressive amount of speed-to-power to the field. Against the Seahawks in Week 12, rookie right tackle Abe Lucas got a real “Welcome to the NFL” moment with this pure bull rush.
Crosby can also nuke an opposing tackle with a punch that will rock that blocker back a yard or two — Andre Wylie of the Chiefs got a major dose of that on this Patrick Mahomes sack in Week 5.
3. Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys
The alleged big story about Micah Parsons becoming more of a pure edge-rusher and less of a linebacker in 2023 may not be such a big story at all. In the 2022 season, Parsons lined up somewhere on the defensive line on 90% of his snaps — this appears to be more of a thing where Parsons is looking to put on a bit of weight to make his power as a pass disruptor even more of a problem for opposing offenses.
Kind of a terrifying thought. Last season, Parsons totaled 15 sacks, 17 quarterback hits, 74 quarterback hurries, and 42 stops in a season that sent most of Dallas’ opponents back to the drawing board. No defensive player had more total pressures last season than Parsons’ 106. The 2021 Defensive Rookie of the Year in a landslide, Parsons wasn’t really a full-time edge-rusher at Penn State, but took to the idea like the proverbial duck to water. Wherever he is on the field, he’s a wrecking machine.
Not only is Parsons an athletic marvel, he’s also got a scary array of moves to foil tackles and guards who have to deal with him. This counter/spin against Buccaneers right tackle Tristian Wirfs in the wild card round seems impossible to defend.
Parsons also has the speed and agility to work inside moves to the outside, rolling the depth of the arc to the quarterback. He did just that against Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas in Week 12.
Parsons can also win inside the tackles, both from linebacker depth and in the interior offensive line. Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who has always been evil with his pass-rushing plans, seemed to enjoy this specific idea, where Parsons would line up right behind the nose tackle, and shoot the gap for the quarterback pressure. Both Aaron Rodgers (in Week 10) and Gardner Minshew (in Week 16) discovered that this was not great for their passing games.
2. Nick Bosa, San Francisco 49ers
As we have already said in this particular listicle, the ability to create pressure with just four down linemen (or fewer) is crucial if you want to be one of the best quarterback disruptors in the business. We’re mentioning this here because in the 2022 season, with three or four players on the line of scrimmage, Nick Bosa led the NFL with 13 of his 19 total sacks. A large percentage of his league-high 31 quarterback hits, and his 48 quarterback hurries, also came without any kind of schematic help. Basically, you can line Bosa up on the edge and expect him to dominate.
When discussing Bosa’s traits, we have to begin with the best bull-rush you’ll see from any edge defender. Bosa often shoots out of a low stance and just demolishes opposing tackles by getting under their pads and working them wherever he wants them to go. Cardinals left tackle Josh Jones got the full brut of that in Week 18, as Bosa bulldozed him right into quarterback David Blough.
Bosa’s three-sack game against the Dolphins in Week 13 was a nightmare for both left tackle Greg Little and right tackle Brandon Shell — but it was no picnic either for center Connor Williams, either. Why? Because on this sack of Tua Tagovailoa, Bosa jumped three gaps to get to the outside of Williams, who was already occupied by Arik Armstead. This came from one of the 49ers’ overload fronts, something they used to terrorize opposing offenses quite a bit in 2022 — and they work a lot better when you have a 6-foot-4, 266-pound edge-rusher with terrific lateral quickness.
Bosa’s speed works in a straight line, and around the arc, as well. When you combine that with his hand-fighting abilities, it all makes for a terrible time for enemy tackles. Commanders left tackle Charles Leno Jr. got zapped by that combination in this Week 16 sack of Taylor Heinicke.
1. Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
In 2022, Garrett had 18 sacks, eight quarterback hits, 47 quarterback hurries, and 39 stops. He did that for a defense in which he was responsible for 48.7% of the team’s 37 sacks, 34.8% of the team’s 23 quarterback hits, and 40% of the team’s 118 quarterback hurries.
Not the ratio you want, but Garrett was able to transcend the lack of help around him. That’s likely to change with new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and a new array of talent along the line, making Garrett’s opportunities all the more interesting.
Garrett also had 12 sacks with just three or four linemen rushing, which is a primary reason he’s at the top of this year’s list — it could easily be argued that he did more with less in 2022 than anybody else at his position.
Perhaps Garrett’s most freakish attribute for his size (6-foot-4, 272 pounds) is his bend around the edge. Coaches call it “motorcycle lean,” and it’s expected of players 30 pounds lighter than Garrett. Nonetheless, as he showed on this sack of Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett in Week 18, Garrett can get low and underneath a blocker’s efforts to either shoulder. His outside bend around the arc is particularly tough to defend.
Adding to Garrett’s mythical athleticism is his knack for shooting and getting skinny through gaps. Again, not something you’d expect of a guy his size, and here, he’s doing it against Commanders center Wes Schweitzer from a stand-up nose shade look. Carson Wentz was not available for comment.
Another issue you face with Garrett is that he’s got a full palette of moves at his disposal. Here against the Bills in Week 11, he started left tackle Dion Dawkins on one path with a fake Von Miller-style long-arm move, and then worked Dawkins right out of the rep with a vicious spin move.
It’s always a contested battle to the top of the list of the NFL’s best edge defenders, but that’s why Garrett maxed out our list this year.
Honorable mentions
Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions
Von Miller, Buffalo Bills
Denico Autry, Tennessee Titans
Za’Darius Smith, Cleveland Browns
Brandon Graham, Philadelphia Eagles
Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals
Khalil Mack, Los Angeles Chargers
Montez Sweat, Washington Commanders
Jerry Hughes, Houston Texans
