Current NFL Sack Leaders (Possible argument for DL focus in Draft)

[Truant]

Top 10 NFL Sack Leaders (as of today)

Kerney, 13.5 Sacks, Acquired Via Free Agency. Seattle Playoff bound.

Umenyiora, 12 Sacks, Drafted Round 2. Giants (most likely) Playoff bound.

Allen, 11.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 4. Chiefs NO Playoffs.

Cole, 11.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 5. Philly, Playoffs unlikely.

Ellis, 11.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 1. Cowboys Playoff bound.

Merriman, 11.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 1. San Diego likely Playoff bound (leading division by two games)

Dumervil, 11 Sacks, Drafted Round 4. Broncos probably will NOT make playoffs.

Kampman, 11 Sacks, Drafted Round 5. Packers Playoff bound.

Ware, 10 Sacks, Drafted Round 1. Cowboys Playoff bound.

KGB, 9.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 5. Packers Playoff bound.

7 of these 10 players will likely be playing in the Playoffs. 5 of the 8 teams represented will likely be in the playoffs.

9 out of 10 of these players were drafted by the team they are currently playing for.

Draft Placement:

3 of the 9 players drafted in first round.

1 of 9 in Round two.

2 of 9 in Round four.

3 of 9 in Round five.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

My takes:

- Sacks ARE an important stat. A sack signifies a loss of down and yardage, while also keeping the clock running.

- You cannot have too many good pass rushers. GB has two in the top 10. Dallas has two in the top 10. NYG have 3 in the top 16. SEA has two in the top 14.

- If you want a top sack guy, you have to draft him. The price for a top rusher is immense and unreliable! Kearney drew a contract of 6 years and 37 million. For this year, Seattle made a good investment. The other nine were selected by their respective teams.

- We COULD get lucky by drafting a stud defensive linemen on the second day of the draft. Not something I'd recommend relying on, but it's better than counting on cheap free agents or undrafted guys. A top sack guy will not just fall into our laps, we have to try via the draft.

The easiest Big Play to force in the NFL is a sack. A sack, or pressure from a near sack, can produce a fumble or an interception opportunity. Relying on a defense to play sound for an entire game while rarely forcing a turnover is a dangerous proposition.

[skinsince72]

Impressive post! I say drafting D lineman is a must. And you are right, the easy big play is a sack. At least if we could hurry a QB, our secondary would not get burned as much.

[skinfan2k]

Sacks are also a result of scheme. I hear GW wants bigger lineman and not speed rushers. So both go hand in hand

[Thinking Skins]

it'd be nice if Gregg williams believed this.

[brianforster]

i think the important stat to highlight is how many teams have 2 excellent pass rushers.

andre carter is very talented but without another threat it makes it easy to gameplan against him.

i trust our front office and i believe they learned their mistake with the spending spree's of yore. it will be interesting to see what we do this offseason.

[2006Skins]

Another DL is a must in this draft. I think this is the year the FO finally gets it right. Especially after cutting a lot of the vets on the d line. I think they were setting up to draft 2 dl in the draft.

[DWinzit]

Nice post.

There should be little argument that more DL help is required next season. A DE opposite Carter would make him all the better. If they can't find one in FA, they will need to focus on the first rounders available.

[Bonez3]

Wow, really doesn't sell the case for me.

Right off the bat the top four teams all SUCK! Even if 2 of the 4 are playoff bound.

Further, the Broncos truly SUCK!

That leaves Dallas- very good overall team, GB- a really good front four for sure, but not really the reason they are winning. And SD, whose strength is surely not D-Line, but LB play that allows the D-Line to make plays.

[professor21]

if we had a speedy bulky prototype pash rusher, JUST ONE if any, it would do wonders for our defense, it would take out a running back or a tight end on every play just to help out on the rush.

instead with the 4 we got=3-4 wr sets no pass rush

[Rskins91]

it'd be nice if Gregg williams believed this.

Wouldn't it? I don't understand it either. Isn't this the same guy who saw what Jevon Kearse did, and saw his defense in Tennessee become top 5 in the league two years and a row because of him?

In fact, they were statistically #1 in 2000, ahead of the Ravens after the last game where the Jets put up a lot of yards on the Ravens (though it isn't a contest which defense was better overall).

[mistertim]

The problem is that it is usually a complete crapshoot (as evidenced by the rounds they were taken). I'm obviously not against drafting a DE, but we have to be ready for whoever it is to possibly end up doing nothing. That or we could get lucky and get a stud on the 2nd day. I know top pass rushers cost quite a bit but if we made one big FA pickup this offseason I wouldn't mind if it was Jared Allen (unless he gets franchised). Guy is a freakin beast. Then we could focus on other needs in the draft like OL, WR, CB, etc.

[SkinsTillIDie]

Chris Wilson has looked very promising at times at DE on passing downs. And Marcus Washington has been able to get pretty consistent pressure playing as a DE or blitzing OLB as well. Not to add that Andre Carter has been phenomenal and has (mostly) shut up the doubters with his 8.5 sack performance thus far.

Now, I am all for drafting a defensive end, I would say that it is a long time coming. However, we have a hell of a lot of pressing issues that we need to address in the draft as well.

Our offensive line is very old with very little depth outside of Heyer (assuming Jansen will be back and healthy next year). It is imperative that we start grooming some offensive lineman for the future and infuse some youth there, thereby adding depth now and starting talent later.

Our wide receiving corps, once again, has proven mostly hopeless. In a league that is becoming more and more pass-oriented, we need to surround Jason Campbell with talent that he can mature with. Lloyd is as good as gone. Randle El hasn't proven that he can be a viable #2 and is likely no better than a solid #3. McCardell is as old as a fossil and we certainly cannot rely on him and Caldwell, even given our decimated corps, has struggled to find any sort of identity in this offense. And Moss has been a huge disappointment this year: who knows if we can rely on him staying healthy and effective in the future. Chris Cooley remains our only consistent threat, and if he goes down, we are absolutely screwed.

Which brings me to the tight end position: We have no backup for Cooley. Yoder is a solid blocking tight end at best but we need to nurture someone with more pass-catching potential. I believe the FO attempted to add someone in this position last year but ultimately failed.

Cornerback: Shawn Springs has been instrumental in any successful pass defense we have had this year, arguably playing his best as a Redskin. We really can't afford to lose him but it appears that we certainly may, given his extraordinary cap numbers and his age. We need to develop another cornerback to take his place in the future and provide depth now. And who knows how Rogers will come back from his injury.

Etc. etc.

We should (and probably need) to add a young defensive end in the draft, but we have a number of other priorities and we already have some superb pass rushing options with Carter, Wilson, and Washington. I would imagine that if we were to draft a defensive end, it would be more in the mold of a Phillip Daniels type and not a pure pass rusher. I feel that our first two priorities in the draft should be to add more weapons on offense and rebuild the offensive line. Gregg Williams has done great things without a whole lot of talent and the bend-don't-break philosophy has worked well for the vast majority of the year. However, for Campbell to be successful in this league, he will need the help of a good running game and other viable options besides Cooley and an inconsistent Moss.

Although, Jared Allen is a free agent this year.

[Peregrine]

A pass rushing DE is an easier position to draft for than most. So you do see a lot of young DE, recently drafted making a big impact. Because they are in such high demand, they also are generally locked up by their team, and snapped up quickly on the market.

Sacks are huge for a defense. Why? Sacks are a loss of yards and down. Usually they come on passing downs, such as third down, ending a drive. A sack means the QB still has the ball, which means there is the possibility of a fumble. A sack also means the person is getting a lot of pressure on a QB, and the more pressure, the more sacks, the more the QB will force the ball, and the more INT's a defense will get. A good DLine will not only stop the run, but get to the QB on passing downs. Its hard to beat that.

[Skins110]

We definetely need another pass rusher. I was watching our Dline at the end of the Bills game and I noticed that the Bills double teamed Andre Carter on every play. With GW electing to only rush 4, and with AC being double teamed, we had no pass rush. Watching the other 3 DL was kind of pathetic, they had no rush at all. Pass rush causes loss of yards and turnovers. Ever wonder why we are in the bottom half of the league all the time in turnovers? Its mainly because we dont get a consistant pass rush.

[kobra860]

We've already drafted Montgomery and Golston. They're both going to have great years next year (especially Montgomery). Also Wilson has been effective and Carter is still young. We should try to draft a wide receiver, some offensive lineman, and maybe another cornerback.

[voicekiller]

If we could get Howie Long's son i would be psyched

[#98QBKiller]

What I like about this post is that most of these guys were not drafted in round 1. Solid pass-rushers are gems that can be found throughout the draft, along with greal OL which we need too. Sounds like good news to me.

[chow184]

calias campbell from the U would be awesome

big guy 6'7 285. let him replace philip daniels

draft a big WR in the 2nd and either an OL or a DT in the 3rd.

would be such a sick draft.

[KDawg]

Carter has had a good season for us...

Oh, and I wouldn't rule out the resigning of #56.

[taylorcoreskin]

I so wanted Kerney over Fletcher, but I now love London Fletcher so it's all good.

[Mackdaddydean]

Randle El hasn't proven that he can be a viable #2 and is likely no better than a solid #3.

Really? Are you serious? I think that's exactly what he has done this season. He's a great number 2. We just have no TRUE #1.

[seanyt]

If we could get Howie Long's son i would be psyched

Absolutely, hands down Long is going to be the same animal as hid Dad.

[Riggo-toni]

Cole, 11.5 Sacks, Drafted Round 5 WITH WASHINGTON'S PICK (traded for James Thrash) Philly, Playoffs unlikely.

Added a little emphasis/info.

Thrash for Cole....

[dinzelwashington]

Sacks are also a result of scheme. I hear GW wants bigger lineman and not speed rushers. So both go hand in hand

speed rushers make the difference when having the lead in the fourth 1/4 playing prevent d. is this the reason why we always give up leads. we play pprevent. no pressure.. they have 5-6 blockers. we have um 3- slow guys and ac.. we definately need a quick guy who plays 48 minutes.. daniels couldnt hang wiith that grandma in that redskins commerical

[909997]

screw sacks its all about pressure