EDGE DEFENDERS
By Joey Esquire
This is by far the toughest position group to pigeonhole into a 1-4 ranking. All four teams in the division have some things they do well, but some glaring weaknesses heading into 2017. The gap between the top three teams is razor thin, and frankly one of them outperforming the others wouldn’t surprise me at all in 2017. If I could have, I would have had three teams tied for first, with the Cowboys in a distant fourth. But, here goes.
1. Washington Redskins
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. New York Giants
4. Dallas Cowboys
4. DALLAS COWBOYS
2017 Depth Chart: Demarcus Lawrence, Taco Charlton, (David Irving), Benson Mayowa, Charles Tapper, Damontre Moore
2016 Stats:
As I noted when ranking the Cowboys interior defensive line, Rod Marinelli likes to move his guys around. I have David Irving and Demarcus Lawrence listed as DEs, but both will line up inside at times. Tyrone Crawford and Maliek Collins will also line up on the edges. Alas, no matter where this group lined up, they weren’t very good in 2016 and don’t project to improve all that much in 2017.
There are perhaps some silver linings for this group. Lawrence is one season removed from an 8.0 sack year in which he showed some promise, but was wholly ineffective in 2017. Irving looked great at times late in the season in 2016, but will miss the first four games in 2017 and will have to prove he can produce when not on the juice. Benson Mayowa is a high-effort guy who racked up 6.0 sacks, but he’s not a guy who consistently beats opposing tackles. Even with some flashes, this group just couldn’t apply consistent pressure on opposing QBs, and would disappear entirely for weeks at a time.
The Cowboys did do a decent job defending runs to the offense’s left side, but really struggled defending runs to the offense’s right, ranking 10th in runs behind the tackle and 27th defending runs to the right end.
The Cowboys were so desperate for pass rush help that, by their own admission, they bypassed a higher rated player in the draft (likely Kevin King) to draft Taco Charlton. I liked Taco Charlton a lot as a prospect and I think down the road he can be a really good all-around DE for the Cowboys down the road, but it’s tough to ask a rookie to have a major impact on a sub-par unit in year 1. Expect this unit to continue to struggle in 2017.
3. NEW YORK GIANTS
2017 Depth Chart: Olivier Vernon, Jason Pierre-Paul, Romeo Okwara, Kerry Wynn, Avery Moss, Devin Taylor
2016 Stats:
This is where the ranking gets difficult. The Giants might have the best starting edge duo in the division in Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon (they combined for 15.5 sacks last season despite JPP playing only 12 games). I have them third because they don’t defend the run particularly well, lack consistency in the pass rush, and have a ridiculous lack of depth.
The numbers from 2016 I think are a little more favorable to Vernon and JPP than the film. Vernon’s 8.5 sacks are an impressive total, but per Matt Harmon of NFL.com he had more pass rush attempts than any other player in the NFL. JPP’s 7.0 sacks in 12 games is also an impressive looking number, but he was on pace for even more attempts than Vernon before getting hurt, and 5.5 of those sacks came in just two games. The flashes are there for this group, but for a team facing the fourth-most passing attempts against with a blitz-happy DC, frankly you would expect the numbers to be higher than they are.
As good as the Giants run defense was as a whole, they were actually pretty poor defending runs to the outside. They ranked 9th and 18th in the NFL defending runs to the offense’s left end/left tackle, and 17th and 18th on the right side.
As good as JPP and Vernon can be at times, the total lack of depth in this unit puts the Giants in a precarious position Vernon played 94% of snaps last season. Before getting hurt, JPP was actually playing a higher rate than Vernon. That kind of usage for DEs is insane, and really highlights the dropoff when either of those two guys came off the field. And they didn’t really do much to supplement that depth heading into 2017 either. Devin Taylor brings some experience to the group and should be able to rotate in and spell JPP and Vernon, so that should help. The Giants drafted Avery Moss in the 5th round, who was thrown out of the University of Nebraska for exposing himself twice to a campus worker in a residence hall. Do you know how ridiculous you have to be to get kicked out of Nebraska? Lawrence Phillips couldn’t get kicked out of Nebraska.
2. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
2017 Depth Chart: Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Vinny Curry, Chris Long, Steven Means
2016 Stats:
The Eagles are another difficult group to rank. The Eagles were one of the most consistent pass rushing teams in the NFL in 2016, despite a relative lack of sacks. This was a pass rush capable of taking over games against good offenses like Pittsburgh and Atlanta, and even with only 5.5 sacks, Brandon Graham was the best pass rusher in the division last season. The Eagles are ranked second because, much like 2016, it’s not clear who, other than Graham, the Eagles will be able to rely on for consistent edge pressure.
There are a lot of important changes on this unit. Connor Barwin and Marcus Smith are out, Chris Long and Derek Barnett are in. Both figure to be improvements, but one guy is probably too old and the other is probably too young to really count on. The biggest question mark on this line is Vinny Curry. I thought last year that Curry would really excel in Jim Schwartz’s defense; he has a great first step and has always done much better when he could focus on attacking the quarterback, but he was a huge disappointment in 2016. He says he battled injuries throughout 2016, so if he can rebound and put together a strong 2017, this unit will be much improved, but I’m not hopeful.
One thing you worry about with a Jim Schwartz defense is defending the run to the edges, but the Eagles were exceptional in that regard. The ends on both sides did a great job of setting the edge and funneling the runs back inside to keep them bottled up. Alas, the Eagles were vulnerable to the big run play when the defense got caught too far upfield, leaving the second-level exposed.
Summary, take this ranking with a grain of salt. I think the Eagles have the best pass rush in the division, and frankly I don’t think it’s all that close, but they desperately need a second edge rusher to complement Brandon Graham. They hope Derek Barnett can be that guy or Vinny Curry can find his game, but that is a lot to hope for.
1. WASHINGTON REDSKINS
2017 Depth Chart: Ryan Kerrigan, Preston Smith, (Trent Murphy), Ryan Anderson, Junior Galette
2016 Stats:
If you look at most of the 2016 stats for the Redskins defense, you wouldn’t think they should project as the best group of edge defenders in the NFL. Their pass rush was inconsistent, their run defense on the edges was abysmal, and they gave up third-and-long plays at a ridiculous rate. But on film, the ability on the edges shows up, it’s the rest of the defense (literally, all of it, except perhaps Josh Norman) that made this group look worse than it was.
Ryan Kerrigan has been one of the most consistent defenders in the NFL for years, and you can probably pencil him in for double-digit sacks yet again. Preston Smith is a guy I think will rebound and get his sack totals back up in 2017; he was frequently around the quarterback but not always registering a sack. Trent Murphy is the guy whose numbers really make him look better than he was in 2016. Of his 9 sacks, fewer than half were the result of him actually beating the blocker he was lined up against. He reminds me of Connor Barwin or Benson Mayowa; never quits on a play and can chase down QBs who are escaping pressure provided by another front-seven player, but he’s not usually the one generating that pressure.
On the downside, the Redskins defense was a liability against the run in any direction, and the edges were no exception. 27th in the NFL defending runs to the left end; 22nd defending runs behind the left tackle; 21st versus runs behind the right tackle; and 25th versus runs to the right end. That’s just awful. I’m not ranking teams by pass rush per se, and if I were the Redskins would be lower on this list. A deeper dive into their sack totals shows a whole lot of sacks that just weren’t impact plays and the offense converted the series anyway. They also gave up a league worst 47% conversion rate on third-downs, and an astonishingly bad 33% conversion rate on third and 10+. But as I mentioned, what pass rush this team did generate was due almost exclusively to very good play from Kerrigan and Smith, which is why I have them ranked first.
Heading into 2017, the Redskins will lose Trent Murphy for four games, and he’ll have to prove when he gets back that he can still perform while (presumably) off the juice. The biggest addition to this unit is Ryan Anderson, whom I really like as a prospect but I don’t like him as a player to consistently line up across from tackles and win that matchup, so we’ll see how the Redskins plan to use him. Greg Manusky loves to blitz the A-Gaps, and I think that is a role for which Anderson would be very well suited.
Up Next: Dallas Sux
