Myles Murphy

Year 3 breakout — 5.5 sacks in 2025 after just 3 combined across his first two seasons.

The 2023 first-round pick (28th overall) had a quiet two-year start — 3.0 sacks total across 2023-24, with 2024 producing zero. Year 3 looks like the leap the Bengals drafted him for: 5.5 sacks, 10 QB hits, 6 TFL, 3 PDs in 2025 — every category a career high by a wide margin.

10 QB hits in 2025 — already more than his first two seasons combined (7).

Pressure volume is the clearest signal of Murphy's leap. His 10 QB hits in 2025 alone exceed the combined total (7) from his rookie and sophomore years. Paired with 5.5 sacks, it's the kind of pressure-to-sack rate (~55%) that typically shows up only when an edge has solved his hand-fighting and his finishes.

From 0 PDs as a rookie to 3 in 2025 — added pass-rush-lane disruption to his game.

The TFL count doubled (3 → 6) and PDs went from 0 to 3 in the same season — Murphy is winning at the line *and* getting his hands up to disrupt throws when he doesn't get home. Year-3 EDGEs that develop both at once tend to keep climbing.

In 3 seasons he's been a Bengal for every snap — no team changes, no PUP-list seasons.

Murphy hasn't appeared on a defensive snap for any team other than Cincinnati. For a first-round EDGE drafted into a position room with Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard, that's a sign the Bengals never sent him out on a trade or waivers despite the slow start to his career.

The 2023 first-round investment (28th overall) is now paying off in Year 3 — exactly the developmental timeline most edge prospects need.

Zero forced fumbles in 47 tracked stops — the one stat that hasn't translated yet.

Across 47 tackles, 10 TFL and 5.5 sacks, Murphy still has zero career forced fumbles. For a 6'5" 275-lb edge whose calling card at Clemson was strip-sack potential, that's the next box to check. Edge rushers with this much pressure volume typically have 2-4 career FFs by Year 3.

5.5 sacks in 2025 — would have been a top-3 Bengals total in 2024.

To put Murphy's 2025 jump in Bengals context: 5.5 sacks would have been the team's 2nd-most behind only Hendrickson in 2024. Combined with the 10 QB hits, he's now a legitimate complementary rusher on a defense built around Hendrickson's 17-sack peaks — exactly the role a Round-1 pick is supposed to grow into.