Brian Poole has by far the most quarterback pressures of any cornerback in the NFL

Brian Poole is good at lots of things, most of which involve playing cornerback. He’s shown himself to be thoroughly above average in coverage, eager to help in run support, and most impressively, able to pressure the hell out of opposing quarterbacks.

Per Pro Football Focus, he isn’t just the most productive pass rushing cornerback in the entire NFL since the beginning of the 2016 season. He’s the most productive by a pretty significant margin, too.

That’s three full pressures more than the #2 guy on the list, and that’s why you won’t see the Falcons shying away from blitzing Poole when they think the time is right. His physicality, quickness, and willingness to eat a quarterback’s spleen right in front of horrified onlookers has made him a truly fearsome player. With the front seven doing quite well applying pressure early on this season, he may even get more chances at a couple of actual sacks, which are very fun for cornerbacks.

All of this is to say that Poole remains one of the NFL’s most talented, underrated nickel cornerbacks, and the Falcons are both lucky to have him and smart for plucking him out of the pile of undrafted free agent corners before the 2016 season. Let’s hope he continues to give opposing quarterbacks headaches in the weeks to come.