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

OLBCIN#51ACT

Kevin Hardy

1× Pro Bowl1× All-ProTop 16% all-time pass rushersIron Man🌅 Early Bloomer · 1999

Height6'4"

Weight259 lb

BornJul 24, 1973

Age52

CollegeIllinois See College Stats

Rookie yr1996

Draft1996 · Rd 1, Pick 2 · JAX

All-Time Rank & Honors

career ranks, postseason ranks, awards, title context

Pro Bowls

All-Pro

Archetype Intelligence

Iron ManExplore archetypes →

A high-end edge rusher defined as much by exceptional availability — almost never missed time as by their on-field impact (top 20% all-time). Coaches and teammates could count on them being available.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 138 · #718 · High-Value

Worth 138 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 16% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 9 of 9 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +15.3 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

9 cleared

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

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+15.3

Avg surplus

peak +36

9 seasons × ~15.3 surplus ≈ VORP 138

Combined Season Grid

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

1 grid split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1996	—	JAX	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5	5.5	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	JAX	13	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	JAX	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.5	1.5	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	JAX	16	—	83	61	22	13	10	10.5	33.5	0	1	2	1	0	0
2000	—	JAX	16	—	73	59	14	8	2	3.0	13.0	1	6	2	2	0	0
2001	—	JAX	9	—	61	49	12	9	6	5.5	20.5	0	3	0	—	0	0
2002	—	DAL	16	—	69	54	15	8	0	2.0	10.0	0	11	2	—	0	0
2003	—	CIN	16	—	75	43	32	0	0	1.0	1.0	0	4	1	1	1	0
2004	—	CIN	15	—	58	31	27	0	0	4.0	4.0	0	4	0	—	0	0
Career		—	133	—	419	297	122	38	18	35.5	91.5	1	29	7	4	1	0

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	VAL
1996	23	JAX	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.5	5.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	17.1
1997	24	JAX	13	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5	2.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	8.8
1998	25	JAX	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.5	1.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	7.9
1999	26	JAX	16	—	83	61	22	13	10	10.5	33.5	0	1	2	1	0	0	13.4
2000	27	JAX	16	—	73	59	14	8	2	3.0	13.0	1	6	2	2	0	0	10.9
2001	28	JAX	9	—	61	49	12	9	6	5.5	20.5	0	3	0	—	0	0	7.7
2002	29	DAL	16	—	69	54	15	8	0	2.0	10.0	0	11	2	—	0	0	9.9
2003	30	CIN	16	—	75	43	32	0	0	1.0	1.0	0	4	1	1	1	0	8.3
2004	31	CIN	15	—	58	31	27	0	0	4.0	4.0	0	4	0	—	0	0	8
Career			133		419	297	122	38	18	—	—	1	29	7	4	1	0	92

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 67 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 67 of 100, era-normalized against sacks/g peers across 9 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 65.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 67· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 62

On-field 43.1

Availability 18.9

On-field production Staying available

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

1996bestavg 62elite 702004

All-Time Standing

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

Depth

of 100

Reached 18% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

18% of the all-time Sacks leader18

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: 90%.

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+).

Postseason Career

8 playoff games

Defense

Tkl16Solo11Ast5TFL1Sk1.0Dis2.0PD1FF1

College Stats

IllinoisCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Illinois), 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.

1996 Draft Class· this player went #2

#1Keyshawn JohnsonWR #3Simeon RiceDE #4Jonathan OgdenOT #6Lawrence PhillipsRB #7Terry GlennWR #8Tim BiakabutukaRB #9Rickey DudleyTE #10Willie AndersonOT #11Alex MoldenDB #12Regan UpshawDE #13Walt HarrisCB #14Eddie GeorgeRB #15John MobleyOLB #16Duane ClemonsDE #18Eddie KennisonWR #19Marvin HarrisonWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Kevin inherited the Jacksonville Jaguars LB room from Eddie Robinson (1996–1997), and handed it to Bryce Paup (1998–1999).

Bryan Schwartz 1995–1999Tom McManus 1995–1999Brant Boyer 1995–2000Eddie Robinson 1996–1997Kevin Hardy 1996–2001Bryce Paup

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

2004final season
Last recorded season with CIN
2003team change
Joined CIN (from DAL)
2002team change
Joined DAL (from JAX)
1996draft
Drafted by JAX — Round 1, Pick 2

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'4" / 259 lb

Frame

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 9-season peers. See all →

peak 71

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

B1996

C+1997

C+1998

A1999

C+2000

B+2001

C+2002

C+2003

B2004

Availability

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

92%

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
1996	5.5	0.3	5-0.5	0.3
1997	2.5	0.2	3+0.5	0.2
1998	1.5	0.1	1-0.5	0.1
1999	10.5	0.7	10-0.5	0.6
2000	3	0.2	3	0.2
2001	5.5	0.6	10+4.5	0.6
2002	2	0.1	2	0.1
2003	1	0.1	1	0.1
2004	4	0.3	4	0.3

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

138 career value over replacement — #718 all-time of 4,642. 15.3/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #2 (Rd 1) · JAX · 1996 · +5.2 vs expected KV-H

67actual

61.8 expected · Δ+5.2

Fan Rating

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Kevin Hardy

All-Time Rank & Honors

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1996 Draft Class· this player went #2

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography