Peshek: Edge Rushers

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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[h=1]Peshek: Edge Rushers 1.0[/h]Thursday, April 17, 2014




Pass rushers are a group that can easily plague an evaluator with small sample sizes. Watching four games of film on a pass rusher could show a player who constantly harasses the QB or never even comes close to accruing a hurry. Examining how a player pressures the QB on a per snap basis can alleviate some of that sample size pressure, giving true insight into a player’s consistency in getting after the QB. For the first group (this grouping has nothing to do with talent or perceived ranking), I’ve chosen to examineJadeveon Clowney, Kareem Martin, James Gayle, Demarcus Lawrence and Anthony Barr.

Putting together pass rush efficiency required me to go through and chart every snap where the players rushed the QB. Some sack totals may not line up with what’s listed as I’ve added and subtracted sacks I felt were mistakenly attributed. As always, use this as a complement to examining film rather than in its stead.

QB Metrics featuring Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel.
QB Metrics 2.0 featuring AJ McCarron, Zach Mettenberger, Tajh Boyd, Connor Shaw and Aaron Murray.
RB Metrics 1.0 featuring Carlos Hyde, Jeremy Hill, Tre Mason, Bishop Sankey and Lache Seastrunk.
RB Metrics 2.0 featuring Andre Williams, Ka'Deem Carey, Devonta Freeman, Storm Johnson and Charles Sims.
WR Metrics 1.0 featuring Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Marqise Lee and Kelvin Benjamin.
WR Metrics 2.0 featuring Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham and Allen Robinson.
TE Metrics 1.0 featuring Jace Amaro, Eric Ebron, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Richard Rodgers and Troy Niklas.
Sack Study featuring Jeremiah Attaochu, Dee Ford, Anthony Barr, Jadeveon Clowney, Khalil Mack, Kony Ealy,Michael Sam and Kareem Martin.
CB Metrics 1.0 featuring Darqueze Dennard, Jason Verrett, Terrance Mitchell, Bradley Roby and Justin Gilbert.
CB Metrics 2.0 featuring Kyle Fuller, Victor Hampton, Loucheiz Purifoy, Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Lamarcus Joyner.
How well did they rush the passer?
The chart below represents pass rush efficiency for each of the defensive tackles. The metric PRR, pass rush rate, measures how often the pass rusher affected the QB in the form of a pressure, sack, or knockdown. PRR+ includes pass deflections at the line of scrimmage. The number represents on a per snap basis, how often they get to the QB – i.e., if PRR is 10 it means they affect the QB once every 10 snaps. Thus a lower number is better.


- Right off the bat we can pick out that Clowney doesn’t have the most efficient pass rush rate, racking up a pressure on the quarterback once every 10.69 snaps. That’s not the end of the world for several reasons.
- Within this group, he clearly has the largest increase in PRR when it comes to adding in passes defensed. In addition, he managed to garner 20 hurries – more than both Demarcus Lawrence and Anthony Barr.
- We know from his 2012 campaign that he was able to convert sacks, with a total of 13 that year. If he’s able to combine his propensity for pressures from 2013 and sacks from 2012- he’ll be a force.

- Kareem Martin has the lowest PRR of the group, and thus was the most efficient pass rusher among this set of players. He by far took the most snaps, rushing the passer 333 times during the year while putting together a nice combination of hurries and sacks. The higher amount of snaps came from his ability to slide inside and rush the passer from a multitude of positions.

- A bit of a darkhorse as a pass rusher this year, James Gayle came in slightly behind Kareem Martin for second most efficient of the group. While he didn’t display the same versatility as Martin, his pure pass rush skills can’t be denied

- Anthony Barr and Demarcus Lawrence are interesting cases with regards to their distribution of pressures and sacks. Both had lower hurry numbers similar to their total number of sacks. I didn’t keep a strict tally of unblocked/ blocked pressures, but there’s some indication this ratio could allude to a higher number of pressures gained undeservingly.


Where did they rush the passer from?

It’s easy to watch a pass rusher and imagine they could pressure the passer from different spots on the field, but that’s not always the case. The following chart breaks down the position that they rushed from and how effective they were at doing so using the PRR stat.



- Clowney clearly took the majority of his snaps from the right end position, facing the opposing team’s left tackle approximately 85% of the time. In doing so he pressured the passer once every 12.24 snaps. However, on the 10% of snaps he took on the left side he was three times more efficient, hurrying the QB once every 4 snaps. There are a number of theories, weaker competition at right tackle, dominant side, better matchups – regardless he did extremely well at LDE.

- The only player in this group to take a significant number of snaps inside (30%), Kareem Martin was extremely efficient in his efforts between the tackles. His inside rush garnered a PRR of 7.62 which was nearly identical to his 7.5 PRR on the left side. The versatility he displayed cannot be overstated.

- Among the players who took snaps at multiple spots, Demarcus Lawrence was the most consistent. Nearly splitting his time evenly between the left and right sides, his PRR was just slightly better playing on the right side.

- Unlike Clowney who thrived on the left side in limited time, Barr did not fare so well against team’s right tackles with a 30 PRR or one hurry on 30 snaps.


What blocking help did they have to face?


- Clowney defenders will be the first to say that teams threw extra double teams his way when asked about his decrease in production. In this case, the numbers bear that out. He was double teamed on 8.9% of his pass rush attempts, but was chipped by a RB or TE on a whopping 16.7% of his plays. In total, he faced extra offensive blocking on 25% of plays – more than double some others in this group.

- Collectively Martin and Gayle faced the least amount of extra blockers, only seeing blocking help on approximately 12% of plays. However, Kareem Martin did face a higher proportion of double teams relative to how often he was chipped than other players. That could be a function of his time spent rushing from the inside.

- Lawrence and Barr split the difference between Martin and Clowney, ending up rushing against an extra blocker 17% of the time.

How good were their opponents?

Here I’ve put together a metric I call Pressure Strength of Schedule (PSOS) that measures the quality of the teams each player accrued their pressures against. It’s a mix of sacks allowed by opposing offensive lines and Sagarin rankings in an effort to measure team quality. It’s not perfect, but I’ve been happy with the results when used in the past. The score ranges from 0-100 with 100 being the hardest possible schedule. Thus, a higher number means pressures were gained against tougher competition.


- As was true with the previous chart measuring chipped and double teams, Clowney had the toughest road to garnering pressures. His SEC opponents gave him a strength of schedule that no one in this group even came close to.

- Kareem Martin and James Gayle’s road through the ACC was certainly not a cakewalk, but didn’t provide the same challenge as the SEC did for Clowney. Ranging between 42 and 44 on the PSOS score, their scores are slightly below average compared to results from current and previous years.

- The PAC-12 put up a tougher slate of opponents for Anthony Barr than the ACC did for others, but still fell short of the SEC by nearly 14 points on the PSOS scale. Although it was still substantially higher than Demarcus Lawrence’s schedule difficulty during his time in the MWC.


How did they rush the passer?
The following chart breaks down the final pass rush move on every snap that a player made when attempting to pressure the QB. By the final move, I mean – if a player starts outside and then quickly routes back inside – the final move will be ‘Inside’. I won’t comment on it, but it can give you a feel for rush diversity and play style for each edge rusher.


That’s the extent of this breakdown on the first group of pass rushers. You can direct any comments or questions to me on Twitter @NU_Gap, where I’ll also be updating on future articles including the second group of pass rushers.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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[h=1]Peshek: Edge Rushers 2.0[/h]Wednesday, April 23, 2014





When looking at metrics for pass rushers or any position group, it’s easy to get hung up one number that we think is predictive. Maybe that stat is 40 time for WRs, pass rush rate for edge rushers, completion percentage for QBs, but it’s rarely every that simple. This piece provides a number of different metrics to help complement what you see on film and paint a more illuminating picture of these draft prospects. It may not yield a definitive answer on who is the best pass rusher between Kony Ealy, Dee Ford, Jeremiah Attaochuor Khalil Mack, but hopefully it can provoke some thought.

Putting together pass rush efficiency required me to go through and chart every snap where the players rushed the QB. Some sack totals may not line up with what’s listed as I’ve added and subtracted sacks I felt were mistakenly attributed. As always, use this as a complement to examining film rather than in its stead.

QB Metrics featuring Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel.
QB Metrics 2.0 featuring AJ McCarron, Zach Mettenberger, Tajh Boyd, Connor Shaw and Aaron Murray.
RB Metrics 1.0 featuring Carlos Hyde, Jeremy Hill, Tre Mason, Bishop Sankey and Lache Seastrunk.
RB Metrics 2.0 featuring Andre Williams, Ka'Deem Carey, Devonta Freeman, Storm Johnson and Charles Sims.
WR Metrics 1.0 featuring Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Marqise Lee and Kelvin Benjamin.
WR Metrics 2.0 featuring Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham and Allen Robinson.
TE Metrics 1.0 featuring Jace Amaro, Eric Ebron, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Richard Rodgers and Troy Niklas.
Sack Study featuring Jeremiah Attaochu, Dee Ford, Anthony Barr, Jadeveon Clowney, Khalil Mack, Kony Ealy,Michael Sam and Kareem Martin.
CB Metrics 1.0 featuring Darqueze Dennard, Jason Verrett, Terrance Mitchell, Bradley Roby and Justin Gilbert.
CB Metrics 2.0 featuring Kyle Fuller, Victor Hampton, Loucheiz Purifoy, Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Lamarcus Joyner.
Edge Rushers 1.0 featuring Jadeveon Clowney, Kareem Martin, James Gayle, Demarcus Lawrence and Anthony Barr

How well did they rush the passer?
The chart below represents pass rush efficiency for each of the defensive pass rushers. The metric PRR, pass rush rate, measures how often the pass rusher affected the QB in the form of a pressure, sack, or knockdown. PRR+ includes pass deflections at the line of scrimmage. The number represents on a per snap basis, how often they get to the QB – i.e., if PRR is 10 it means they affect the QB once every 10 snaps. Thus a lower number is better.


- Within the second group of pass rushers, we have a tighter clustering of pass rush rates than in the first, but achieved in very different manners.

- Kony Ealy’s PRR comes out to 10.02 when not taking into account PDs, which compares similarly to players like Clowney, Ford, and Lawrence. However, his ability to bat passes at the line drops his PRR+ down to 8.59, closer to some of the pass rushing leaders. In addition, Ealy achieved that efficiency over 361 total snaps which is far more than other players took by nearly 100 attempts.

- Unlike Ealy, Dee Ford didn’t rack up an inordinate amount of pressures over many snaps, but instead put up respectable totals in both the hurry and sack categories. However, he clearly did not disrupt the passing lanes often as his PRR+ hardly increased when taking into account passes defensed.

- While many players were often substituted frequently, Jeremiah Attaochu played nearly every pass snap in competitive games, racking up 343 attempts at rushing the passer. Despite playing more snaps than most of his fellow draft prospects, he maintained a consistent PRR of 9.53 higher than Clowney, Ealy and Ford.

- Khalil Mack is in many ways similar to Anthony Barr in their pass rushing profiles; both garnered solid sack totals, but didn’t achieve many hurries to supplement it. They each ended up with pass rush rates of around 12.5 which trails the other pass rushers by a good margin.

Where did they rush the passer from?
It’s easy to watch a pass rusher and imagine they could pressure the passer from different spots on the field, but that’s not always the case. The following chart breaks down the position that they rushed from and how effective they were at doing so using the PRR stat.


- Out of these four pass rushers, Ealy was the only one who spent any significant time playing inside where he took nearly 30% of his total snaps. In doing so, he posted a 10.7 PRR which is just slightly less efficient than when he was rushing from his right defensive end spot. Solid efficiency in both spots shows that he has the ability to kick inside if needed. However, he is one of the only pass rushers to not take any snaps as a LDE.
- It’s unusual for a pass rusher to be better at pass rushing from the right defensive end spot than the left, but Attaochu manages that feat by a narrow margin. Splitting time evenly at both spots, his PRR on the right side was 8.68 compared to 9.37 on the left side.
- While Khalil Mack split his time relatively evenly amongst the left and right sides, he was significantly less effective when rushing against teams’ left tackle. When playing right defensive end he only managed to pressure the QB once every seventeen snaps – a much poorer showing than his time against right tackles.
What blocking help did they have to face?

- On the whole these players faced significantly less extra blocking than the first group and none even come close to Clowney’s 25% extra blocking rate.

- Kony Ealy leads the group having faced a chip or double team 14.5% of the time. However, unlike others the majority of his efforts came against double teams instead of chips by backs or TEs due to his time spent rushing from the interior of the line.

- Jadeveon Clowney and Dee Ford faced similar SEC defenses but the Auburn pass rusher drew half of the extra attention as Clowney.

- Rarely doubled, only 2.7% of the time, Attaochu’s attacking style on outside pass rush moves rarely left him vulnerable to double teams. Out of every player in the first and second grounds, he faced extra blockers the least often.
How good were their opponents?

Here I’ve put together a metric I call Pressure Strength of Schedule (PSOS) that measures the quality of the teams each player accrued their pressures against. It’s a mix of sacks allowed by opposing offensive lines and Sagarin rankings in an effort to measure team quality. It’s not perfect, but I’ve been happy with the results when used in the past. The score ranges from 0-100 with 100 being the hardest possible schedule. Thus, a higher number means pressures were gained against tougher competition.


- Kony Ealy is an interesting case when we study his strength of schedule in relation to pressures. Most players had similar strength of schedules between their pressures and their total opponents faced, meaning that they often didn’t beat up on weaker opponents and flounder against tougher. However, Ealy’s PSOS score was nearly 7 points lower than his total SOS, likely meaning that he took advantage of weaker opponents rather than playing up to his SEC competition.

- Unlike Ealy, Dee Ford’s PSOS was extremely high, slightly edging out Clowney’s group leading 61.5 score. Ford garnered his pressures against some of the toughest offenses and did so at a relatively efficient rate.

- When I examined Kareem Martin and James Gayle’s strength of schedules, I noted that the ACC provided them with slightly below-average competition and it was not different for Attaochu. His PSOS comes out to 45.8, residing in the bottom two-thirds of the group.

- In group one, Demarcus Lawrence’s score proved his opponents to be relatively weak – something we’d expect withKhalil Mack as well. However, Mack surprised and managed to create pressures against some quality teams boosting his PSOS to near average for an ACC player.

How did they rush the passer?
The following chart breaks down the final pass rush move on every snap that a player made when attempting to pressure the QB. By the final move, I mean – if a player starts outside and then quickly routes back inside – the final move will be ‘Inside’. I won’t comment on it, but it can give you a feel for rush diversity and play style for each edge rusher.


That’s the extent of this breakdown on the second group of pass rushers. You can direct any comments or questions to me on Twitter @NU_Gap, where I’ll also be updating on future articles including the second group of pass rushers.
 

Smitty

DCC 4Life
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Apr 7, 2013
Messages
22,488
Lots of people look great in college and don't have the athletic tools to take the next step.
Sure, but this analysis is meant to be a better projection than standard statistics like sacks or FFs or combine measurements because they look into it in more detail.

It's not the be-all, end-all, but it kinda re-enforces my opinion that he could be a good #2 end.
 
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