Luke Kuechly, Bobby Wagner, Kwon Alexander, and Tackle Leaders

by Chase Stuart on June 7, 2017

Kuechly’s stats match his hype

Do you know who led the NFL in tackles in 2016? It was Tampa Bay’s second-year linebacker Kwon Alexander, with 108 solo tackles. If you give half-credit for assists, Kwon – who had 37 assists — would get 126.5 total tackles. That would be the second-most in the league, just behind Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner (86 solos, 82 assists, for 127 total tackles).

Tackles aren’t a great stat for a lot of reasons. One reason is the statistic treats all tackles the same. Another is it ignores opportunity: the 49ers led the NFL last year with 855 total tackles (again, treating assists as half-tackles), which helped safety Antoine Bethea rank 9th in the league in solo tackles. That’s because the 49ers defense was on the field a ton last year; meanwhile, the Eagles recorded the fewest total tackles in the NFL last season with just 699. Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham had 67 solos and 81 assists last year, but that total looks a lot better when you realize he was responsible for about 12% of all Eagles tackles in 2016.

In addition to looking at total tackle numbers as a percentage of his team’s tackles, there’s one other adjustment worth making. Carolina’s Luke Kuechly had 86.5 total tackles last year, good enough for 11.0% of Carolina’s 785 total tackles. But Kuechly played in just 10 games! If we multiply his 11.0% tackle share number by 16/10 — in other words, pro-rating for missed games — that means Kuechly gets credit for a whopping 17.6% of all Panthers tackles.

Another player who benefits from this sort of adjustment is Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman, who had a great first season in Chicago. Freeman had 98 total tackles, or 12.5% of the Bears total tackles, despite missing four games. If you pro-rate those numbers, he gets credit for 16.6% of all Chicago tackles, second in the league behind Kuechly.

Do this for every defensive player in the NFL, and the top three players in adjusted total tackle share are Kuechly, Freeman, and Wagner. Alexander, while still impressive, drops to 7th via this method. Below are the top 75 players in pro-rated adjusted total tackle share.

Rk	Player	Team	Solo	Asst	Total	Team Tot	Ratio	G	Pro-Rated
1	Luke Kuechly	CAR	71	31	86.5	785	11%	10	17.6%
2	Jerrell Freeman	CHI	86	24	98	785	12.5%	12	16.6%
3	Bobby Wagner	SEA	86	82	127	772	16.5%	16	16.5%
4	Sean Lee	DAL	93	52	119	785.5	15.1%	15	16.2%
5	Vontaze Burfict	CIN	73	28	87	783.5	11.1%	11	16.2%
6	Zach Orr	BAL	89	41	109.5	730.5	15%	15	16%
7	Kwon Alexander	TAM	108	37	126.5	794	15.9%	16	15.9%
8	Tahir Whitehead	DET	99	33	115.5	780.5	14.8%	15	15.8%
9	Zach Brown	BUF	97	52	123	812.5	15.1%	16	15.1%
10	Alec Ogletree	LAR	98	38	117	777.5	15%	16	15%
11	Paul Posluszny	JAX	97	36	115	765.5	15%	16	15%
12	Christian Kirksey	CLE	93	50	118	798.5	14.8%	16	14.8%
13	Jamie Collins	CLE	48	21	58.5	798.5	7.3%	8	14.7%
14	Benardrick McKinney	HOU	79	50	104	711.5	14.6%	16	14.6%
15	Jonathan Cyprien	JAX	96	30	111	765.5	14.5%	16	14.5%
16	Telvin Smith	JAX	98	20	108	765.5	14.1%	16	14.1%
17	Malcolm Smith	OAK	86	17	94.5	734	12.9%	15	13.7%
18	Landon Collins	NYG	100	25	112.5	845	13.3%	16	13.3%
19	Mark Barron	LAR	90	27	103.5	777.5	13.3%	16	13.3%
20	Keanu Neal	ATL	72	33	88.5	776.5	11.4%	14	13%
21	Danny Trevathan	CHI	49	17	57.5	785	7.3%	9	13%
22	Preston Brown	BUF	76	59	105.5	812.5	13%	16	13%
23	Ramik Wilson	KAN	61	15	68.5	770	8.9%	11	12.9%
24	Eric Kendricks	MIN	70	39	89.5	738	12.1%	15	12.9%
25	Craig Robertson	NOR	70	44	92	765	12%	15	12.8%
26	Derrick Johnson	KAN	70	20	80	770	10.4%	13	12.8%
27	K.J. Wright	SEA	70	54	97	772	12.6%	16	12.6%
28	Mason Foster	WAS	88	35	105.5	840	12.6%	16	12.6%
29	Clayton Geathers	IND	49	9	53.5	763	7%	9	12.5%
30	Deion Jones	ATL	75	31	90.5	776.5	11.7%	15	12.4%
31	Barry Church	DAL	61	24	73	785.5	9.3%	12	12.4%
32	Harrison Smith	MIN	69	22	80	738	10.8%	14	12.4%
33	Lawrence Timmons	PIT	78	36	96	782.5	12.3%	16	12.3%
34	Deone Bucannon	ARI	64	25	76.5	775.5	9.9%	13	12.1%
35	Avery Williamson	TEN	73	31	88.5	737.5	12%	16	12%
36	Antoine Bethea	SFO	95	15	102.5	855	12%	16	12%
37	Kiko Alonso	MIA	69	45	91.5	818	11.2%	15	11.9%
38	Nigel Bradham	PHI	67	31	82.5	699	11.8%	16	11.8%
39	Jatavis Brown	SDG	63	13	69.5	788.5	8.8%	12	11.8%
40	Karlos Dansby	CIN	69	45	91.5	783.5	11.7%	16	11.7%
41	C.J. Mosley	BAL	56	36	74	730.5	10.1%	14	11.6%
42	Jamie Collins	NWE	31	12	37	736.5	5%	7	11.5%
43	David Harris	NYJ	62	32	78	725	10.8%	15	11.5%
44	Tony Jefferson	ARI	74	18	83	775.5	10.7%	15	11.4%
45	Thomas Davis	CAR	73	33	89.5	785	11.4%	16	11.4%
46	D'Qwell Jackson	IND	52	26	65	763	8.5%	12	11.4%
47	Jahleel Addae	SDG	41	7	44.5	788.5	5.6%	8	11.3%
48	Morgan Burnett	GNB	68	23	79.5	754	10.5%	15	11.2%
49	Logan Ryan	NWE	73	19	82.5	736.5	11.2%	16	11.2%
50	T.J. Ward	DEN	69	18	78	796	9.8%	14	11.2%
51	Ryan Shazier	PIT	55	32	71	782.5	9.1%	13	11.2%
52	Kenny Vaccaro	NOR	50	17	58.5	765	7.6%	11	11.1%
53	Kam Chancellor	SEA	47	34	64	772	8.3%	12	11.1%
54	Kurt Coleman	CAR	65	30	80	785	10.2%	15	10.9%
55	Tavon Wilson	DET	72	15	79.5	780.5	10.2%	15	10.9%
56	Bradley McDougald	TAM	79	12	85	794	10.7%	16	10.7%
57	Denzel Perryman	SDG	55	16	63	788.5	8%	12	10.7%
58	Rodney McLeod	PHI	68	12	74	699	10.6%	16	10.6%
59	Jake Ryan	GNB	56	25	68.5	754	9.1%	14	10.4%
60	William Compton	WAS	60	43	81.5	840	9.7%	15	10.3%
61	Jordan Hicks	PHI	58	28	72	699	10.3%	16	10.3%
62	Eric Reid	SFO	48	14	55	855	6.4%	10	10.3%
63	Todd Davis	DEN	64	33	80.5	796	10.1%	16	10.1%
64	Donte Whitner	WAS	49	17	57.5	840	6.8%	11	10%
65	Demario Davis	CLE	59	40	79	798.5	9.9%	16	9.9%
66	Mike Adams	IND	62	17	70.5	763	9.2%	15	9.9%
67	Jason McCourty	TEN	59	8	63	737.5	8.5%	14	9.8%
68	Ricardo Allen	ATL	61	29	75.5	776.5	9.7%	16	9.7%
69	Lavonte David	TAM	67	20	77	794	9.7%	16	9.7%
70	Xavien Howard	MIA	29	11	34.5	818	4.2%	7	9.6%
71	Devin McCourty	NWE	64	14	71	736.5	9.6%	16	9.6%
72	E.J. Gaines	LAR	47	9	51.5	777.5	6.6%	11	9.6%
73	Shawn Williams	CIN	59	22	70	783.5	8.9%	15	9.5%
74	Darron Lee	NYJ	42	28	56	725	7.7%	13	9.5%
75	Daryl Worley	CAR	62	25	74.5	785	9.5%	16	9.5%

As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments. And see if you can spot the player who appears twice on the list.

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