Projecting sack totals for the NFL draft’s best edge rushers: Ranking the top eight, plus a sleeper

The 2022 NFL draft had a strong class of edge rushers, and three were drafted in the top five picks: Travon Walker (No. 1), Aidan Hutchinson (No. 2) and Kayvon Thibodeaux (No. 5).

Although not quite as loaded as the 2022 class, the 2023 draft class includes three edge rushers who are projected to go in the first 10 picks: Will Anderson Jr., Myles Murphy and Tyree Wilson.

SackSEER, Football Outsiders’ statistical system for projecting the NFL success of college edge rushers, agreed that the 2022 class was strong. This year, however, SackSEER is much less bullish on the top available prospects.

Indeed, SackSEER would rank the top prospect in this year’s NFL draft behind all three of the top edge rusher prospects in last year’s class. That said, this could be a good draft for teams looking for value at edge rusher, as there are some intriguing players who might still be on the board in the second round.

Here is a ranking of the top edge rusher prospects for 2023, along with their projected sacks through five seasons and similar historical comps. Plus, we picked a potential sleeper prospect to watch:

Source: Read Full Article