Each week I’ll be using data from PFF and around the web to give some insight into IDP fantasy football, and how using these metrics can lead to finding undervalued players, potential breakouts and sleepers.
This week I’m looking at defensive ends, and in particular how effective they are at rushing the passer, and how that translates into fantasy football success.
Pass Rush Producers
One of the metrics that PFF is best known for, is the collection of data on quarterback hits and hurries. Although some people do not value the collection of data about a failed pass rush, personally I think it gives a good measure of how much duress the blitzing player put the opposing quarterback under during the course of a game. Judging a player purely on his sack output seems a very narrow view of the how consistent pressure on a quarterback can disrupt the passing game by forcing quick passes and check-downs.
Outside of that, we can use this data to understand how frequently Player X’s blitz result in pressuring a quarterback, as well as how often a pressure from Player X ends in a sack.
As we did last week, I’ll take a look at the figures put up by the top fantasy performers over the last two years in the PFF staff dynasty league, using the PFF IDP scoring system, and apply the learnings to the 2014 data so far.
2013 – Top 15 Fantasy Defensive Ends
Key: Sk – sack, Ht = quarterback hit, Hu = quarterback hurries, Pr Freq = percentage of pass rush snaps that resulted in disrupting the quarterback (a sack, hit or hurry), Sk:Pr = percentage of pressures that resulted in a sack.
(The league average is calculated using only players playing a minimum 50 percent of snaps)
| Player | Pts | Sk | Ht | Hu | Pr Freq | Sk:Pr |
| Robert Quinn | 209.5 | 19 | 21 | 51 | 19.10% | 20.90% |
| J.J. Watt | 191 | 11 | 36 | 38 | 16.40% | 12.90% |
| Chandler Jones | 154 | 13 | 14 | 39 | 10.80% | 19.70% |
| Muhammad Wilkerson | 149 | 11 | 9 | 32 | 8.70% | 21.20% |
| Calais Campbell | 146.5 | 11 | 17 | 40 | 11.10% | 16.20% |
| Carlos Dunlap | 143 | 9 | 20 | 40 | 12.10% | 13.00% |
| Justin Tuck | 134.5 | 12 | 12 | 44 | 13.10% | 17.60% |
| Cameron Jordan | 132.5 | 14 | 12 | 50 | 14.50% | 18.40% |
| Olivier Vernon | 132 | 11 | 5 | 32 | 9.50% | 22.90% |
| Rob Ninkovich | 131 | 8 | 14 | 46 | 12.90% | 11.80% |
| Greg Hardy | 125 | 14 | 24 | 44 | 15.30% | 17.10% |
| Lamarr Houston | 123 | 6 | 16 | 41 | 11.60% | 9.50% |
| Mario Williams | 123 | 14 | 7 | 48 | 11.80% | 20.30% |
| Jared Allen | 120 | 13 | 18 | 34 | 10.00% | 20.00% |
| Adrian Clayborn | 119.5 | 6 | 11 | 31 | 9.60% | 12.50% |
| LEAGUE AVERAGE | n/a | 7.3 | 10.2 | 30.8 | 10.80% | 15.10% |
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Ross Miles is a Lead Writer for Pro Football Focus Fantasy. Follow him on Twitter – @RossMilesNFL Need more specific advice, start/sit help or expert opinions on trades? Let us know on Facebook by joining the conversation
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