Top 10 NFL edge rusher groups: Are the Rams No. 1 after adding Myles Garrett?

Even in an NFL offseason jam-packed with huge trades, few, if any, compare to the Los Angeles Rams landing edge rusher Myles Garrett.

LA sent Pro Bowler Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second and a 2029 third to Cleveland for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who put up a record-setting 23 sacks last season.

It's the kind of move that warrants a fresh look at which team's got the best edge-rusher room in the NFL, so that's exactly what we've done here.

Here are our updated rankings, with the top 10 edge rusher groups broken down into tiers and a nod to the teams that just missed the cut.

Tier 1

Houston Texans

Key players: Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter

Alex Slitz / Staff

Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter were a nightmare pairing in 2025. Between them, they piled up 27 sacks, with Anderson recording 12 and Hunter 15.

The sack totals are impressive, but the pressure numbers are what really hammer the point home.

Anderson recorded pressure on 19.5% of his pass-rush attempts, the best mark of any qualifying edge rusher.

Hunter's figure of 16.6%, meanwhile, placed in the 91st percentile.

Houston may not have Garrett, the best edge rusher in the league, but in Anderson and Hunter, they deserve to hold onto the top spot in these rankings.

Tier 2

Los Angeles Rams

Key players: Myles Garrett, Byron Young

Everyone knows how good Garrett is.

Despite being double-teamed at the highest rate among all edge rushers, the Defensive MVP set an NFL single-season record 23 sacks and recorded a 16.6% pressure rate, which placed him in the 91st percentile.

Byron Young knocked on the door of double-digit sacks in his first two years before enjoying a breakout year with 12 in 2025.

Young's 15.6% pressure rate was a marked improvement on his 2024 numbers, and he could do even better in 2026 playing along from Garrett.

The Rams sacrificed the youth angle by swapping the 25-year-old Verse for Garrett, but by doing so, they've catapulted to the top of Tier 2 in these rankings.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Key players: T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig

Few teams boast edge depth on Pittsburgh’s level.

T.J. Watt is still the benchmark in the Steelers' edge room. 7 sacks and a 9.9% pressure rate are modest numbers by his standards, but he's still as disruptive as any edge on his day.

Even when he's not recording sacks, he's wrecking games for opponents in other ways.

With that said, Alex Highsmith ended up being Pittsburgh’s most productive edge rusher in 2025. He had 9.5 sacks, and his 13.5% pressure rate was solid too, landing in the 72nd percentile.

Until recently, Herbig was one of the more underrated edges in the league. He's on everyone's radar after receiving a four-year, $100 million extension.

Every time Herbig is tasked with filling in for Watt or Highsmith, he produces. His 7.5 sacks and 13.3% pressure rate speak volumes as to what he brings to the table.

New York Giants

Key players: Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux

The Giants' group boasts three former first-rounders, but their efficiency has been mixed.

Brian Burns finished second only to Myles Garrett with a career-high 16.5 sacks. While we would be remiss not to mention that Burns' 11.3% pressure rate placed him in the 42.9th percentile, we know he's usually a safe bet to do better.

Abdul Carter came on slowly in his rookie year, but he finished on a high and should go from strength to strength in 2026. 3.5 of Carter's 4 sacks arrived in his last five games, and his 13.0% pressure rate was good for the 65.4th percentile.

Thibodeaux has been a disappointment since putting up 11.5 sacks in 2023, but, assuming he isn't traded, he provides solid depth.

Arvell Reese wasn't included in this evaluation because the Giants confirmed he would be playing in an off-ball role.

Denver Broncos

Key players: Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper

Ronald Martinez / Staff

Denver’s case, of course, starts with Bonitto. He boasts one of the most explosive first steps in the league, and numbers that compare favourably with the truly elite.

He finished the season with 14 sacks, ranking fifth at the position. His 18.3% pressure was second only to the Texans' Will Anderson Jr.

If Bonitto continues to improve, as he has every year during his four-year career, it's likely the Broncos could once again lead the league in sacks in 2026.

Jonathon Cooper is an above-average No. 2. He complements Bonitto well, finishing with eight sacks and a 12.5% pressure rate in 2025, good for the 58.8th percentile.

Los Angeles Chargers

Key players: Tuli Tuipulotu, Khalil Mack, Akheem Mesidor

The Chargers lost Odafe Oweh to Washington in free agency, but their edge rush unit remains dangerous.

Tuli Tuipulotu had a true breakout year, finishing with 13 sacks. His 16.6% pressure rate was even more impressive, landing him in the 91st percentile among qualifying edge defenders.

At 35, Khalil Mack has seemingly lost a little of what made him a game wrecker for years. Even so, posting 5.5 sacks and a 14.8% pressure rate in an injury-hit season was impressive, and his numbers should rebound if he remains healthy in 2026.

Mesidor, the team's first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, could push this unit into Tier 2 if he realises his potential.

Tier 3

Green Bay Packers

Key players: Micah Parsons, Lukas Van Ness

The only reason the Packers feature at all is because of Micah Parsons.

The 27-year-old remains one of the most disruptive pass rushers in the league, finishing with 12.5 sacks and an 18.1% pressure rate, which placed him in the 97.8th percentile among qualifying edge defenders.

Van Ness, a better run defender than he is an edge rusher, does little to help the Packers' cause in pass rusher rankings.

Baltimore Ravens

Key players: Trey Hendrickson, Mike Green, Zion Young

Like the Packers, Baltimore's placement here is driven more by star power than strength in depth.

Considering Hendrickson only suited up for seven games last year, his 4 sacks and 13% pressure rate look pretty damn decent.

I provided a full breakdown of how Hendrickson compares to the elite edge rushers based on his 2024 form earlier in the year.

Mike Green had long spells where he was quiet in his rookie year, but his upside and opportunity mean he's a strong candidate to make a leap in year two.

Buffalo Bills

Key players: Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb, T.J. Parker

Greg Rousseau remains the cornerstone of Buffalo’s pass rush. He finished last season with 7 sacks.

Despite never recording double-digit sacks, he's come close on several occasions, and his pressure rate in 2025 ranked in the 81st percentile at the position.

Chubb, who arrived in free agency, produced 8.5 sacks, but his pressure rate was closer to league average.

If the pairing clicks, Buffalo suddenly has a tandem capable of pushing into Tier 2.

Detroit Lions

Key players: Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Moore, Derrick Barnes*, D.J. Wonnum

Aidan Hutchinson is phenomenal. Fourteen-and-a-half sacks and a 15.5% pressure rate are star-level output. He's a strong candidate to lead the league in sacks in 2026.

Moore is an exciting young edge whose upside gives the Lions just enough to pip the Jaguars, 49ers and Buccaneers into the back end of the top 10.

Barnes has never been a full-time edge and is best employed as a part-time off-ball linebacker, part-time edge rusher.*

Wonnum is the kind of player who has often produced solid numbers, but has relied on heavy snap volume to do so.

Other NFL edge groups that narrowly missed the cut

Jacksonville Jaguars

Josh Hines-Allen is an excellent edge rusher. His nine sacks and a pressure rate in the 92nd percentile last year back up that assertion.

Travon Walker is the harder read. His upside is obvious; the athletic traits still jump out, but 3.5 sacks and a middling pressure rate last year leave us wanting a little more.

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers are not far off the top 10, and the reason, of course, is Nick Bosa. He is one of the few edge defenders who can wreck a game on his own.

Mykel Williams gives the group a high-upside piece with the kind of physical profile teams love betting on, while Keion White adds another body who can bring a little something, too.

There is enough talent here for this group to climb, maybe quickly, but right now, with Bosa coming off a major injury, it still feels like a reach to have them higher.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay has a fair case to be in this conversation, especially after adding Al-Quadin Muhammad to a room that already had at least a little juice.

YaYa Diaby finished last season with a respectable 7 sacks, while his pressure-rate percentile of 73.6 suggests he could produce even more sacks going into 2026.

Rookie Rueben Bain gives the group more oomph, but until we see whether his college production translates to the NFL level, we can't rank them higher.

Minnesota Vikings

Skol Nation may be aggrieved that they don't feature higher, but after trading away Jonathan Greenard in the offseason, they fall outside of the top 10.

Dallas Turner showed real promise with 8 sacks in his rookie campaign, and Andrew Van Ginkel can still get the job done at 30, but there's a lack of any real depth behind those two.

Dallas Cowboys

While Dallas improved with the offseason additions of Rashan Gary and rookie Malachi Lawrence, they still fell just short of making it into the tiers above.

Gary recorded 7.5 sacks last season and ranked in the 65th percentile in pressure rate. Donovan Ezeiruaku could be a real find if he builds on his promising rookie campaign.

Lawrence is a wild card, but if he hits, this unit could be in great shape going forward.

Cleveland Browns

Once again, Jared Verse was a good example of why sack totals can be misleading as a sole means of evaluating edge rushers.

He finished with a solid, if unspectacular 7.5, but his 15.3% pressure rate reveals he was causing far more chaos than the box score suggests.

If you watched the Rams often last year, you saw what he's capable of.

The Browns' depth at edge rusher let the side down a little, but we shouldn't rule out a breakout year for Isaiah McGuire.

Carolina Panthers

Jaelan Phillips gives Carolina something it badly needed: a high-end pass-rush threat.

Even in a year interrupted by injuries, five sacks and a 96.7 pressure-rate percentile tell you he was still crazy efficient when he got on the field.

If Nic Scourton continues to progress and/or Princely Umanmielen finds his feet, Carolina could easily challenge the teams currently occupying the third tier.

Washington Commanders

Washington had to do something to improve last year's edge rusher unit, and to their credit, they did.

Odafe Oweh and K'Lavon Chaisson make this group far more respectable than it was, even if respectable is not the same thing as scary.

Chaisson’s 7.5 sacks jump off the page a bit more than his pressure numbers, while Oweh’s 7.5 sacks at least give Washington another player offenses have to account for.

Those moves are enough to earn the Commanders an honourable mention, but they don't yet warrant a place among the top units.

That could change if either Oweh or Chaisson pushes on, or Dorance Armstrong rediscovers his pre-injury form.

New York Jets

David Bailey was a huge get in the 2026 NFL Draft, especially after the Jets traded Jermaine Johnson to the Titans.

If he hits the ground running, Will McDonald continues to make a nuisance of himself, and Joseph Ossai pushes on, this group could make a case for Tier 3 before long.

Kansas City Chiefs

George Karlaftis is a consistent, above-average edge, but the jury is still out on rookie R Mason Thomas and Felix Anudike-Uzomah.

If either of the latter two players hits, the Chiefs will be in touching distance of the top 10.

Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Las Vegas Raiders

The Eagles would have had a much stronger argument if Phillips were still around, even though they backfilled by adding Greenard to a solid group comprising Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and Arnold Ebiketie.

The Seahawks have enviable depth, with Derick Hall, Uchenna Nwosu, DeMarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler in the mix, but there's a lack of real star power here.

Maxx Crosby remains an elite edge, but behind him, there's very little to speak of in the Raiders' edge room.