The season is in the books and defensive play culminated in the Los Angeles Rams becoming Super Bowl champions. Naturally, the NFL Draft will have a significant impact on our rankings. This is a deep class of prospects, especially on the defensive side. Bookmark this page throughout the summer and season for frequent updates of our NFL defense rankings.
The Arizona Cardinals are banking on a lot of things to go right next season. First, they need J. Watt to stay healthy for the first time in years. Arizona did address its pass rush, adding Cameron Thomas and Myjai Sanders. The thing that pushes Arizona down is our concerns in the secondary. Kansas City lost one of its top cornerbacks and this pass rush is inconsistent outside of Chris Jones. Credit to the Chiefs for spending their first-round picks on the defensive side.
He can be a quality No. Meanwhile, George Karlaftis provides this team with overwhelming brute force and a relentless motor on the edge, something badly needed. Not to be outdone, Kansas City added linebacker Leo Chenal. The numbers from this past season look great for the New England Patriots defense. It allowed the third-fewest yards per play 5. Look at the final games against the Buffalo Bills, allowing passing yards and 8 touchdowns to Josh Allen. Top corner J. Jackson is gone, aging players are back and wide receivers are drooling when they look at his secondary.
There are just too many concerns about the pass rush and cornerbacks to consider this a great defense. Unfortunately, none of those issues were addressed in Round 1. We love Marcus Jones as a return specialist, even sending him to New England in mock drafts for that reason. Credit to the Tennessee Titans for turning things around in If this entire unit wants to take a step forward, becoming a more consistent defense that can challenge for a top spot, cornerbacks Caleb Farley and Kristian Fulton need to prove themselves this fall.
One way to help those young cornerbacks, drafting another edge rusher. Instead, the Titans focused on offense with their draft class. Similar to a few teams on our NFL defense rankings, everyone is focused on what the Denver Broncos did at quarterback. If Randy Gregory stays healthy, he creates a substantial improvement for this pass rush. The Broncos still need another boundary cornerback and there are unknown with Vic Fangio gone, but projecting this as a top defense is reasonable for the talent pool.
