• Andrew Van Ginkel stepped up amid Dolphins' injuries: The pending free-agent edge defender recorded 53 quarterback pressures, including 21 combined sacks and hits, on 321 pass-rushing snaps.
• A breakout 2023 for linebacker Blake Cashman: He finished the year with an 82.1 PFF grade, which ranked eighth among players at the position.
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Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
The 2023 NFL season is now officially in the rearview mirror. While there’s plenty of time for the Kansas City Chiefs to celebrate, the NFL world has now almost entirely turned its attention to the offseason.
March will yield huge free agency signings, but sometimes the most important are those that don’t break the bank. Here, we highlight an underrated free agent at every defensive position.
Defensive Interior: Grover Stewart, Indianapolis Colts
Stewart is somewhat one-dimensional, with just one season of earning a 65.0-plus PFF pass-rush grade in his career. He stands out in run defense, though, finishing 2023 with the fifth-best PFF run-defense grade at the position. He has yet to earn a sub-65.0 run-defense grade in a season.
Edge Defender: Andrew Van Ginkel, Miami Dolphins
Injuries for the Miami Dolphins forced Van Ginkel into a more prominent role in 2023, and he delivered a career year, earning a 90.6 PFF pass-rushing grade and recording 53 quarterback pressures, including 21 combined sacks and hits, on 321 pass-rushing snaps.
Linebacker: Blake Cashman, Houston Texans
Cashman was one of the top linebackers in football over the first two-thirds of the season, coming seemingly out of nowhere after playing just 185 snaps in the previous three years. He cooled off down the stretch but finished the year with an 82.1 PFF grade, which ranked eighth among players at the position.
Cornerback: Kenny Moore II, Indianapolis Colts
Now 30 years old, Moore is coming off a career year in which he earned a 77.4 PFF grade that ranked 18th among cornerbacks. Primarily a slot cornerback, he allowed a catch on 79.4% of the passes into his primary coverage, but for an average of just 9.3 yards, in 2023.
Safety: Jordan Whitehead, New York Jets
A fourth-round draft pick out of Pittsburgh in 2018, Whitehead has been on the field for at least 660 snaps in every season of his career and has earned a PFF coverage grade below 68.0 just once in that span. He’s coming off a season where his 26 defensive stops tied for 17th among safeties.
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