A simple analysis of the D-Linemen by looking at the # of tackles they made and the number of sacks they made, per each rushing & passing play, to see how effective they were when they were on the field. It's not the be-all-end-all of evaluations, but is an interesting way to compare the linemen based on how they performed on the field.

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Here is the # of tackles (and assists) that the defender was in divided by the # of rushing plays the defender was in. In theory, the higher the %, the more involved you were when it came to stopping the run.

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Of course it doesn’t take into consideration if a team ran away from you all the time, but it’s a decent approximation of how involved you were when it came to stopping the run.

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I found it interesting that the 2 D-Linemen who are generally considered the best run defenders had the lowest % of tackles per rushing play that they were in. I would have thought it would be the opposite.

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Also of note, the top 2 linemen involved in run stopping tackles are no longer on the team.

Here is the # of sacks that each defender had divided by the # of pash rushing plays the defender was in. In theory, the higher the %, the better the pass rusher was because he’s getting sacks in a higher % of the passing plays that he was in.

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Again it was interesting that our 2 best in terms of sacks per pass rush play, are also the 2 D-Linemen who are now gone. After them, it’s no surprise that Atkins & Dunlap are the 2 best, followed closely by Johnson.

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Also I was surprised to see Sims at the bottom of each list. Maybe that’s why he was still available when we signed him. Perhaps he’s the low man on the totem pole who Still & Thompson likely replace?