The most dominant DT in today's NFL, and just 25 years old. ProFootballFocus's Khaled Elsayed (rated Atkins #3 overall on the PFF Top 101 Players list): "The best performance we've ever seen from a defensive tackle during our time grading, Atkins is setting about redefining what you can expect from his spot. How good was he? Good enough to have the highest grades in run defense AND pass rushing... besides earning heaps of praise from any guard who had the misfortune of going up against him. The numbers are gaudy with Atkins, yet they're only a piece of the puzzle that explains how dominant he was. His 78 combined sacks, hits and hurries were 20 more than the next best defensive tackle." ProFootballFocus's Ben Stockwell: "Atkins has grown in stature and performance in each of his three seasons in the league, but the one constant is that he has been the highest-graded defensive tackle from that 2010 draft class in all three years. Even in a 2012 season which saw the Top 2 (Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy) from that class emerge as elite NFL players, Atkins still topped them, and by a distance. Atkins finished third in the league for total quarterback pressures with 78, a simply astonishing number and feat for a defensive tackle, but he also brought that penetrating ability to his run defense to turn in what was comfortably the highest run defense grade among 4-3 defensive tackles in 2012. As a penetrating defensive tackle it is often all too easy to hinder your team in run defense by leaving big gaps behind you for teams to exploit, but in spite of being the most disruptive defensive tackle in the league, he doesn't do this and takes out far more run plays than he allows to develop. Combined with his unbelievably consistent pass rushing you have a defensive tackle of rare ability, production, and consistency." ProFootballFocus's Sam Monson: "Over the past five seasons of grading the best two grades at defensive tackle for a single-season have been Kevin Williams scoring +42.7 in 2008 and Kyle Williams notching +44.2 in 2010. This season Atkins blew those marks out of the water with +79.9 in total. He ended the year sacking the quarterback 16 times, adding 62 more hits and hurries, and even batting down a pair of passes. Only two players at any position recorded more total pressure than Atkins, and they were both edge rushers (Cameron Wake and Von Miller). Those numbers are simply off the charts for a defensive tackle, and the scary part is he was dominating in the run game as well. He recorded a stop in the run game on 10.6% of his snaps, 2nd in the league and comfortably ahead of all recognized run-stuffing DTs. Geno Atkins has become the player Ndamukong Suh was supposed to be when he was drafted, and is the standout DT from that draft despite Suh and Gerald McCoy both becoming major forces with their best seasons this year. Atkins is simply on another level. Every time I see Geno Atkins my opinion of him is raised. He's so much better than ANY other DT in the league right now it's silly." Please see the nfl390 channel for more NFL Films Bengals videos. Music is from David Robidoux of NFL Films: The Arrival (NFL Trailer theme) Hit For A Loss (Super Bowl Journeys)

• published: 03 Sep 2013
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