Derek Barnett
Cleveland BrownsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 17 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Super Bowl LII ring plus the Tennessee career sack record (Reggie White's) plus the 14th overall draft slot plus career STTM range mostly in tier 6-8 makes Barnett the classic 1st-round-bust-with-Super-Bowl-ring journeyman. The 2017 college sack record gives him real college pedigree that the NFL trajectory has not matched. The 2026 question is whether Barnett holds the Texans' EDGE role at age 30 or whether the structural career bust closes the chapter.
Barnett came out of Tennessee as the Philadelphia Eagles' 1st-round pick (14th overall) in 2017 after breaking Reggie White's Tennessee career sack record (33). He won Super Bowl LII as the Eagles' starting EDGE rusher. He has bounced through the Eagles, Texans, and back to Houston across nine NFL seasons. His STTM career runs tier 6 (#43) in 2020, tier 8 (#71) in 2021, tier 5 (#40) in 2023, tier 8 (#79) in 2024, and tier 8 (#61) in 2025.
Strengths
- Super Bowl LII ring plus Tennessee career sack record (33) plus 14th overall draft pedigree gives him real career résumé.
- Nine years of NFL survival across two systems gives him plug-in pass-rush rotation veteran value.
Concerns
- Career STTM range mostly in tier 6-8 across the entire NFL window confirms the structural ceiling never matched the 14th overall expectation.
- Houston's broader defensive identity transition compresses Barnett's structural role given the rotational EDGE depth.
What to watch: Whether Barnett holds 10 or more starts in 2026 or whether the Texans' EDGE rotation compresses his role to depth.