My favorite position group to watch is edge rusher, and when I watch them I look for these main things:
Initiating the play: does he have a despicable burst ie. Tim Williams or reddick, or does he win the first step regardless using timing, anticipation, and proper angling and positioning,like a Derek Barnett or joey bosa.
Setting up the engagement: can they get the upper hand by positioning themselves to their advantage? Can they anticipate the depth of the qbs drop and play accordingly? Long strides to eat up ground on deep drops and get to the OTs outside shoulder, light feet and preparing to cutback or punch to work the inside on deep drops. If you're a speed guy can you get to a position to take on half of the tackle so you don't get overpowered? If you're a brute can you position yourself to at least threaten the edge?
Engaging: does he engage with purpose, Charles Harris for instance used a spin as an engaging move often, which isn't even a thing, he would do it too early and give the blocker time to react, then guys like Barnett would approach very low and use his length and power to keep nagging that outside shoulder to keep the blocker staggered and create a phone booth situation, Consistently forcing a backpedal and/or a turn, keeping the blocker from ever squaring up by shortening his lane and forcing the tackle to turn and wrap and grab was something Barnett was masterful at. Really if you wanna know how to spot edge rush technique, watch Barnett put on a clinic every single game, it's beautiful
Disengaging: the most important part imo. Balance, lean, bend, and general nastiness, this is what separates athletes on the edge from real edge rushers. Again on Barnett, best bend I've ever seen, he gets at such a ridiculous angle when he extends that inside arm and then BOOM dips the shoulder and flattens the edge. The year prior I was saying joey bosa had the best overall disengaging I had ever seen, this is where the violence comes in, his swim move sometimes came with so much inertia you couldn't stop him even with a blatant hold, he had a way with bringing guys in close, making them stumble, and then violently ripping them off to the side, he worked a solid underhook around the edge as well. Tarell basham is another guy this year who disengaged well, he had a knack for pulling guys in close and winning with a quick bench press. Then you have the finesse disengagements, 2 of the best this year happen to be ravens, Tim Williams and tyus bowser both had an extra gear at the arc of the rush, they bring a nice explosive side hop and give themselves room to bend the edge, Tim has a lightning fast spin move that he uses very efficiently.
Pursuit/closing: where Tim edges out bowser, bowser often gets sloppy in the closing moments of the rush, he breaks down in his fundamentals and doesn't FINISH the disengage at times, getting clipped at the last second, williams on the other hand , once given a lane, its over, he gets that head of steam and nobody is knocking him from his path, and brings the heat when he makes contact. Charles Harris wasn't the best finisher either, he lacked the balance to consistently come out of a bend, he was often seen stumbling Into the pocket after an excellent speed rush and decent bend, joey bosa had this problem as well, he was seen faceplanting pretty often because he came out of his bend and his bullrush at too extreme of a lean and didn't adjust before the pursuit.
*deep breath*
Hope that made sense, although I doubt it. Makes perfect sense in my head lol
