NFL Analysis

9/19/24

7 min read

Patriots DL Keion White Is NFL's Next Defensive Star

By James Foster

NFL Analyst
New England Patriots defensive end Keion White (99) reaches for the pass of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1). Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports.

The New England Patriots had a shortage of proven pass rushers after trading Matt Judon to Atlanta and ruling out star DT Christian Barmore due to blood clots. However, after two weeks, Keion White looks like one of the most improved players in the NFL.

He’s taken the level of jump that most NFL fans (myself included) blindly project onto young players and will soften the blow of losing Barmore.

White had a quiet rookie season, recording 20 pressures, one sack, and a 6.8 percent pressure rate. He played a lot of snaps and showed occasional flashes but needed significant development to return value on the 47th pick. That development seems to have happened; White leads Patriots defenders with eight pressures and four sacks and has more than doubled his pressure rate from last year.

Players can easily stumble into high-pressure numbers in a short time span that isn’t necessarily indicative of their pass-rushing ability. Stunts, protection miscues, and pursuit efforts late in the play can lead to misleading pressure totals in certain cases.

Eight of Keion White’s 20 pressures last season were unblocked, for example. But White has clearly elevated his pass-rushing skillset and is routinely putting high-quality 1-on-1 wins on tape. This suggests that his jump in production will be stable moving forward.

White's VERSATILITY

I have to start by mentioning White’s versatility. Differnt NFL websites list him as a defensive end, edge rusher, defensive lineman, or defensive tackle, and they’re all correct.

Defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington has deployed White in a Swiss Army knife role, lining him up at every position across the line of scrimmage. He’s one of two defenders that have played at least 10 snaps at DT, DE, and OLB (stand-up rusher), and he’s been effective regardless of his alignment.

In two games, he has recorded a pressure against all five positions on the offensive line.

Using TruMedia’s participation data, I created an Alignment Diversity Score for defensive linemen, and White ranks first in the NFL through two weeks. To calculate this, I used the Shannon Diversity Index, which quantifies how many distinct types/species are represented in a dataset. '

Then, I normalized that raw score from 0 to 100. Players like White, Ed Oliver, and Tyquan Lewis who play a lot of snaps at multiple positions, will have high Diversity Scores. Pure nose tackles and edge rushers like T’Vondre Sweat or Andrew Van Ginkel score lower in this metric.

White is also comfortable playing on both sides of the line of scrimmage. He’s played 42 percent of his career snaps on the left and 58 percent on the right.

White's PASS RUSHING

But versatility doesn’t matter if you aren’t productive, and White has been nearly unblockable at every position. He has the athleticism to win in multiple ways as a pass rusher.

At 285 pounds, he has an explosive first step, long arms, dangerous lateral quickness, and surprising bend at the top of the rush. His athletic score is above the 70th percentile historically as an edge rusher and defensive tackle.

However, as a rookie, he was often tentative and unsure of his approach and didn’t always play like a great athlete. This year, he’s been consistently violent and decisive with his hands, showing little hesitation in the early stages of the play. His increased confidence has unleashed his rare athletic traits and made him a headache for blockers to stay in front of.

I charted every White pass-rushing snap through the first two weeks by move and win/loss. To calculate win rate and usage rate, I only included plays where he actually had a chance to attempt a move. Stunts, screens, and plays where chip help prevented him from engaging with the blocker were removed from this sample.

His primary move is the club-rip, which involves striking the blocker’s shoulder and hooking the inside arm.

He’s already won eight times with a club-rip, but this sack from Week 2 is arguably the most impressive. He’s lined up at 2i (inside shoulder of the guard) and the center, Connor Williams, needs to take a wide set to even his leverage and square up with White.

Instead of immediately rushing inside, which would cause Williams to redirect and reduce his set, White used his initial steps to attack the right-side A-gap. Threatening in this direction influences Williams to lean, stop his feet, and lunge into an aggressive two-hand punch, which White defeated with a perfectly timed swipe.

After disarming the blocker, he rapidly crossed his face and bursted into the uncovered gap:

He had two wins at 3-technique against Laken Tomlinson. As always, he started by pressuring the blocker’s outside shoulder to widen his set and manipulate his balance. Once he clubs the shoulder and angles inside, Tomlinson responds with a recovery punch, and White closes with a rip move.

The lateral explosiveness that he displays on these reps make him a serious challenge for guards and centers to mirror:

The inside-club is also an effective counter against tackles that over-set or over-extend. On White’s first pass-rushing snap of the season, Trent Brown used a reckless two-hand punch that left the B-gap completely exposed.

White quickly identified this, crossed Brown’s face, and finished with a strip-sack:

While he doesn’t have the bend of speed rushers like Bryce Huff or Haason Reddick, White’s ability to corner is rare for a player of his size. On this play, he dipped around the tackle’s outside hand, redirected back into the pocket, and got a hand on Geno Smith.

He actually does a better job of bending than Josh Uche, who’s 40 pounds lighter:

I also expected him to be an overwhelming power rusher, especially when he’s lined up on the outside. That hasn’t been his go-to move so far, but as one of the NFL's biggest edge rushers, he should have no problem pushing the pocket.

In Week 1, he used a long-arm against Alex Cappa to get his second sack of the day. He has a violent initial strike, and then locks his right elbow to centralize force and pry open Cappa’s inside shoulder:

The early returns are encouraging, but he hasn’t proven to be a complete pass rusher yet. The club-rip is a great primary move on the interior and counter move on the edge. I’m optimistic he can win with power at any alignment.

He also beat Stone Forsythe with an inside spin, but was derailed by the running back:

He still needs to perfect a move to win upfield as a high-side rusher. His primary speed rushing move seems to be a one-hand swipe, which he’s used eight times so far. On this play, he cleanly defeats Charles Cross’ outside hand and bends into the pocket:

With a 12.5 percent win rate, the swipe is his least effective move. There were several examples of inaccurate strikes, sloppy footwork, or cumbersome transitions vs. Cross:

How much he develops as a speed rusher will be the biggest factor in determining White’s ceiling, but he’s good enough already to be the leading force behind New England’s pass rush.

Tags: Keion White, New England Patriots

James Foster

NFL Analyst

James Foster is an NFL writer who creates film-based analysis of NFL players and teams. He previously worked for A to Z Sports.

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