Las Vegas Raiders may have something special in Andrew Billings

Las Vegas Raiders may have something special in Andrew Billings

Billings and his career-riving season

It’s no exaggeration to say Andrew Billings is playing the best football of his career. Not only is his 76.1 overall grade this season from Pro Football Focus a career-high, but both his 70.7 run defense grade and 68.1 pass rushing grade are career-highs individually.

Billings started the season off streaky, but since Week 5, he’s been a consistent force on the D-line.

From Week 5 onward, Billings is the 12th-highest graded DT in the NFL at 80.8. His run defense grade sits at 10th-highest among defensive tackles who have logged at least 100 snaps in this timeframe, while his pass rushing mark ranks 18th-highest under the same stipulation.

Via PFF’s “true” pass rushing, a formula used to more accurately judge consistencies in pass rushing by tossing out plays such as screens and three-man rushes, Billings’ 90.4 grade ranks fourth among defensive tackles between Weeks 5-12.

The 311lb defender also has the second-highest win rate vs. blockers at his position during this time frame (min. 10 pass-rushing snaps), beating his opposition 31.0% of the time.

To put Billings’ excellence into perspective, the highest “true” pass rushing grade by a Raiders’ interior D-lineman from Week 5 to the end of the season (min. 100 pass rushing snaps) since the formula was created was Maurice Hurst’s 79.9 grade in 2019.

Billings is over 10 full numbers higher, albeit six contests are remaining that can cause him to slip greatly.

Perhaps a better picture is painted by stating Maxx Crosby, who’s the league’s ninth-highest graded defensive player in general, has a “true” pass-rushing grade of 76.7 since Week 5; 13.7 lower than Billings.

No individual contest has been better than his latest, either.