T.J. Watt is an edge rusher. T.J. Watt finished third in the running for NFL Defensive Player of the year last season. Surely he would have to be one of the most disruptive players in the league last season, right? Not according to the narrow definition of a disruptor that Nick Shook worked with for a recent NFL.com article.
Players were judged, based on their Next Gen Stats, solely by Disruption Rate, or the percentage of passing plays in which a player recorded a hurry, hit, or sack. And based on this metric, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ leading sack producer over the past two seasons didn’t even crack the top 10.