2017 Rookie IDP Focus: Derek Barnett
The thrill of coming into the NFL as a first-round pick, being part of a fearsome unit and then helping your team win their first ever Super Bowl must be pretty amazing. I guess we could ask Derek Barnett, as that’s exactly what he did.
Player background
Barnett had a simply amazing college career at Tennessee. It’s good any time a prospect breaks a long-standing record. When that record is Reggie White’s career sack mark, it’s time to really sit up and pay attention. Barnett managed 32 sacks in just three years as a Vol. That went alongside his frankly astonishing 52 tackles for loss.
As you’d expect from a player with those numbers, his calling card as a college player was elite bend. He excelled at using his speed to get to the edge of the pocket – then his great body control and balance to cut around tackles. This is a hard skill to represent numerically, and his workout numbers were OK, but not great. The only exception was his 6.96 three-cone time that showed off his agility and change of direction.
His lack of measured athleticism hurt him a little pre-draft. The fact he missed several drills at the combine due to illness cast a shadow and there was chatter he could fall out of the first round but sense prevailed and the Eagles selected him with the 14th overall pick.
Playing time
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Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is one of the biggest advocates of a rotation at DE. No doubt he’d argue that was one of the main reasons they were such a fearsome defense. He might be right.
Regardless of whether it’s smart or not, Barnett was a major part of that rotation and ended up playing just 424 defensive snaps in 16 games. In those games he played fewer than 30 snaps in ten games. That’s about the same volume as Stacy McGee, Brandon Dunn, Brooks Reed and Chris Smith. It was around a game equivalent (given their 25 snaps per game pace) more than Takkarist McKinley and Taco Charlton.
On the Eagles, Brandon Graham led the way with 666 snaps, Chris Long managed 495 and Vinny Curry 578. In all ,71 other DEs played more time than Barnett did so he was a part-time player at best.
Pass rush
Given the fact he played so little the fact that Barnett managed to rack up the pressure he did is pretty impressive. He compiled ten hits, 21 hurries, and five sacks. His 37 total pressures were the same as Ezekiel Ansah, Dante Fowler, and Myles Garrett. I’d say that’s excellent company to be in from his limited base.
His sack efficiency was 1.2% which was excellent. It was the same as Frank Clark and Melvin Ingram managed and a shade ahead of Khalil Mack and Olivier Vernon.
Ultimately, 71 more DEs played more than Barnett but just 43 racked up more pressure on the QB. He produced brilliantly for the time he was on the field.
Tackling
Barnett managed 19 solos and just three assists in his rookie season. 74 other DEs produced more than his 22 total tackles. That’s not good but it was about in line with his playing time. Within the Eagles’ rotation there was some situational intelligence and so Barnett was probably off the field in most rushing situations. He certainly rushed the passer on a higher % of his snaps than the other Eagles DEs did.
Even so, it’s a little concerning. Barnett managed a tackle on 5.2% of his snaps. That’s about the same as Arik Armstead, Robert Ayers, and Margus Hunt. In the modern NFL, the run game is far below the passing game in importance but it’s not good to see any weaknesses.
Weakness is a strong word actually. In college, he recorded at least 40 solos and 15 assists in each of his three seasons so he’s shown he can be effective in the running game – it’s just that Jim Schwartz used him to his strengths and that was being a fairly pure pass rusher.
Moving Forward
I fully expect Barnett to climb up the ladder in terms of playing time in year two. His stats in the running game weren’t great but he showed a clear improvement in that area as the season went on. It certainly helps that the coordinator is one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL. Whether Chris Long stays or not, I expect Barnett to add around 100-150 snaps to his playing time.
He showed all the hallmarks of a fine young pass rusher to me: the great bend we saw so much in him as a college player, tenacity and the ability to play at top speed in limited playing time. All he needs is the opportunity to showcase his skills more.
I’m projecting him 25 solos (up six), ten assists (up seven) and seven sacks (up two) in 2018. Those are towards the lower end of DE2 numbers in most leagues. If that feels low to you, it’s because of his rotation. It’s really hard for players to put up elite stats when they’re playing part time so I suspect that (similar to Brandon Graham) we’ll see fantastic play as a pass rusher but not in huge volume. That shouldn’t put anyone off though. Barnett is a top talent at the position and I love him as a dynasty prospect.
Thanks for reading.
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