NFL pass rush rankings update: Cowboys still leading the way, Titans and Patriots rising

Quite the time for the Cowboys and the Vikings to square off in Week 11.

One team possesses a defense most likely to place heat on an opposing quarterback. The other defense bears the No. 1 pass pressure creator in the NFL through the first 10 weeks of the season.

Now, where does every team stack up behind the Cowboys in affecting quarterbacks? And who’s chasing the Vikings’ Za’Darius Smith as the league’s top pressure creator?

I revisited my study from Weeks 1-5 on team and individual pass pressure percentages to catch a glimpse of which clubs and players are (or aren’t) putting heat on opposing quarterbacks.

For a team, pressure rate is the percentage of opponent dropbacks in which the QB is pressured (sack, hit or hurry). For a player, it’s the percentage of their snaps as a pass rusher in which they pressured the QB.

(All stats via TruMedia. Player rankings are for qualified pass rushers — min. 120 pass rush snaps for overall rankings. There are 163 qualified pass rushers for overall rankings. The average pressure percentage for a qualified player is 9.8 percent. For a team, it is 32.6 percent. These rankings are all entering Week 11 so they don’t include the Packers–Titans game from Thursday night).

Team pressure table

The Cowboys have been the NFL’s clear No. 1 team the entire season in terms of pressuring the quarterback. It helps when you have Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence and Dorance Armstrong ranking among the league’s top 30 players in pressure percentage through Week 10. Dante Fowler missed the rankings cutoff by four pass rush snaps, but he has a 15.5 percent rate with four sacks.

Green Bay, Washington and New England have also been consistently good in pressure percentage throughout the season. Teams like Tennessee and Minnesota have come on lately, making massive leaps from Weeks 1-5 to Weeks 6-10.

The opposite could be said for teams like the 49ers and Bengals. San Francisco and Cincinnati opened the first five weeks in the top five, but have fallen to the middle of the pack after 10 weeks following a sluggish stretch from Weeks 6-10.

Below is a glimpse at the team pressure rates broken up by the aforementioned spans.

Team pressure rate splits

So what’s behind some of these trends? Let’s take a look at the top 30 pass rushers in terms of pressure percentage through 10 weeks:

Nos. 1-10

Five players remained in the top 10 from Weeks 1-5 through Weeks 6-10: Smith, Parsons, Rashan Gary, Nick Bosa and Matthew Judon.

Smith has been one of the most productive free-agent pickups since last offseason and he’s been a consistent force for the Vikings since Week 1. He ranked sixth in pressure percentage through five weeks at 17.5 percent. He’s only improved with a 23.7 percent rate in Weeks 6-10, which ranked third within the time period. Smith ranks second with Bosa with 9.5 sacks this season.

Gary continued his tear from last season, but a torn ACL ended his successful individual season. Bosa led the league through five weeks with a 24.0 percent rate, but “dipped” to 14.1 percent in the past five weeks. Still very good, obviously. Judon continues to play at an All-Pro level, improving from a 16.2 percent rate through five weeks to a 22.0 percent rate from Weeks 6-10. It’s added up to a league-high 11.5 sacks. Parsons, meanwhile, has been consistently stellar through both time frames. It was odd not to see Myles Garrett in the top 10 through five weeks, but he’s squarely there now having posted a 22.0 percent rate since Week 6.

The jumps from the next four players have been significant:

Along with his jump in pressure rate, Houston led the NFL with 6.5 sacks during Weeks 6-10.

Nos. 11-20

This group includes a handful of players who started in the top 10 five weeks ago but have since dropped off a bit:

• Greg Rousseau — Weeks 1-5: 16.7 percent; Weeks 6-10: 10.6
• Brian Burns — Weeks 1-5: 17.5; Weeks 6-10: 11.4
• Charles Omenihu — Weeks 1-5: 16.1; Weeks 6-10: 11.8
• Lawrence — Weeks 1-5: 15.4; Weeks 6-10: 10.9

Washington’s Montez Sweat made the biggest jump of the group — nearly climbing into the overall top 10 — thanks to a 17.4 percent mark in Weeks 6-10.

Nos. 21-30

The story reversed for this group with several notable players making a jump into the top 30, particularly the Vikings’ Danielle Hunter and the Eagles’ Javon Hargrave. I mentioned both of these players as notable fallers in my previous study when compared to last season’s numbers. Not the case anymore.

Hunter opened this season at 9.1 percent and then posted a 16.2 percent rate in Weeks 6-10. Hargrave jumped more than 10 percentage points with an 8.8 percent clip in Weeks 1-5 and a 19.6 percent rate in the last five weeks. The Eagles’ lineman has picked up six sacks in the last five weeks.

You might have expected an uptick from the Bills’ Ed Oliver (6.5 percent in Weeks 1-5, 15.8 percent in Weeks 6-10). But maybe not from the Titans’ Mario Edwards (8.5 percent in Weeks 1-5, 16.2 percent rate in Weeks 6-10).

If you’re wondering about some of the other notable pass rushers across the league, here’s a peek at players who have risen up the ranks since Week 5 or fallen the past five weeks:

Notable risers

The Titans may be headlined by pass rushers like Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry and Bud Dupree, but the sudden jumps from Edwards and DeMarcus Walker cannot be ignored. Walker had 3.5 sacks from Weeks 6-10. Teammate Rashad Weaver had four sacks in the first five weeks but has improved his pass-rush consistency since Week 6.

The Patriots’ Deatrich Wise ranked ninth with 21 pressures in Weeks 6-10. The Colts’ Kwity Pace has a nice rate, but only played 64 total snaps in the past five weeks. And it’s strange to find two Saints players here given their disappointing stretch. Payton Turner, New Orleans’ 2021 first-round pick, is starting to look the part after a slow start to his career.

Notable fallers

Nothing like being third in pressure rate through five weeks and then falling 117 spots in the next five — That’s what happened to the Bears’ Travis Gipson. Or being 12th in one period and then falling 157 spots — Even tougher sledding for the Jets’ Carl Lawson.

The dip from Bradley Chubb shouldn’t be a reason for panic. He tallied a 14.3 percent rate in the Dolphins’ Week 10 win over the Browns.

The Raiders’ Maxx Crosby had six sacks through the first five weeks but only one in Weeks 6-10. It also hasn’t helped that Chandler Jones, who lines up on the opposite side of Las Vegas’ defensive front, has been a disappointment.

And even though the overall pressure rates for the Rams’ Aaron Donald and the Chargers’ Khalil Mack are above average, it’s surprising to see how little they’ve pressured quarterbacks over the past five weeks. Donald’s dip is a big reason the Rams are dead last leaguewide in pass pressure percentage this season.

(Photo: Cooper Neill/Getty Images)