Pressure makes diamonds, who are the top 10 pass rushers in the NFL?

The NFL's hierarchy is easily explained when you look at the pay structure, at the top are quarterbacks with record-breaking contracts being broken seemingly every week. Behind them sit pass-rushers, whose jobs revolve around them stopping opposing QBs in their tracks, but who are the best in the business?

Reddick was part of a Super Bowl team a year ago and is coming off four double-digit sack seasons in a row, per Pro Football Reference, yet he remains underrated. His quick first step and closing speed make him nearly impossible to stop for opposing tackles when he’s on form.

Hutchinson is on track to be much closer to the top of this list, in fact, Pro Football Focus ranks him at six. For us, he needs another season or two of consistent play to put him among the elite, but there is no denying his talent.

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Hendrickson put up monster numbers in 2023, racking up 17.5 sacks for the Bengals. As Dakota Randall writes for Pro Football Network, “He also ranked 10th in pass-rush win rate while facing the ninth-highest double-team percentage.”

Allen tied Hendrickson for second in the sack title in 2023, also getting to the QB 17.5 times. On a Jags defense that wasn’t always consistent, you can always rely on Allen to make the opposing QB’s life difficult.

It looked like Mack’s career was nearing its end in 2022 with the veteran putting up just eight sacks. That only makes his rebound in 2023 better, where he finished half a sack off the leads with 17. PFF also recorded him having his best run-defense year since 2020, what a return to form.

Crosby is almost in a tier of his own at number five, slightly below the level of the top guys, but better than the chasing pack. The Las Vegas Raider was described recently by Fox Sports as, a “dominant force coming off the edge,” and you won’t see us disagreeing.

Putting the current sack leader at fourth in our rankings seems crazy, but we just weren’t sure what else to do. Watt is a phenom, taking the QB down 96.5 times in just seven seasons (including missing a good chuck of 2022), per ESPN. If you want to argue with one, we get it.

Bosa’s stat sheet isn’t quite as impressive as others on this list, claiming just 10.5 sacks last season, but, according to PFF, his pass-rush win rate of 21.8% is ranked fourth in the league, behind the two players ahead of him in our list, and Bryce Huff who hasn’t had many starting opportunities yet. Bosa is a game-wrecker and has been since entering the league.

Since 2018, Garrett hasn’t had fewer than 10 sacks in a season. Let that sink in for a second because it is truly ridiculous. His PFF pass-rush win rate was 27.3%, which by no means the be-all and end-all, but combined with the eye test and other statistics puts him amongst the best to ever do it.

With 40.5 stats through three seasons in the NFL, some of which he has spent playing as an off-ball linebacker, Parsons is a remarkable player. Dakota Randall for PFN sums it up well, “Parsons is the best edge defender in the NFL and might be the best defensive player in the game.” Couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

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