Sportsnaut
In the National Football League, the most important position is quarterback. So often in a passing league, it’s the ability to generate pressure on the quarterback that can make the difference between winning and losing. It’s why edge rushers are now starting to make $40 million per season. Here, we’re examining the best NFL pass rushers heading into the 2025 season.
Let’s dive into our list of the best NFL edge rushers right now. Regarding the NFL stats used, pressures are from Pro Football Reference and we’re using ESPN pass-rush win rate from the 2024 season.
Myles Garrett is the best pass rusher in the NFL. After seemingly wanting the Cleveland Browns to trade him to a contender this offseason, Garrett instead took a contract extension that made him the first $40 million defensive player in NFL history. He’s worth it. A six-time All-Pro selection, Garrett became the fourth-fastest player to reach 100 career sacks and the first to do it before turning 29 years old. The 6-foot-4 edge rusher has 102.5 sacks in 117 career games, a sack per game pace (.876) that’s even better than Bruce Smith (-.717) and Reggie White (.853).
Related: Best NFL corners 2025, ranking the best NFL cornerbacks right now
The Dallas Cowboys bet on Micah Parsons’ athleticism in the 2022 NFL Draft, landing him with the 12th overall pick. While he hasn’t won NFL Defensive Player of the Year to this point in his career, he’s been a top-four candidate just about every season. An ankle sprain cost him multiple games in 2024, but he still recorded the third-most pressures and he led the NFL in hurries (21). Through his first four seasons, Parsons is averaging 0.833 sacks per game, higher than Lawrence Taylor (0.77) and Michael Strahan (0.655).
Related: NFL defense rankings 2025, evaluating all 32 defenses
Some of the best pass rushers in the NFL were taken outside the top 25 picks in the NFL Draft and T.J. Watt is among them. Snagged with the 30th overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017, Watt has six All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowl nods in eight seasons. An injury-plagued 2022 campaign is also the only reason he doesn’t have seven consecutive seasons with 11-plus sacks. Not only is Watt outstanding and bringing down the quarterback, but he’s already tied Reggie White (33) and surpassed Jared Allen (32) in career forced fumbles. Putting Watt’s strip-sack ability into perspective, he is currently averaging nearly as many forced fumbles per game (.27) as Robert Mathis, the all-time leader in forced fumbles (54, 0.28 per game). Watt is...
