• The Denver Broncos excelled with the four-man rush: Denver, like Philadelphia, relies on defensive line depth to fuel its pressure. Including the postseason, the Broncos had four different linemen log at least 50 pressures and eight sacks.

• Jeff Hafley managed to generate pressure in Green Bay despite a defensive line that didn’t consistently win with a standard rush: When the Packers did blitz, they led the NFL in pressure rate and ranked third in pass-rush win rate.

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Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

With NFL teams throwing on over 60% of plays, the need to disrupt quarterbacks in the pocket has never been greater.

Every defense in the NFL has its own strategy for generating pressure, making it worthwhile to examine how the league’s top pass-rushing teams got the job done in 2024, whether through standard rushes, blitzes or creative stunts.

Standard Pass Rush (4 or fewer rushers)

Depending on personnel or scheme philosophy, many defensive playcallers prioritize generating pressure without blitzing, believing it’s the most effective way to disrupt quarterbacks while maximizing coverage.

A prime example from 2024 was Vic Fangio’s Philadelphia Eagles, who overwhelmed Kansas City’s offensive line with a standard rush in their Super Bowl win. That approach wasn’t unique to the Eagles; it was a defining trend across several top defenses last season.

NFL Pressure Rate Leaders: Four or Fewer Pass Rushers

Most of the teams listed above feature at least one premier defensive lineman, giving them the luxury of pressuring quarterbacks with a standard rush. Notably, Cleveland, Seattle and Philadelphia all ranked in the bottom half of the league in blitz rate, relying instead on talent up front. On the flip side, Denver and Detroit were among the NFL’s six most frequent blitzing teams.

Philadelphia’s preference for keeping two safeties deep was enabled by its wealth of talent along the defensive front. The Eagles had eight qualified linemen earn a pass-rush grade of at least 66.0 last season, including interior defenders Milton Williams, Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo — all of whom ranked among the top six at their position in pass-rush grade.

Cleveland and Detroit are unsurprising entries here, thanks to the presence of Myles Garrett and Aidan Hutchinson. Garrett’s dominance was central to the Browns finishing top-three in pressure rate, pass-rush win rate and overall pass-rush grade. Detroit, meanwhile, badly needs a healthy season from Hutchinson after ranking just 25th in pass-rush grade on standard rushes from Week 7 onward.

Denver, like Philadelphia, relies on defensive line depth to fuel its pressure. Including the postseason, the Broncos had four different linemen log at least 50 pressures and eight sacks. Seattle found its groove on the interior, where Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed posted the best PFF grades of their careers.

A notable omission from the earlier table is the Pittsburgh Steelers. With T.J. Watt anchoring the pass rush, Pittsburgh led the league in pass-rush grade and ranked fourth in pass-rush win rate on standard rushes. The issue? Opponents often neutralized that advantage by getting the ball out quickly, targeting the Steelers’ weaker coverage unit.

Blitzes

Some defensive coordinators prefer to stay aggressive by dialing up blitzes, aiming to keep quarterbacks uncomfortable rather than letting them settle in the pocket. While sacks are the ideal outcome, the real value often lies in speeding up the quarterback’s decision-making, creating pressure that disrupts timing, forces mistakes and alters the rhythm of an offense.

NFL Pressure Rate Leaders: Blitzes

Jeff Hafley managed to generate pressure in Green Bay despite a defensive line that didn’t consistently win with a standard rush. When the Packers did blitz, they led the NFL in pressure rate and ranked third in pass-rush win rate. A significant part of that success came from rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, who earned a 90.0 pass rush grade, and cornerback Keisean Nixon, who posted a 92.7 grade on his blitzes.

The New York Jets, under Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich, rarely blitzed but were highly effective when they did. With Aaron Glenn now taking over as head coach, there’s a chance he capitalizes on that efficiency. His former team, the Detroit Lions, blitzed at the sixth-highest rate in the league last season.

Steve Spagnuolo is another familiar name on this list, as he has long been known as a master at generating unblocked pressure through his exotic blitz schemes. Including the postseason, Kansas City racked up 60 unblocked pressures, the third-most in the league behind only Minnesota and Tampa Bay, the two most frequent blitzing teams in 2024.

The Steelers and Eagles are worth highlighting again. While they ranked seventh and 14th in pressure rate when blitzing, they led the league in pass-rush grade and pass-rush win rate. Those metrics underscore just how effective they were at forcing quarterbacks to speed up their decision-making process.

Stunts

Deploying stunts up front is a creative and effective way to disrupt opposing offensive lines and generate unblocked pressure. When executed well with a standard four-man rush, stunts can serve as a highly efficient alternative to blitzing. Many defensive coordinators also incorporate them into their blitz packages, compounding the confusion for offensive linemen and creating even more opportunities to pressure the quarterback.

NFL Pressure Rate Leaders: Stunts

Jared Verse and the Rams make their first appearance here, finishing with the fifth-highest stunt rate in the league. More impressively, they were the most effective team when using stunts, leading the NFL in pressure rate, ranking second in pass rush grade and placing fourth in pass-rush win rate in those situations.

The next three teams on the list bring varying levels of intrigue. Cleveland’s repeated presence across pressure metrics underscores just how dominant Myles Garrett and the rest of their defensive line were. While Brian Flores and the Vikings are known more for their blitz-heavy approach, they were highly efficient with stunts as well, tying for second in pressure rate when using them.

The Bears struggled overall to generate pressure, but found relative success when stunting under Matt Eberflus. That could be particularly interesting to the Dallas Cowboys, who led the league in pass-rush grade and ranked second in pass-rush win rate when running stunts last season. It’s a stylistic overlap that could bode well for Dallas in 2025.