Fantasy Football: How 2024 NFL Draft's edge defender class stacks up in stable metrics

• Laiatu Latu was one of the best edge defenders in college football over the past two seasons: Elite pass-rush metrics and more sacks than anyone else in this class should have Latu in consideration for being one of the first edges drafted this year.

• There’s still work to be done for Dallas Turner: While not a finished product, PFF’s top-ranked edge in this year’s class doesn’t quite match some of his peers as a pass rusher.

• Dig into the numbers for yourself: PFF's Premium Stats is the most in-depth collection of NFL and NCAA player performance data. Subscribe today to get full access!

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

With the NFL offseason officially underway, so is 2024 NFL Draft season. Plenty of fantasy football general managers are building out their rookie draft boards for dynasty purposes.

Looking at how each position stacks up against one another from an analytics standpoint is just one of the many tools to consider during the evaluation process. This series focuses purely on the key stable metrics that translate more often than not from college to the NFL. It's a way for dynasty managers, and fantasy managers, in general, to get familiar with this year’s rookie class.

A few notes about how this series will work:

• Rankings are based entirely on how these players performed in PFF’s stable metrics over the past two seasons.
• Athletic ability and size are not taken into account for this process. Again, this is just one of many evaluation tools to consider.
• This list includes all 30 edge defenders from the PFF big board but does not provide any weight to projected draft capital, competition level or their overall ranking, though that context will often be provided.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN PFF PASS-RUSH GRADE SINCE 2022

Two of the top three edges on the PFF big board cracked the top four in pass-rush grade over the past two seasons, with UCLA’s Laiatu Latu leading the way, followed closely by Florida State’s Jared Verse. Latu was away from football with injury issues from 2020-2021 but returned in 2022 with UCLA and delivered back-to-back seasons with pass-rush grades in the 90s, with his 94.3 mark in 2023 leading all FBS edge rushers.

Penn State’s Chop Robinson posted an elite 92.3 pass-rush grade in 2023, ranking fourth among FBS edge rushers. Robinson’s sample size over the past two years is smaller compared to the rest of this class, but back-to-back seasons with 92.0-plus pass-rush grades is an encouraging sign nonetheless.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN PFF PASS-RUSH GRADE ON TRUE PASS SETS SINCE 2022

A lot of the same names make up this top 10 as with overall pass-rush grade, including Latu and Robinson topping the list. Filtering to “true pass sets” essentially eliminates all plays where the offensive linemen/pass blockers are not provided with built-in advantages, helping to determine which pass rushers are performing well on their own.

Jared Verse finds himself in the top three, having continuously improved his pass-rushing ability in each of his four college seasons after beginning his career at Albany before transferring to Florida State in 2022. Verse finished his college career strong with 62 quarterback pressures and a 90.8 pass-rush grade — both career highs and top-12 marks for his position in the FBS.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN PFF PASS-RUSH GRADE ON NON-PLAY-ACTION RUSHES SINCE 2022

Similar to true pass sets, this stable metric gets more specific by eliminating play-action passes, which make up the majority of those non-true pass set qualifiers. Chop Robinson leads the group here, which is no surprise after seeing him right alongside Latu in the previous pass-rush grade categories.

Robinson didn’t deliver high-end sack production in college, but his underlying metrics are a much better indicator of his quality as a pass rusher, especially in comparison to his peers in the 2024 class.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN PASS-RUSH WIN RATE SINCE 2022

Latu has dominated the pass-rush portion of these stable metric ranks, never finishing outside of the top two and getting his third first-place finish after recording an impressive 23% pass-rush win rate over the past two years. Latu was also a dominant finisher as a result, coming up with a class-leading 27 sacks and a 21.5% pressure rate over the past two seasons.

Verse‘s win rate is also a cut above among this year’s class, allowing him to total 20 sacks over the past two seasons — the third most of this group. Verse posted the second-highest pressure rate (19.7%) of the group since 2022.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN PFF RUN-DEFENSE GRADE SINCE 2022

Earning high marks as a run defender can be crucial when it comes to a defensive lineman’s ability to contribute in an every-down role. That is particularly noteworthy for IDP fantasy football managers in search of strong production floors. There are several new names within this top 10, as it’s a much different skill set than pass rushing. However, a few of the top pass rushers have proven themselves to be capable of playing early-down roles, as well, including Latu and Robinson, despite their playing fewer run-defense snaps compared to the rest of this class.

TOP EDGE PROSPECTS IN RUN-STOP RATE SINCE 2022

Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland leads both run-defense categories here, coming up with a very strong 11% run-stop rate, which allowed him to post the highest run-defense grade of the group. Kneeland also posted a top-10 true pass set win rate, making him just one of four players to earn a top-10 mark in a pass-rush category as well as in run-stop rate.

Jared Verse and UCLA’s Murphy brothers, Gabriel and Grayson, are the other three edge defenders to post a top-10 run-stop rate and earn at least one top-10 spot in a pass-rush category since 2022.

COMBINED CONSENSUS RANKING OF ALL STABLE METRICS SINCE 2022

Context

Laiatu Latu wasn’t just a sack artist over the past two seasons for UCLA; he proved himself as one of the more polished and complete edge rushers in this year’s class. Latu dominated across the board in pass-rush metrics since 2022 while also posting strong run-defense grades. While he had injury concerns in the past, he now looks like a completely different player and one of the most dominant pass rushers in college football.

Penn State’s Chop Robinson comes out on the opposite end of the sack spectrum when compared to Latu, notching just eight sacks over the past two years. However, his pass-rush metrics put him in the same conversation. While he is currently eighth on the PFF big board, Robinson placed in the top three in all stable pass-rushing metrics since 2022 while also finishing in the top 12 in the run-defense metrics.

In addition to Latu, UCLA produced twin brothers Gabriel and Grayson Murphy. Despite ranking lower on the PFF big board, the Murphy brothers showed out well in these metrics, particularly as pass rushers, though Gabriel shows up higher in the consensus rankings because his run defense proved to be better over the past two seasons.

Jared Verse is the second-ranked edge on the PFF big board and makes it into the top five in these consensus rankings, with only his run defense bringing him down a few spots. Verse is currently trending to be a first-round pick in April, and his impressive pass-rush metrics are only going to back that up.

Alabama’s Dallas Turner is the top-ranked edge on the PFF big board but didn’t quite come close to that height when looking purely at his stable metrics over the past two seasons. Turner isn’t considered a finished product, though his upside and tools are likely to put him near the top of most edge draft boards. Turner’s stable metrics would suggest that he still has some ways to go as a pass rusher, specifically, but he also wasn’t poor in that regard, which is a promising sign for his development.