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

DTHOU#98ACT

Sheldon Rankins

Top 21% all-time pass rushersHigh-End Starter🌅 Early Bloomer · 2018

Height6'2"

Weight305 lb

BornApr 2, 1994

Age32

CollegeLouisville See College Stats

ConferenceAtlantic Coast

Rookie yr2016

Draft2016 · Rd 1, Pick 12 · NO

Archetype Intelligence

High-End StarterExplore archetypes →

A quality edge rusher with a top 30% among starters — a legitimate starter who contributed meaningfully across their career.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 121 · #865 · High-Value

Worth 121 points of value above a freely-available replacement interior lineman — top 20% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 8 of 10 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +15.1 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

8 cleared

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

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+15.1

Avg surplus

peak +30

8 seasons × ~15.1 surplus ≈ VORP 121

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%
2016	—	NO	9	—	17	12	5	3	6	4.0	13.0	0	0	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	335	58.4%	—	0.0%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2017	—	NO	12	—	26	16	10	5	9	2.0	16.0	1	1	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	810	76.3%	14	6.1%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2018	—	NO	16	—	39	25	14	12	15	8.0	35.0	0	1	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	642	62.3%	1	4.0%	6	5	0.8	86.1	1.8	25	12	5	0	3	0.1
2019	—	NO	6	—	10	7	3	2	5	2.0	9.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	322	49.1%	1	4.0%	1	1	1.0	116.7	-1.0	8	4	2	2	1	0.1
2020	—	NO	11	—	19	12	7	3	9	1.5	13.5	0	1	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	415	50.8%	2	3.5%	1	0	0.0	39.6	-4.0	12	3	7	0	2	0.1
2021	—	NYJ	15	—	29	12	17	5	7	3.0	15.0	0	0	0	2	0	0	—	0.0%	641	57.1%	96	21.7%	0	0	—	—	—	11	5	3	0	5	0.1
2022	—	NYJ	15	—	39	21	18	4	7	3.0	14.0	0	0	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	558	54.7%	31	10.8%	0	0	—	—	—	11	4	4	0	2	0.0
2023	—	HOU	12	—	30	22	8	9	10	6.0	25.0	0	0	1	1	1	0	—	0.0%	597	59.5%	19	9.3%	3	3	1.0	79.2	-5.0	12	3	3	0	5	0.1
2024	—	CIN	7	—	15	7	8	1	1	1.0	3.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	288	60.6%	16	12.4%	0	0	—	—	—	2	1	0	0	3	0.1
2025	—	HOU	15	—	34	14	20	5	9	3.0	17.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	—	0.0%	623	60.0%	6	3.7%	4	4	1.0	79.2	-2.8	14	6	4	0	4	0.1
Career		—	118	—	258	148	110	49	78	33.5	160.5	1	3	5	4	1	0	—	0.0%	5,231	58.9%	186	8.4%	15	13	—	—	—	95	38	28	2	25	—

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	VAL
2016	22	NO	9	5*	17	12	5	3	6	4.0	13.0	0	0	1	—	0	7.5
2017	23	NO	12	12*	26	16	10	5	9	2.0	16.0	1	1	1	—	0	8.3
2018	24	NO	16	10*	39	25	14	12	15	8.0	35.0	0	1	1	—	0	15.3
2019	25	NO	6	0*	10	7	3	2	5	2.0	9.0	0	0	0	—	0	4.2
2020	26	NO	11	6*	19	12	7	3	9	1.5	13.5	0	1	0	—	0	6.7
2021	27	NYJ	15	9*	29	12	17	5	7	3.0	15.0	0	0	0	2	0	8.3
2022	28	NYJ	15	8*	39	21	18	4	7	3.0	14.0	0	0	1	—	0	9.3
2023	29	HOU	12	9*	30	22	8	9	10	6.0	25.0	0	0	1	1	1	11.9
2024	30	CIN	7	4*	15	7	8	1	1	1.0	3.0	0	0	0	—	0	2.9
2025	31	HOU	15	10*	34	14	20	5	9	3.0	17.0	0	0	0	1	0	9.2
Career			118	73*	258	148	110	49	78	—	—	1	3	5	4	1	83.6

* 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%
2016	22	NO	9	5*	—	0.0%	335	58.4%	—	0.0%
2017	23	NO	16	12*	—	0.0%	810	76.3%	14	6.1%
2018	24	NO	16	10*	—	0.0%	642	62.3%	1	4.0%
2019	25	NO	10	0*	—	0.0%	322	49.1%	1	4.0%
2020	26	NO	12	6*	—	0.0%	415	50.8%	2	3.5%
2021	27	NYJ	16	9*	—	0.0%	641	57.1%	96	21.7%
2022	28	NYJ	15	8*	—	0.0%	558	54.7%	31	10.8%
2023	29	HOU	15	9*	—	0.0%	597	59.5%	19	9.3%
2024	30	CIN	7	4*	—	0.0%	288	60.6%	16	12.4%
2025	31	HOU	17	10*	—	0.0%	623	60.0%	6	3.7%
Career			133	73*	—	—	5,231	—	186	—

* 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	24	NO	16	10*	6	5	0.8	86.1	1.8	25	12	5	0	3	0.1
2019	25	NO	10	0*	1	1	1.0	116.7	-1.0	8	4	2	2	1	0.1
2020	26	NO	12	6*	1	0	0.0	39.6	-4.0	12	3	7	0	2	0.1
2021	27	NYJ	16	9*	0	0	—	—	—	11	5	3	0	5	0.1
2022	28	NYJ	15	8*	0	0	—	—	—	11	4	4	0	2	0.0
2023	29	HOU	15	9*	3	3	1.0	79.2	-5.0	12	3	3	0	5	0.1
2024	30	CIN	7	4*	0	0	—	—	—	2	1	0	0	3	0.1
2025	31	HOU	17	10*	4	4	1.0	79.2	-2.8	14	6	4	0	4	0.1
Career			108	56*	15	13	—	—	—	95	38	28	2	25	—

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

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 64 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 64 of 100, era-normalized against sacks/g peers across 10 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 64 × longevity 1 = KV-H 64· confidence 96%

What builds the career mark of 60

On-field 44.7

Availability 15.3

On-field production Staying available

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

2016bestavg 58elite 702025

All-Time Standing

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

Depth

of 100

Reached 17% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

17% of the all-time Sacks leader17

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: 92%.

Per-Snap Impact

Interior D-Line · proprietary · 2012+

Above average

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:3.24See leaderboard →

Disruption/1003.24Snap share58.9%Def snaps5,231ReliableCV 0.40

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within interior d-line, 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 defensive linemen aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2016

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

DL · 2016 class

5.03s

40-Yard

Above avg · 58th pct

Pos 58thAll 19thClass Pos 71thClass All 22th

34.5"

Vertical

Elite · 94th pct

Pos 94thAll 59thClass Pos 89thClass All 68th

118"

Broad Jump

Elite · 97th pct

Pos 97thAll 55thClass Pos 97thClass All 58th

28 reps

Bench

Above avg · 56th pct

Pos 56thAll 87thClass Pos 57thClass All 88th

7.44s

3-Cone

Strong · 81th pct

Pos 81thAll 28thClass Pos 94thClass All 33th

4.59s

Shuttle

Above avg · 61th pct

Pos 61thAll 20thClass Pos 71thClass All 25th

Postseason Career

7 playoff games

Defense

Tkl22Solo16Ast6TFL3QBHits6Sk3.5Dis12.5FR1

College Stats

LouisvilleCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Louisville), 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.

2016 Draft Class· this player went #12

#4Ezekiel ElliottRB #5Jalen RamseyCB #6Ronnie StanleyOT #7DeForest BucknerDT #8Jack ConklinOT #9Leonard FloydDE #10Eli AppleCB #11Vernon Hargreaves IIICB #13Laremy TunsilOT #14Karl JosephFS #15Corey ColemanWR #16Taylor DeckerOT #17Keanu NealS #18Ryan KellyC #19Shaq LawsonDE #20Darron LeeILB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Sheldon inherited the New Orleans Saints DL room from Cameron Jordan (2011–2025), and handed it to David Onyemata (2016–2022).

Wayne Martin 1989–1999Joe Johnson 1994–2001Brady Smith 1996–1999La'Roi Glover 1997–2001Willie Whitehead 1999–2006Norman Hand

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

2025team change
Joined HOU (from CIN)
2025final season
Last recorded season with HOU
2024team change
Joined CIN (from HOU)
2023team change
Joined HOU (from NYJ)
2021team change
Joined NYJ (from NO)
2016draft
Drafted by NO — Round 1, Pick 12

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 305 lb

Frame

299 lb at 5.03s

Size-speed

34.5" vert / 118" broad

Explosion

28 reps

Bench power

Injury History

13 career games missed (Out)

From nflverse weekly injury reports · coverage begins 2009.

Season	Team	Games Out	Designations
2024	CIN	7	W3Out· HamstringW4Out· HamstringW5Doubtful· HamstringW11Questionable· IllnessW13Out· IllnessW14Out· IllnessW15Out· IllnessW16Out· IllnessW17Out· Illness
2023	HOU	1	W8Out· KneeW9Questionable· KneeW13Questionable· ElbowW14Questionable· Elbow / ShoulderW17Questionable· AnkleW18Questionable· AnkleW19Questionable· Shoulder
2022	NYJ	2	W11Out· ElbowW12Out· Elbow
2021	NYJ	0	W13Doubtful· KneeW14Questionable· KneeW15Questionable· KneeW16Questionable· Knee
2020	NO	0	W5Questionable· Thumb
2019	NO	3	W1Out· AchillesW2Out· AchillesW3Out· AchillesW4Questionable· Achilles

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 10-season peers. See all →

peak 70

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

B2016

C+2017

B+2018

C2019

C+2020

C+2021

C+2022

B+2023

C2024

C+2025

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 10 seasons.

81%

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
2016	4	0.4	8+4	0.4
2017	2	0.2	3+1	0.2
2018	8	0.5	8	0.5
2019	2	0.3	6+4	0.3
2020	1.5	0.1	3+1.5	0.1
2021	3	0.2	4+1	0.2
2022	3	0.2	4+1	0.2
2023	6	0.5	9+3	0.5
2024	1	0.1	3+2	0.1
2025	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

121 career value over replacement — #865 all-time of 4,642. 12.1/season above a replacement-level DL.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #12 (Rd 1) · NO · 2016 · +3.7 vs expected KV-H

64actual

60.3 expected · Δ+3.7

Fan Rating

Rate Sheldon Rankins — All-Time

Tap a star to rate

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Compare Sheldon Rankins vs Player Report data error

Sheldon Rankins

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 · 2016

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

2016 Draft Class· this player went #12

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Injury History

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography