Byron Young is quietly piecing together the best season of his career, and he’s doing it with an efficiency that demands the NFL’s attention. This guy ranks sixth among all EDGE defenders with 21 total pressures right now, a stat that tells only part of the story of his elite 2026 campaign. We need to shine a massive spotlight on what this dude is accomplishing.
The Shadows Are Gone, The Stats Are Real
Let’s be real, Byron Young has never gotten the praise he deserved. Drafted in the third round back in 2023, he had a clear path to playing time, sharing the field with Aaron Donald in his final season. But when Young balled out as a rookie, everyone just chalked it up to the attention Donald drew. Then Donald hung up the cleats, and the Rams brought in Jared Verse to fill that monster void. Young just went from one shadow to another. This offseason, the team swapped Verse for Myles Garrett, who is literally the best defensive player in football. That puts everyone else in the shadows, except maybe MVP Matthew Stafford. But here’s the kicker: Garrett hasn’t even played a healthy game yet in Los Angeles, and Young is absolutely cooking. He’s putting together his best season ever, a true elite EDGE rusher in 2026. Peep these numbers from Pro Football Focus, ranking him among the league’s best:
* Aidan Hutchinson: 29 pressures on 182 rushes
* Greg Rousseau: 29 on 140
* Dallas Turner: 28 on 127
* Maxx Crosby: 25 on 136
* Will Anderson: 25 on 138
* **Byron Young: 21 on 103**
Notice anything crazy there? Young is hanging with the absolute studs, but with way fewer reps. He’s got 24 fewer rushes than the next lowest guy on that list, and a whopping 79 fewer than pressure leader Aidan Hutchinson. That’s efficiency, baby.
Elite Efficiency Is The New Standard
When you dig into the percentages, Young’s performance gets even wilder. He’s creating pressures at the third-highest rate among EDGE rushers who have at least 91 reps. Only Dallas Turner (22.0 percent) and Greg Rousseau (20.7 percent) are ahead of him. Young is sitting at an insane 20.4 percent, besting Maxx Crosby (18.4 percent) and Will Anderson (18.1 percent). PFF’s pass rush productivity metric, which tracks how often rushers pressure, hurry, sack, or hit opposing quarterbacks relative to their opportunities, also has Young ranked third, again behind only Turner and Rousseau. This dude is a machine. And get this: he’s doing all of this despite a sluggish start to the season. He only managed two pressures against the 49ers in the opener. But since then? Five pressures against the Giants, then seven against both the Broncos and the Eagles. The sacks are piling up too, with one against the Giants and a huge three-sack performance against the Eagles.
It’s time to give Byron Young his flowers. He absolutely belongs in the conversation as one of football’s best and most efficient pass rushers. And with Myles Garrett still sidelined, the Rams’ defense is already one of the league’s best units. Imagine what happens when Garrett gets healthy and that D-line is fully loaded. It’s going to be absolutely wild.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Turf Show Times.
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