"When a defensive team sets the edge well, they make it seem hopeless for an offense to even run to that side. In my opinion, there’s a lot of value in that - arguably more than a CB who "takes away half the field." I am not saying that rushing the passer is unimportant. It is very important, but it has to be seen in the overall context of the game. The objective for a defense is to prevent the opposing offense from scoring points. Sacks help do that, but since they’re fairly rare events, they have less impact than they’re given credit for. This is where I run into problems with draftnik-types. They always want to trade up, and trade down, and stockpile picks, and worry about reaches and sleepers, and whether or not you should take a front-seven guy who isn’t a major pass rusher 18th overall. They think in terms of draft picks, and extrapolations based upon scouting reports, but not in terms of what players actually end up turning into a few years out. Once the pick is exercised, worrying about what else could have been done with it is worthless."