Pass Rushing Slugging Percentage

Who’s the NFL’s best Slugger?

In baseball statistics, slugging percentage is a measure of the productivity of a hitter, weighting extra-base hits to more accurately portray a batter’s value in base hits. In football, up until only recently, sacks were the only statistic that measured a pass rusher’s production. Since many companies, like SIS, have started to track hurries, hits and knockdowns as well, we now have more robust data to determine a pass rusher’s value. We thought it would be interesting to take a look at what pass rushers stats would look like through the lens of a “slugging percentage” weighting each aspect of a QB pressure as slugging percentage does with bases.

The formula is very simple: 1 point for a hurry, 2 points for a hit/knockdown and 5 points for a sack all over pass rush snaps. Here is how the top 25 in the 2020 season, through 13 weeks has shaped up. We have broken it down into 3 groups: Edge/LB, Interior DL and “Blitzers”, who come from any position, but rush the passer < 50% of pass snaps.

Top 25 Sluggers: Edge/LB (min 100 pass rush snaps)

Rank	Player	Team	Pos.	PSRHs	HURs	HITs	KDs	Sk.s	SLG %
1	T.J. Watt	Steelers	LB	322	31	41	22	12	0.674
2	Matt Judon	Ravens	LB	191	20	22	13	4	0.576
3	Shaq Lawson	Dolphins	DE	259	24	31	13	4	0.510
4	Joey Bosa	Chargers	DE	288	26	22	15	7.5	0.477
5	Tyus Bowser	Ravens	LB	161	14	15	10	2	0.460
6	Trey Hendrickson	Saints	DE	272	17	20	7	10.5	0.454
7	Uchenna Nwosu	Chargers	LB	152	12	15	4	3.5	0.444
8	Kerry Hyder	49ers	DE	284	29	20	9	7.5	0.438
9	Markus Golden	2 teams	LB	231	19	23	11	2.5	0.431
10	Romeo Okwara	Lions	LB	293	24	25	8	7	0.427
11	William Gholston	Buccaneers	DE	265	17	26	15	2	0.411
12	Andrew Van Ginkel	Dolphins	LB	118	5	10	5	2.5	0.403
13	Bradley Chubb	Broncos	LB	330	22	28	8	7.5	0.398
14	Carl Lawson	Bengals	DE	314	17	24	17	4.5	0.387
15	Jaylon Ferguson	Ravens	LB	101	7	8	3	2	0.386
16	Bud Dupree	Steelers	LB	342	22	26	9	8	0.386
17	Leonard Williams	Giants	DE	346	18	21	15	8.5	0.383
18	Chase Winovich	Patriots	DE	255	32	19	5	3.5	0.382
19	Brian Burns	Panthers	LB	330	25	24	11	6	0.379
20	Za’Darius Smith	Packers	LB	366	24	20	11	10.5	0.378
21	Stephon Tuitt	Steelers	DE	317	20	19	10	8	0.372
22	Jerry Hughes	Bills	DE	272	26	21	5	4.5	0.369
23	Derek Barnett	Eagles	DE	224	14	13	7	5.5	0.364
24	DeMarcus Lawrence	Cowboys	DE	240	26	15	4	4.5	0.360
25	Emmanuel Ogbah	Dolphins	DE	358	29	22	7	8	0.355

Top 25 Sluggers: Interior DL (min 100 pass rush snaps)

Rank	Player	Team	Pos.	PSRHs	HURs	HITs	KDs	Sk.s	SLG %
1	Chris Jones	Chiefs	DT	314	31	27	14	5.5	0.447
2	DeForest Buckner	Colts	DT	338	23	31	14	5	0.408
3	Aaron Donald	Rams	DT	414	33	25	13	11	0.396
4	Tim Settle	Football Team	DT	121	7	5	1	5	0.364
5	Malik Jackson	Eagles	DT	205	11	17	8	1.5	0.334
6	David Onyemata	Saints	DT	266	12	15	8	6	0.331
7	Quinnen Williams	Jets	DT	299	13	18	6	6	0.304
8	Bilal Nichols	Bears	DT	225	12	13	5	3	0.280
9	Grady Jarrett	Falcons	DT	405	18	26	14	3	0.279
10	Akiem Hicks	Bears	DT	353	19	19	11	3.5	0.273
11	Adam Butler	Patriots	DT	193	14	11	3	2	0.269
12	Vita Vea	Buccaneers	DT	129	6	8	1	2	0.264
13	Ed Oliver	Bills	DT	255	17	16	4	2	0.263
14	Bravvion Roy	Panthers	DT	126	7	6	4	1	0.254
15	Ndamukong Suh	Buccaneers	DT	391	18	20	10	4	0.251
16	Sheldon Rankins	Saints	DT	157	5	8	5	1.5	0.245
17	Jerry Tillery	Chargers	DT	317	8	17	9	3	0.237
18	Zach Kerr	Panthers	DT	164	6	7	4	2	0.232
19	DeShawn Williams	Broncos	DT	144	7	5	3	2	0.229
20	Jacob Tuioti-Mariner	Falcons	DT	128	10	4	3	1	0.227
21	Fletcher Cox	Eagles	DT	332	19	10	3	5.5	0.218
22	Dalvin Tomlinson	Giants	DT	228	9	9	7	1.5	0.213
23	Javon Hargrave	Eagles	DT	215	8	10	1	2.5	0.198
24	Dexter Lawrence	Giants	DT	237	9	8	3	3	0.194
25	Kingsley Keke	Packers	DT	190	7	3	1	4	0.184

Top 15 Sluggers: Blitzers (min 40 pass rush snaps, pass rush < 50% of pass snaps)

Rank	Player	Team	Pos.	PSRHs	HURs	HITs	KDs	Sk.s	SLG %
1	Jamal Adams	Seahawks	S	71	19	17	6	7.5	1.444
2	Demario Davis	Saints	LB	84	14	16	6	4	0.929
3	Fred Warner	49ers	LB	48	12	10	6	0	0.917
4	Deion Jones	Falcons	LB	59	8	9	5	3.5	0.907
5	Bobby Wagner	Seahawks	LB	79	15	13	7	3	0.886
6	AJ Klein	Bills	LB	61	9	5	3	5	0.820
7	Vince Williams	Steelers	LB	40	5	4	1	3	0.750
8	Devin White	Buccaneers	LB	86	10	9	5	5	0.733
9	Malcolm Jenkins	Saints	S	46	9	5	1	2	0.674
10	Eric Wilson	Vikings	LB	55	3	6	3	3	0.655
11	Daniel Sorensen	Chiefs	S	50	8	7	3	0	0.560
12	Foyesade Oluokun	Falcons	LB	71	10	7	2	2	0.535
13	Kyle Van Noy	Dolphins	LB	146	18	11	4	6	0.534
14	Eric Kendricks	Vikings	LB	44	12	4	1	0	0.500
15	Jerome Baker	Dolphins	LB	79	9	4	3	2.5	0.449

*Note all numbers are through 12/10/2020

A few notes

• There is a very big (relative) drop-off on the Edge/LB list after Watt, clearly the king of edge pressure.
• Not many surprises on the Interior DL List, running as a “who’s who list of notable DL” with the lone exception (in the top ten at least) being Tim Settle of the Washington Football Team. We bring this up because on a front 7 filled with first rounders, Settle, the former 5th rounder,  is the only Footballer on ANY of these lists.
• Between the “Blitzers Chart” and the 2019 rankings, Jamal Adams ability to get to the QB extends beyond team, scheme and season. 

2019 Leaderboard

Rk.	Player	Team	Pos.	PR Snaps	Hur.s	Hits	KDs	Sacks	Slugging %
1	Jamal Adams	Jets	S	81	16	15	5	6.5	1.074
2	Neville Hewitt	Jets	LB	64	9	7	5	3	0.781
3	Deatrich Wise Jr	Patriots	DE	104	13	12	9	2	0.692
4	Joe Schobert	Browns	LB	64	9	8	3	2	0.656
5	Bobby Wagner	Seahawks	LB	70	8	8	2	3	0.600
6	Matt Judon	Ravens	LB	377	44	36	23	9.5	0.592
7	Demario Davis	Saints	LB	149	19	16	6	4	0.570
8	Za’Darius Smith	Packers	LB	506	66	43	24	13.5	0.549
9	J.J. Watt	Texans	DE	298	38	27	16	4	0.523
10	T.J. Watt	Steelers	LB	474	47	40	21	14.5	0.523
11	Shaq Lawson	Bills	DE	264	30	23	12	6.5	0.523
12	Patrick Onwuasor	Ravens	LB	75	6	6	3	3	0.520
13	Shaquil Barrett	Buccaneers	LB	510	55	37	19	19.5	0.518
14	Aaron Lynch	Bears	LB	135	16	12	7	2	0.511
15	Nick Bosa	49ers	DE	461	63	40	18	9	0.505
16	Carl Lawson	Bengals	DE	256	20	18	17	5	0.496
17	Joey Bosa	Chargers	DE	453	49	36	17	11.5	0.481
18	Robert Quinn	Cowboys	DE	370	37	29	12	11.5	0.478
19	Devin White	Buccaneers	LB	67	4	6	2	2.5	0.478
20	Trey Flowers	Lions	DE	422	47	38	14	7	0.457
21	Cory Littleton	Rams	LB	70	7	4	1	3.5	0.457
22	Cameron Wake	Titans	DE	171	18	13	8	2.5	0.456
23	Dont’a Hightower	Patriots	LB	254	28	22	7	5.5	0.453
24	Jamie Collins	Patriots	LB	167	19	9	3	7	0.443
25	Vinny Curry	Eagles	DE	242	25	20	7	5	0.438

From a high level, the Pass Rusher Slugging Percentage is a production stat that measures how well a pass rusher gets to a QB, and how efficient he is at converting those pressures along the “pressure chain”. Being fully transparent, there’s likely not much predictive value in these numbers relative to EPA/other pressure stats, but we thought we’d have some fun. Please enjoy and debate wholeheartedly.