Edge in Football: What Position Is Edge and Who Plays It

When a broadcaster, a scout or a team calls a player an edge, the word describes where the player lines up and what the player does, not a position name the league uses on its roster. The player stands on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle or the tight end, and rushes the passer from the outside of the formation, which is the edge of the line of scrimmage.

NFL.com's 2013 look at hybrid defenders described the two jobs the label brings together. At defensive end, it said, players can line up in a three-point stance and provide run support, and they have to engage tight ends and tackles at the line of scrimmage on nearly every play. Outside linebackers, it said, can stand up, back off the line of scrimmage and drop into pass coverage, and they could have coverage or rush duties against the pass.

So the answer to what position is edge in football is that it is two positions under one word. Which of the two a given player holds depends on the defense his team plays.

The word describes a place on the field. The defensive front is a line of players, and the players at either end of it are at its edge. A defender who rushes from there is coming around the outside of the offensive line toward the quarterback. The label has nothing to do with an advantage, and the sources used here do not give a history of the word.

The use of one word reflects how the game changed. NFL.com wrote in 2009 that more teams were using a 3-4 base defense, and that hybrid defensive ends and outside linebackers had become highly desirable prospects. A hybrid, in the article's words, possesses the pass-rush skills of a defensive end and the cover ability of an outside linebacker. A team that wants to move such a player between a down stance and a standing stance does not need a different label for each, and edge became the common one.

The two jobs overlap, and the sources describe where they differ.

Defensive end. NFL.com describes the end's job as engaging tight ends and tackles at the line of scrimmage on nearly every play, with little responsibility in the passing game besides putting pressure on the quarterback.

Outside linebacker. A 3-4 outside linebacker can stand up before the snap and can back off the line to cover receivers. NFL.com notes that he could have coverage or rush duties against the pass.

Hybrid. A player who can do both is the one teams prize. NFL.com's 2009 article said teams look at whether a college end can play from a two-point stance, meaning standing up, and whether he can drop into coverage and change direction. The article praised the ability to get to the quarterback as the common skill.

The sources do not give a single formal definition of an edge player. They describe jobs. That is why two writers can use the word for slightly different groups of players, and why lists of edge rushers in the media often mix defensive ends and outside linebackers.

The league's website treats edge as its own group when it ranks players. NFL.com's 2026 free-agent rankings by position list "Edge" as a separate defensive category next to the defensive line, linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties, and the article ranks 18 edge players. The same article uses the word in two ways: it praises one player as a good edge rusher, and it calls another "more of an edge-setter than a great pass rusher." The article does not define either term, and this page does not either. The contrast shows that edge covers more than one skill, and that pass rushing is one of them.

The NFL playing rules do not use edge as a position. In the 2026 rulebook the word appears only in its physical sense, as the edge of a field marking or the cutting edge of a cleat. The rulebook does not name defensive end or outside linebacker as positions either, so the label sits entirely outside it. The rules that apply to a defender apply to him whatever the broadcast calls him.

The descriptions of the two jobs come from NFL.com reports: "Hybrid edge defenders spur versatility, creativity", which carries no date on the page but refers to the 2013 draft, "Draft's top hybrid DE/OLBs: Popularity of 3-4 front creates demand" by Bucky Brooks, which covers the 2009 draft, and the 2026 free-agent rankings by position. The statement that the rulebook does not use the word comes from a search of the 2026 official NFL playing rules.

The articles are several years old, and the word has kept spreading since, so this page describes the meaning the league's own writers used and does not give a count of players. More football pages are on the NFL hub, and the page on who may catch a pass covers the offensive side of the line.