Kingsley Enagbare has become a more prominent part of Green Bay’s defense over his three-year career, taking over as a starting EDGE from Preston Smith in the back half of 2024, but is that a positive for the Packers?
After three seasons, here’s what the statistics say about the body of work Enagbare has put together:
Strengths
The only area Enagbare has truly been consistently strong is tackles, averaging 25 per season as mostly a part time player. Compared to qualified EDGE defenders, he ranks in the 74th percentile in tackles per snap in the run game since entering the league.
He does rank above average in several other areas though, between the 51st and 61st percentile in including QB hits per pass rush opportunity (HIT/OPP), HIT/OPP versus true pass sets, missed tackle rate against the run, and stop rate, which are tackles causing a failure for the offense.
In general, Enagbare has been an above average and reliable run defender from the edge throughout his NFL career so far.
Weaknesses
Enagbare has been consigned to a backup role for most of his three seasons, and this is reflected in the fact he only ranks in the 23rd percentile for snaps per game against the pass.
This has been justified, as despite some encouraging numbers, he has not been a dominant pass rusher by any means. Since 2023, he ranks in just the 27th percentile for sacks per opportunity (SK/OPP), managing only 10 in three years according to PFF.
True pass sets usually provide an advantage for the defense, but Enagbare has not made the most of those situations, ranking in just the 24th percentile in PFFs pass rush productivity (PRP) metric.
He has also been an oft penalized player, ranking in the 24th percentile with 11 in his career, including seven last season.
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Enagbare’s snap count naturally ticked up last season as he became a starter after the trade deadline, as he ranked in the 25th percentile versus the pass, a career high. Whether that continues going forward is another question.
He did show some improvement in his ability to finish plays on the quarterback in year three, taking his SK/OPP ranking from the 20th percentile between 2022 and 2023 to the 41st in 2024. Enagbare had five sacks per PFF in 2024, the same number as the two previous years combined.
2024 was his best statistical year as a run defender. Enagbare’s tackle total has increased each year from 21 to 25 to 29 last season, and his tackles per snap ranking has in turn risen from the 56th percentile to the 77th and then the 89th in 2024.
This was at least in part helped by his improvement in terms of missed tackles. After ranking in the 43rd percentile between 2022 and 2023 in that regard, he improved massively to the 80th percentile a year ago.
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There were some aspects in which Enagbare struggled comparatively in 2024 though, and most of these were as a pass rusher. He was in general a less effective pass rusher in 2024 than in any of his prior seasons.
Enagbare ranked in just the 28th percentile in hurries per opportunity (HUR/OPP) in 2024 compared to the 46th in the previous two years. He had the same number of pressures, 17, in 2024 as he did in 2023, despite playing 64 more pass rush snaps.
Similarly, his HIT/OPP declined from the 77th percentile across 2022 and 2023 to the 28th percentile last season, while against true pass sets, he fell from the 65th percentile to the 22nd. Enagbare only had four QB hits last year after putting up 13 in the two seasons prior.
Some of the underlying metrics also indicated a decline. Between 2022 and 2023, Enagbare ranked in the 40th percentile in PRP and the 50th in pass rush win rate. In 2024, he plummeted to the 31st and 17th percentile respectively.
In the run game, after ranking in the 86th percentile in average depth of tackle as a rookie, he landed in just the 28th percentile over the last two years, indicating he is making fewer plays on the ball closer to the line of scrimmage, where tackles are more valuable.
It is worth remembering Enagbare tore his ACL in the postseason at the end of the 2023 season. Although he did not tear it completely, and thus avoided surgery, it is perfectly possible he was not truly healthy in 2024.
However, it appears he will be relegated back to a rotational role in 2025, with the Packers giving Lukas Van Ness every chance to seize the starting job ahead of him, and based on how he has performed so far, that seems to be Enagbare’s level.
After Green Bay drafted Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver on day three of the draft, Enagbare does not appear to have a long term future with the team as he enters the final year of his rookie contract, unless something changes unexpectedly.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Why Kingsley Enagbare is likely entering final year in Green Bay