Ever since DeMarcus Lawrence signed his five year, $105 million contract following consecutive double-digit sack seasons, expectations have been sky high for the edge defender. And with just 11.5 sacks in his two seasons since said contract extension, there are those who now believe that Lawrence is now overpaid, even though nine other edge defenders will earn more total cash in 2021 than Lawrence, three of which had less sacks than him in 2020.
But sacks hardly tell the full story about pass rushing talent, let alone skill as an overall edge defender. Like interceptions, sacks can often be a distracting statistic when evaluating performance, and is largely an unreliable statistic.