Next Gen Stats ranks Browns' Myles Garrett over Cowboys' Micah Parsons

Cleveland Browns All-Pro pass-rusher Myles Garrett currently sits slightly above Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons in at least one category. 

As shared by the NFL website, Garrett is ranked ahead of Parsons among the league's top-10 edge rushers through Week 13 of this season via "a formula that yields a Next Gen Stats percentile score, which measures how a player is performing relative to his peer" and that "uses each individual's percentile score across a series of key metrics to create one composite score, indicating which players at that position performed best." 

Both Garrett and Parsons earned overall scores of 97, but Garrett is listed at No. 1. Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers is third with an overall mark of 96. 

"Garrett’s consistency has been remarkable -- he is the only defender to generate at least a 12 percent pressure rate in each season from '17 to '22," the piece noted. The league's Next Gen Stats Analytics Team also said that Garrett is "generating three more pressures (52) than any other defender" this season and "has averaged the quickest get-off in the NFL (0.70 seconds) for the second consecutive season." 

To compare, Parsons "leads the NFL with an 18.8 percent QB pressure rate since being drafted in 2021 (min. 300 pass rushes)" and is "second among all edge players with 94 defensive stops since 2021." 

ESPN stats show that Parsons began Thursday third among all players with 12 sacks this season, while Garrett was tied for fifth with 10 quarterback takedowns. However, those particular figures say little about the overall defenses that feature the two dynamic players. 

Per ESPN, the Cowboys head into Week 14 allowing a fifth-best 309.6 yards per game and surrendering the third-fewest points per contest at an average of 17.2. The Browns are 15th with 342.3 yards allowed per game and 27th with 25.0 points surrendered per matchup. 

5-7 Cleveland plays at the 8-4 Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, while 9-3 Dallas hosts the 1-10-1 Houston Texans that same afternoon.