Christian Kirksey is a career quality starter — a pass rusher whose body of work places Kirksey in the top half of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Kirksey's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

OLBBUF#55CUT

Christian Kirksey

Top 31% all-time pass rushersHigh-End Starter⚙️ Sustained Machine · 2017

Height6'2"

Weight235 lb

BornAug 31, 1992

Age33

CollegeIowa See College Stats

ConferenceBig Ten

Rookie yr2014

Draft2014 · Rd 3, Pick 71 · CLE

Archetype Intelligence

High-End StarterExplore archetypes →

A quality edge rusher with a above-average career — a legitimate starter who contributed meaningfully across their career.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 69 · #1641 · Above Average

Worth 69 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 36% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 6 of 8 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +11.5 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

6 cleared

2 replaced

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+11.5

Avg surplus

peak +15

6 seasons × ~11.5 surplus ≈ VORP 69

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Snap Counts						Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2014	—	CLE	16	—	72	38	34	5	4	2.0	11.0	0	2	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	681	58.1%	257	55.6%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2015	—	CLE	15	—	53	34	19	5	5	3.5	13.5	0	1	1	1	0	0	—	0.0%	567	54.6%	215	50.9%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2016	—	CLE	16	—	140	90	50	11	7	2.5	20.5	0	3	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	1,111	99.8%	176	40.0%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2017	—	CLE	16	—	133	81	52	6	6	3.5	15.5	0	5	2	1	0	0	—	0.0%	1,068	100.0%	85	19.9%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2018	—	CLE	7	—	39	25	14	1	0	0.0	1.0	2	5	0	1	0	0	—	0.0%	474	84.4%	19	9.5%	42	31	0.7	91.6	5.0	3	2	1	37	8	0.2
2019	—	CLE	2	—	11	6	5	2	0	0.0	2.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	112	91.5%	8	12.5%	9	7	0.8	155.8	-0.3	1	1	0	11	4	0.3
2020	—	GB	11	—	73	42	31	2	2	2.0	6.0	2	4	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	548	76.1%	42	13.8%	43	31	0.7	109.7	4.6	2	0	0	18	9	0.1
2021	—	HOU	13	—	75	37	38	6	2	0.0	8.0	1	8	0	2	0	0	—	0.0%	789	92.2%	31	20.2%	40	28	0.7	97.2	9.2	2	0	2	24	8	0.1
2022	—	HOU	17	—	108	66	42	7	7	3.0	17.0	2	5	0	1	0	0	—	0.0%	1,141	97.3%	4	13.0%	60	45	0.8	90.1	5.3	9	1	4	32	10	0.1
Career		—	113	—	704	419	285	45	33	16.5	94.5	7	33	4	6	0	0	—	0.0%	6,491	83.8%	837	26.1%	194	142	—	—	—	17	4	7	122	39	—

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	VAL
2014	22	CLE	16	9*	72	38	34	5	4	2.0	11.0	0	2	1	—	8.1
2015	23	CLE	15	9*	53	34	19	5	5	3.5	13.5	0	1	1	1	7.8
2016	24	CLE	16	16*	140	90	50	11	7	2.5	20.5	0	3	0	—	10.1
2017	25	CLE	16	16*	133	81	52	6	6	3.5	15.5	0	5	2	1	10.9
2018	26	CLE	7	6*	39	25	14	1	0	0.0	1.0	2	5	0	1	4.7
2019	27	CLE	2	—	11	6	5	2	0	0.0	2.0	0	0	0	—	—
2020	28	GB	11	8*	73	42	31	2	2	2.0	6.0	2	4	0	—	7.9
2021	29	HOU	13	12*	75	37	38	6	2	0.0	8.0	1	8	0	2	8.1
2022	30	HOU	17	17*	108	66	42	7	7	3.0	17.0	2	5	0	1	10.7
Career			113	93*	704	419	285	45	33	—	—	7	33	4	6	68.3

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Snap Counts

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%
2014	22	CLE	16	9*	—	0.0%	681	58.1%	257	55.6%
2015	23	CLE	16	9*	—	0.0%	567	54.6%	215	50.9%
2016	24	CLE	16	16*	—	0.0%	1,111	99.8%	176	40.0%
2017	25	CLE	16	16*	—	0.0%	1,068	100.0%	85	19.9%
2018	26	CLE	7	6*	—	0.0%	474	84.4%	19	9.5%
2019	27	CLE	2	—	—	0.0%	112	91.5%	8	12.5%
2020	28	GB	11	8*	—	0.0%	548	76.1%	42	13.8%
2021	29	HOU	13	12*	—	0.0%	789	92.2%	31	20.2%
2022	30	HOU	17	17*	—	0.0%	1,141	97.3%	4	13.0%
Career			114	93*	—	—	6,491	—	837	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2018	26	CLE	7	6*	42	31	0.7	91.6	5.0	3	2	1	37	8	0.2
2019	27	CLE	2	—	9	7	0.8	155.8	-0.3	1	1	0	11	4	0.3
2020	28	GB	11	8*	43	31	0.7	109.7	4.6	2	0	0	18	9	0.1
2021	29	HOU	13	12*	40	28	0.7	97.2	9.2	2	0	2	24	8	0.1
2022	30	HOU	17	17*	60	45	0.8	90.1	5.3	9	1	4	32	10	0.1
Career			50	43*	194	142	—	—	—	17	4	7	122	39	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 58 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 58 of 100, era-normalized against sacks/g peers across 8 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 58 × longevity 1 = KV-H 58· confidence 99%

What builds the career mark of 56

On-field 38

Availability 18

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative sacks/g)

2014bestavg 542022

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 8% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

8% of the all-time Sacks leader8

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 93%.

Per-Snap Impact

Edge Rushers · proprietary · 2012+

Rotational

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:2.134See leaderboard →

Disruption/1002.134Snap share83.8%Def snaps6,491ConsistentCV 0.13

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within edge rushers, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2014

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

EDGE · 2014 class

4.72s

40-Yard

Above avg · 61th pct

Pos 61thAll 42thClass Pos 67thClass All 46th

32"

Vertical

Below avg · 34th pct

Pos 34thAll 35thClass Pos 34thClass All 41th

122"

Broad Jump

Strong · 81th pct

Pos 81thAll 74thClass Pos 72thClass All 77th

16 reps

Bench

Low · 4th pct

Pos 4thAll 22thClass Pos 5thClass All 27th

Postseason Career

2 playoff games

Defense

Tkl6Solo4Ast2TFL1Dis1.0

College Stats

IowaCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Iowa), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

2014 Draft Class· this player went #71

#63Jarvis LandryWR #64Justin BrittC #65C.J. FiedorowiczTE #66Morgan MosesOT #67Billy TurnerOT #68Dezmen SouthwardDB #69Charles SimsRB #70Marcus MartinC #72Scott CrichtonDE #74Jay BromleyDT #75Tre MasonRB #76Travis SwansonC #77Chris BorlandILB #78Spencer LongC #79Terrence BrooksFS #80Dexter McDougleCB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Christian inherited the Cleveland Browns LB room from Karlos Dansby (2014–2015), and handed it to Jamie Collins (2016–2018).

Van Waiters 1988–1991Gerald Dixon 1993–1995Mike Caldwell 1993–1995Carl Banks 1994–1995Jamir Miller 1999–2001Wali Rainer

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2022final season
Last recorded season with HOU
2021team change
Joined HOU (from GB)
2020team change
Joined GB (from CLE)
2014draft
Drafted by CLE — Round 3, Pick 71

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 235 lb

Frame

233 lb at 4.72s

Size-speed

32" vert / 122" broad

Explosion

16 reps

Bench power

Injury History

3 career games missed (Out)

From nflverse weekly injury reports · coverage begins 2009.

Season	Team	Games Out	Designations
2021	HOU	1	W8Questionable· ThumbW9Out· Thumb
2020	GB	1	W4Out· Pectoral
2019	CLE	1	W3Out· Chest
2018	CLE	0	W2Questionable· Ankle / ShoulderW3Doubtful· Shoulder / AnkleW5Questionable· Illness

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 8-season peers. See all →

peak 61

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+2014

B2015

C+2016

B2017

D2018

C+2020

C2021

B2022

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 9 seasons.

78%

Era Translator

Sacks translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Sacks	Sacks/G	→ 2025 Sacks	→ 2025 /G
2014	2	0.1	2	0.1
2015	3.5	0.2	4+0.5	0.2
2016	2.5	0.2	3+0.5	0.2
2017	3.5	0.2	4+0.5	0.2
2018	0	0	0	0
2020	2	0.2	3+1	0.2
2021	0	0	0	0
2022	3	0.2	3	0.2

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:injuries · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

69 career value over replacement — #1641 all-time of 4,642. 8.6/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #71 (Rd 3) · CLE · 2014 · +14.4 vs expected KV-H

58actual

43.6 expected · Δ+14.4

Fan Rating

Rate Christian Kirksey — All-Time

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Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Defense

Snap Counts

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Per-Snap Impact

Career Aging Trajectory

Combine · 2014

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

2014 Draft Class· this player went #71

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Injury History

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography