Stats like sacks, quarterback pressures, and blown blocks can paint a nice picture when grading offensive and defensive linemen, but they often cannot tell the whole story.
Sometimes players beat their man routinely, but can’t quite get to the quarterback or make a play in the backfield. Other times, offensive linemen will sustain blocks for a significant amount of time, only for their quarterback to be taken down due to a failed scramble or coverage sack.
To measure pass-blocking and pass-rushing performance, ESPN Analytics has created the pass-block and pass-rush win rate metric. This metric is powered by tracking data from NFL Next Gen Stats and defines “success” for an offensive or defensive linemen as the ability to sustain or beat a block within 2.