2026 NFL Draft Prospects: EDGE Rushers (ED)
Identifying the most consistent college edge rushers with "above-the-line" scouting grades in the 2026 NFL Draft class.
The Top 300 Players in the 2026 NFL Draft
Caleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, and Sonny Styles headline a deep 2026 NFL Draft class.
Brad Beatson
Draft Capital Is for Closers
- 🏁 Finisher
- Sack Rate ≥3% — Consistently turns pressure into production
Injury Concerns
- ⛑️ Availability — Injury history collected from SIS and The Athletic
POS RK Player Grade Archetype Badges EDGE1 David Bailey 81 Speed 🏁 EDGE2 Arvell Reese 81 Hybrid 🏁 EDGE3 Akheem Mesidor 79 Power 🏁 · ⛑️ EDGE4 Cashius Howell 75 Speed 🏁 EDGE5 Gabe Jacas 75 Speed 🏁 EDGE6 Keyron Crawford 70 Hybrid EDGE7 Rueben Bain Jr. 69 Power ⛑️ EDGE8 Joshua Josephs 68 Hybrid EDGE9 Zion Young 68 Power EDGE10 Keldric Faulk 68 Power EDGE11 Caden Curry 67 Hybrid 🏁 EDGE12 Trey Moore 67 Hybrid EDGE13 Malachi Lawrence 65 Hybrid 🏁 EDGE14 Dani Dennis-Sutton 65 Power 🏁 EDGE15 Vincent Anthony Jr. 65 Hybrid EDGE16 Wesley Williams 63 Power EDGE17 Romello Height 59 Speed 🏁 · ⛑️ EDGE18 Derrick Moore 58 Speed 🏁 EDGE19 Mason Reiger 57 Power ⛑️ EDGE20 Quintayvious Hutchins 57 Hybrid EDGE21 Tyreak Sapp 57 Power EDGE22 Max Llewellyn 54 Hybrid EDGE23 George Gumbs Jr. 54 Hybrid EDGE24 Jaishawn Barham 54 Speed EDGE25 Anthony Lucas 51 Speed EDGE26 Logan Fano 49 Hybrid ⛑️ EDGE27 Nadame Tucker 49 Speed 🏁 EDGE28 Patrick Payton 48 Hybrid EDGE29 Aidan Hubbard 48 Power 🏁 · ⛑️ EDGE30 Nyjalik Kelly 47 Hybrid ⛑️ EDGE31 Jack Pyburn 45 Speed ⛑️ EDGE32 Marvin Jones Jr. 40 D-Line
Pass rusher archetypes are tied to 2025 usage rates, with a hybrid role meaning they did a little bit of everything.
Some of these edge defenders will end up playing a meaningfully different role in the league, which could impact how quickly they earn consistent snaps on defense.
Raw Prospect Scores
- 🧰 Production Component
- Source: PFF Weekly Grades — Stresses the importance of game-to-game, play-to-play consistency while adjusting for variance. Accounts for every game played during the prospect's final two seasons in college.
- Apply Critical Minimum — Weekly grades below 60.0 cannot be smoothed over by two-year average. Instead, once the acceptable threshold for "below-the-line" grades has been crossed, the prospect's production grade is capped and trends toward more of a boom-bust profile.
- 🔬 Film Component
- Source: SIS Scouting Reports — Watch a minimum of 3-5 games per prospect and assign a grade, from 1 (reject) to 9 (rare), to each of their three critical traits and half-dozen or so positional factors. Assign a final grade that projects how the prospect will stack up at their position by the beginning of their second season in the NFL.
- Apply Critical Minimum — Mediocre traits cannot be smoothed over by average. Instead, once the acceptable threshold for "below-the-line" grades has been crossed, the prospect's scouting grade is capped and trends toward more of a boom-bust profile.
- ⚖️ Weighting the Two: 80% Prospect Score
- Position Specific — Some positions have stronger signal in production than film or vice versa and so they are individually weighted to reflect that.
- 40/40 Split — Edge rusher is one of the more even positions from both a production and film standpoint.
Prospect Chips
- 🔵 Blue Chip Potential 75+ production & 75+ film
- 🟢 Solid Contributor — 75+ in prod. or film & 68+ in the other
- ⚪ Situation Dependent — Everyone else
Player Production Film Chip David Bailey 81.8 81.2 🔵 Arvell Reese 74.3 81.2 🟢 Akheem Mesidor 79.3 81.0 🔵 Cashius Howell 78.2 71.0 🟢 Gabe Jacas 75.9 64.3 ⚪ Keyron Crawford 74.6 64.9 ⚪ Rueben Bain Jr. 80.6 83.1 🔵 Joshua Josephs 79.5 69.3 🟢 Zion Young 77.3 69.7 🟢 Keldric Faulk 76.3 46.2 ⚪ Caden Curry 76.3 67.4 ⚪ Trey Moore 74.0 63.7 ⚪ Malachi Lawrence 76.3 46.2 ⚪ Dani Dennis-Sutton 75.5 45.4 ⚪ Vincent Anthony Jr. 71.8 64.5 ⚪ Wesley Williams 73.5 46.7 ⚪ Romello Height 79.0 47.5 ⚪ Derrick Moore 79.3 43.8 ⚪ Mason Reiger 77.5 39.3 ⚪ Quintayvious Hutchins 73.5 45.4 ⚪ Tyreak Sapp 75.7 36.7 ⚪ Max Llewellyn 77.3 25.9 ⚪ George Gumbs Jr. 72.1 36.7 ⚪ Jaishawn Barham 74.7 45.0 ⚪ Anthony Lucas 74.6 37.5 ⚪ Logan Fano 73.4 25.0 ⚪ Nadame Tucker 77.8 40.1 ⚪ Patrick Payton 71.6 37.5 ⚪ Aidan Hubbard 74.6 25.0 ⚪ Nyjalik Kelly 75.9 54.5 ⚪ Jack Pyburn 73.7 25.0 ⚪ Marvin Jones Jr. Inc. Inc. ⚪
🦺Players with incomplete scores had missing data points and will be revisited after the draft. Bandit Football regrets the error.
Athleticism, Positional Value, Intagibles
- 🏅 Athleticism
- Source: Next Gen Stats — Assigns a 1-10 grade on athletic profile for every player at the Combine. In some cases, NGS estimates the scores if the prospect didn't test in Indianapolis or at their college pro day.
- RAS, MockDraftable, Football Sheets — I've added these sources to my database for future use. Many prospects had incomplete scores due to lack of testing numbers, so it made more sense to use NGS in this iteration of the model because every prospect ended up with a data point.
- 📊 Positional Value
- Source: Spotrac — Analyzing the rookie contract scale and how much guaranteed money each pick receives against the Top 100 cap hits in the NFL by position over the next three seasons. Takes into account the Top 10 highest paid players at their position and the relative cost savings a rookie contract could provide.
- Additive Bonus — Each player was scored on a 1-10 scale using the consensus big board as a guide for projected savings. Fernando Mendoza was the only player to receive a 10 because starting QBs make anywhere from $30-50 million per season. Other positions, like RB, TE, LB, and S were capped at a maximum 5 points.
- EDGE Positional Value
- 1st Rd: Top 15 pick — 9
- 1st Rd: Pro Bowl upside — 8
- 1st Rd: Reliable starter — 7
- 1st Rd: Situation dependent — 6
- 2nd Rounder — 5
- 3rd Rounder — 3
- Projected Day 3 Pick — 1
- 🌹🥀 Intangibles
- Source: Dane Brugler — The Beast prospect guide includes strengths and weaknesses for every player on the big board. Includes off-the-field concerns, quotes from scouts and coaches, and non-negotiable traits for the position.
- My Judgment — Each player was evaluated based on the additional information, including: injury history, work ethic, football iq, off-field concerns, and non-negotiables for their position. For edge rushers, my non-negotiable is an ability to rush the passer, generate pressure, and finish with a sack.
Badges
- 💰 Positional Value — Prospect earned a 5.0 or higher based on the potential value of their rookie contract.
- 💎 Strong Character — Prospect assigned a 5.0 or higher in their intangible score.
- ⚠️ Investigate Further — Prospect assigned a -5.0 or worse in their intangible score.
Player Athleticism POS Value Intangibles Badges David Bailey 7.9 9.0 -3.0 💰 Arvell Reese 7.9 9.0 0.0 💰 Akheem Mesidor 6.9 8.0 3.0 💰 Cashius Howell 7.1 5.0 1.0 💰 Gabe Jacas 8.2 5.0 4.0 💰 Keyron Crawford 6.6 3.0 3.0 Rueben Bain Jr. 7.2 5.0 -10.0 💰 ⚠️ Joshua Josephs 7.4 3.0 -4.0 Zion Young 6.2 5.0 -4.0 💰 Keldric Faulk 7.5 8.0 2.0 💰 Caden Curry 7.0 1.0 0.0 Trey Moore 7.5 1.0 2.0 Malachi Lawrence 8.8 5.0 0.0 💰 Dani Dennis-Sutton 9.1 3.0 2.0 Vincent Anthony Jr. 6.5 1.0 1.0 Wesley Williams 6.6 2.0 5.0 💎 Romello Height 7.6 3.0 -2.0 Derrick Moore 5.6 5.0 -3.0 💰 Mason Reiger 8.2 1.0 -1.0 Quintayvious Hutchins 5.3 1.0 2.0 Tyreak Sapp 7.3 1.0 2.0 Max Llewellyn 6.8 1.0 3.0 George Gumbs Jr. 7.7 1.0 2.0 Jaishawn Barham 6.2 3.0 -5.0 ⚠️ Anthony Lucas 6.9 1.0 -3.0 Logan Fano 7.5 1.0 -1.0 Nadame Tucker 6.1 1.0 -5.0 ⚠️ Patrick Payton 7.1 0.0 -5.0 ⚠️ Aidan Hubbard 7.4 0.0 -1.0 Nyjalik Kelly 6.3 0.0 -11.0 ⚠️ Jack Pyburn 5.6 0.0 -1.0 Marvin Jones Jr. Inc. Inc. Inc.
Head back to the Big Board:
The Top 300 Players in the 2026 NFL DraftCaleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, and Sonny Styles headline a deep 2026 NFL Draft class.Brad Beatson
Derrick Moore is one of the player's where the model & I don't see eye-to-eye. He's punished for a mediocre ability to set the edge against the run and consistently win the point of attack. Fair, but that 1st step explosion is something I'd want to bet on.
