NFC Defensive Rankings

#1 - Vikings

For me, the Minnesota Vikings have the best defense in the league, nevermind just in the NFC. They have elite players at every level of their defense; Danielle Hunter, Everson Griffin on the D line, Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks at linebacker and Xavier Rhodes with Harrison Smith in the secondary, and that's just a few of my favourite players on this squad. The Vikings have a great mix of youth and experience throughout their team on this side of the ball and then to bring it all together, a great defensive minded Head Coach, Mike Zimmer.

#2 - Rams

The Rams are another like the Vikings who gave elite players throughout their D. The Rams have Aaron Donald, who to me, is the best none quarterback in the entire league and throughout the off season, the Rams front office have been adding talent around the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year. Aqib Talib came over from the Broncos, Marcus Peters to play opposite him then Ndamukong Suh to play next to Donald in the trenches. Where I feel the difference comes between the Vikings and the Rams is in the linebacking corp. I don't feel like Los Angeles has an elite enforcer over the middle such as Anthony Barr or Eric Kendricks. However, the ace up the sleeve for this team is having Wade Phillips calling the shots on that side of the ball.

Side note; are they're a better pair of play callers in the league than Sean McVay and Wade Phillips? Hit me up on Facebook or Twitter (@wakefield90) if you have an alternative.

#3 - Eagles

I would put the Superbowl champions at number 3, again, it's a unit which is littered with stars throughout. We all saw during last season that the Eagles won a lot of games, including the Superbowl, by having a deep group of defensive linemen who they can rotate in and out. This allows the Eagles to keep their guys fresh and keep attacking the offense, hunting the QB and forcing turnovers. Philly are inexperienced at corner which is why I have them a tick behind the Rams, however players like Sidney Jones, Jalen Mills and Ronald Derby are very talented and if they play beyond their years, they'll have no problems at all, after all, these guys are champions for a reason.

#4 - Falcons

It feels like the Falcons have been great for a while under Dan Quinn. Quinn, of course, is from the Pete Carroll coaching tree and was in Seattle during the Legion of Boom’s peak years. My favourite player on the Falcons defense is linebacker, Deion Jones. The 2016, 2nd round pick has unbelievable speed and range playing from the “MIKE”. Jones is one of the new breed of NFL linebacker who are safety-esque in their build and like Jones, make tackles from sideline to sideline. On the back end, the Falcons have two of the best corners in the league in Robert Alford and Desmond Trufant, both of whom they drafted in the first two rounds of the 2013 draft. I've got all this way through talking about the Falcons defense and I've still not mentioned the line. Grady Jarrett, Takk McKinley, Derrick Shelby are all nice pieces to have but this group is headlined by Vick Beasley who lead the league in sacks a couple of years ago. Another team with exceptional players at every level.

#5 - Saints

The Saints hit the jackpot in the 2017 draft with their defensive haul with Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams both being plug and play starters who performed at a high level. Lattimore was one of the best corners in the league as a rookie and he's only going to get better which means the Saints can almost eliminate one half of the field in the passing game. Cam Jordan, Alex Okafor and 2018 first rounder, Marcus Davenport should provide enough pass rush off the edge to trouble the offenses they come up against too. The Saints have a linebacking group made up of mostly cast offs, such as Manti Te’o and A.J. Klein, so that could be a weakness for this team but this is still a good unit with some good players.

#6 - Bears

The Bears are a team who I expect to be much improved in the NFC North and I feel that it will be the most competitive division in football come the fall. One area I really like in the Chicago D is the linebacker group. A starting foursome of Aaron Lynch, Leonard Floyd, Danny Trevethan and Roquan Smith, is really strong and between them, they offer a diverse range of skills that I think will be a great mix. Smith is a player I will have a particular eye on, as I feel he could push for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Adrian Amos is a young and upcoming safety who you should hear more about in the coming years as he looks to build on a solid first couple of years in the league after being taken in the 5th round in 2015. To round it out on the front end, Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman and Jonathan Bullard are a solid trio in Vic Fangio’s 3-4 base package.

#7 - Packers

In the past couple of drafts, the Packers have gone about refreshing their secondary with the selections of Josh Jones and Kevin King in 2017 and then following that up this year by taking Jaire Alexander and Joshua Jackson. The Cheeseheads will be hoping that these three players will lock down the back end for years to come and I'd say that they have the talent to do just that, alongside Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. At the front end, Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels have been joined by big name, free agency acquisition, Mo Wilkerson. This also signalled a change in philosophy in the front office in the post Ted Thompson era. Green Bay will be hoping to squeezed yet more pass rushing juice of of Clay Matthews as he moves into his 10th season. The other main pass rusher will be Nick Perry but then behind that it's a whole lot of nothing. Definitely an area where the coaching staff will be hoping someone can step up and make some plays.

#8 - Cowboys

Number 8 seems a little low for the Cowboys defense when you look at the depth chart, I will admit that but I feel like this unit's success revolves around the health of Sean Lee and whether DeMarcus Lawrence is a one season wonder, or not. Lee's health can rarely be relied on so that's a big reason for the fall here. Dem Boyz have a nice rotation of pass rushers behind Lawrence, without being exceptional. Players like Jack Crawford, Taco Charlton and Kony Ealy have a little bit to prove and the Cowboys staff will be hoping for big plays out of all of them, as Lawrence had to do a lot of the work alone last year. Jaylon Smith is another linebacker with health issues but if he plays 16 games, Dallas may another potential star in the making. Smith and Lee will be joined my first round pick Leighton Vander Esch. Dallas have had some recent success taking players out of Boise State and will be hoping LVE follows suit. On the back end, Byron Jones is moving back to free safety which allows Jourdan Lewis and Chidobe Awuzie to take the outside corner jobs. I really like this young trio of defensive backs and take Dallas are trying to develop them together. Much like the group of corners in Green Bay, it'll be worth keeping an eye on.

#9 - Lions

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Detroit Lions have the most underrated defender in the league in their team. Darius Slay us one of the best corners in the league but nobody ever talks about him. Like, at all. Why not? I just don't know. Glover Quin is a nice safety too and the Lions will be hoping for Teez Tabor makes a leap in the coming season, opposite Big Play Slay. Jarrad Davis is another player that nobody talks about but he's a good up-and-coming linebacker who will be looking to make his mark next year. Ziggy Ansah is the star on this team defensively and will be looking to get after the QB on a consistent basis after signing hid franchise tag, since he will surely be looking to earn a long term deal from 2019. The problem is there's no clear number 2 rusher in Detroit so new HC, Matt Patricia will have to get together with in Defensive Co-ordinator to work out how to create pressure. Fortunately, Patricia is one of the premier defensive minds in the NFL, which is why I feel it was a great hire by Detroit this off season.

#10 - Buccaneers

Last season Tampa Bay did not have a good defense, maybe it was one of the worst in the league. General Manager Jason Licht knew he has some work to do and to be fair to him, he has invested free agent dollars and draft picks in his defense throughout the off season in the hope that they're much better this year. The Bucs couldn't stop the run last year, so in came Beau Allen and Mitch Unrein via free agency and behemoth run stuffer, Vita Vea in the first round of the draft. Next problem; pass rush. In come Vinny Curry and Jason Pierre-Paul from Philadelphia and New York respectively to beef up the rush. Whilst we're talking pass rush, the Bucs will also be hoping to get more out of Noah Spence moving forward since he's had a slow start to his career. Along with Gerald McCoy, Tampa now have a pretty deep rotation along the line as we all know, it's a copycat league and this is exactly how the Eagles did it last year. Although it remains to be seen if this can be successfully recreated. Finally, Tampa Bay spent two of their three, 2nd round picks on corners, MJ Stewart and Carlton Davis. The team will be hoping that they can form a nice young trio of corners with Vernon Hargreaves. You'll have noted that there's a lot of hoping throughout this unit… hence their ranking.

#11 - Panthers

Even as I write this, this feels too low for a team with Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Kawann Short. They problem is Kuechly never completes a full season, Davis has an upcoming PED’s suspension, Short is a great run defender and will get you some sacks but there's just not enough help along the D line. The secondary also feels woefully short; James Bradberry headlines the corner group but after that there's not much and it still puzzles me that Carolina didn't draft a safety or doesn't add one of the top remaining free agent safeties such as, Eric Reid, Tre Boston or Kenny Vaccaro. I know that Sean McDermott’s system is very corner friendly so you don't need big names, but surely it's better to have as skilled players as you can get? I believe the problem for the Panthers is that they just haven't got enough out of their defensive draft picks over the past few years; Vernon Butler, Daeshon Hall, Shaq Thompson and even Bradberry. Daryl Worley and Zack Sanchez aren't even on the team anymore to make matters worse. Fact of the matter is, if you draft badly, you get worse. That's why the Panthers are this low.

#12 - Redskins

I'll start with the good news for the Redskins. I'm looking forward to seeing if Jonathan Allen and Da’Ron Payne can rekindle the relationship that they had at Alabama at the front of the defense and they'll be spelled by Matt Ioannidis and Ziggy Hood. Ryan Kerrigan will be back hunting down the passers and they'll have good coverage on one side of the defense with Josh Norman. Then comes the guesswork… Orlando Scandrick has had a streaky career, Zach Brown always feels like his play could drop off a cliff and then will Ryan Anderson deliver? Fab Moreau will be asked to do more in his second season. Parnell McPhee has arrived from Chicago and Washington will be hoping to get some juice out of him in the later stages of his career. Like a lot of these teams further down my rankings, they have talented players but they're not settled and are going through some degree of transition. The best defenses are settled, have stars at every level and have young players who have already made plays, or almost certainly will, to support those veterans. Washington is another, like Carolina and Tampa Bay, who don't quite have that, yet.

#13 - Cardinals

Another team like the Panthers, that used to be good and now is just not. The Cards are another team who have lost players and not replaced them to a high enough standard. I have hopes for Markus Golden, Budda Baker and Haasan Reddick but it's make or break time for Robert Nkemdiche and Brandon Williams. Although it's still questionable whether Baker will fully replace Tyrann Mathieu. The group of players who I've named here were who Arizona wanted to be their next generation on defense when they were drafted but not one has proven to be a home run pick at this stage. To make things worse, when you're picking up veterans like Bene Benwikere and Antoine Bethea, you can't be too shocked when your defense is bad. But hey, you've still got Patrick Peterson and Chandler Jones and those guys are great.

#14 - 49ers

I love what the 49ers have done in rebuilding their defensive line via the draft over the past few years. Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas should grow into an unbelievable line in the next few years, and if/when they do, the 49ers will be much higher on my rankings, they've just not done it yet. I like what I see from Reuben Foster on the field but there are certainly character concerns off it. He could be one of the best linebackers in the league if he keeps his nose clean. I have my doubts personally so that also keeps the 9ers low on the list. Richard Sherman is a huge name acquisition but he's coming off an Achilles tear which could sapp him off his explosiveness, again, if this isn't the case, then San Francisco will vault up this list. San Fran feels like the group who have the potential to rise fastest in these rankings but I just can't do it yet as they have to prove it first.

#15 - Seahawks

A few years ago, the Legion of Boom were at their peak and the Seahawks reached two Superbowls, winning one. Now across the defense, it's more like the Legion of whom. They're kind of blowing things up and starting again in the Pacific northwest and it's probably going to take a while until we see this unit hit the heights again. They still have one of the best linebackers in the league in Bobby Wagner and alongside him is K.J Wright but by week 1, they could be the only two players who remain from their Superbowl defense. Kam Chancellor looks like he's going to have to retire due to a neck injury picked up in the muscles of last year. The hard-hitting safety has been trying to get back on the field but according to a statement released by Chancellor's camp, he believes he has played his last game because the injury isn't healing. Another big question is whether fellow safety, Earl Thomas is sticking around. If their safety tandem is healthy and intact week 1 then this defense could probably move up my rankings but at the moment there it looks like there's almost no chance of that happening. I also don't know where the pass rush is coming from or whether they'll be able to stop the run consistently. Pete Carroll and his staff need to come up with answers or they could be on the hot seat sooner rather than later.

#16 - Giants

I feel like things are just a mess in New York at the moment on the defensive side of the ball outside of Damon Harrison, Olivier Vernon and Landon Collins. Collins is one of the best safeties in the NFL but he really needs to be the glue in that level of the defense and elevate those around him. Jenoris Jenkins is undoubtedly talented but how much will the recent legal happenings affect him next season? Opposite him is Eli Apple who doesn't possess the best reputation in the locker room and certainly hasn't played up to his draft position. Alec Ogletree is a big name who the Giants are going to be paying a lot of dollars too but you have to ask yourself, if he was worthy of that contract, why are the Rams letting him walk when their linebackers are generally pretty poor? Vernon and Harrison can get after the passer and stuff runs but they need some help. It may not all be lost for this team though, as I expect the offense to be amongst the league's most explosive in 2018, so if they can muster even average play from their D, it can still be a good season in Gotham.