Ranking the Top 10 NFL Defenses for the 2026 Season!

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Welcome to the Ringer NFL show.

I'm your host, Shield Kapadia.

Today we are projecting the top 10 defenses in the NFL.

We did the all fences last week.

I love doing this exercise every summer just to say,

word of these teams rank when you have to rank them.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

I'm not a fan of the top 10.

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All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show.

Doing top 10 defenses with my friend, Deontay Lee,

from the Ringer Deontay, easier exercise or harder exercise

for you to whittle it down to 10,

then last week when we did the offenses.

I would say easier in the sense of dismissing teams

that I know are just not in the conversation at all.

Right?

I think we kind of talked about this at the beginning

of last week's episode,

that doing the defenses,

it is much easier to just set your threshold

and see which teams like,

oh, they don't have the adrussian talent.

They don't have the coverage talent.

I don't trust the coach.

Or the regression says that this X, Y, or Z thing

might be happening this upcoming season.

Often it's a little tougher to kind of sort through,

but I feel pretty good.

I would say one through 15 or so

was where I have each defense ranked.

Okay, yeah, I felt like I could find 17, 18 offenses.

I felt pretty good about it.

And then I could find like five defenses.

Yeah.

I felt really good about it.

And then I'm like, all right, let me just pick,

I'm going to have to just pick from the rest here

and see what I come up with.

So I think we're going to have some duplicates.

My prediction would be we're going to have duplicates

near the top, like top five issue or so,

but five to 10,

we might have some different.

So let's see if I'm right about that or not.

All right, we're going to count down 10 to one again.

This is our projections for the best defenses in the NFL

in 2020, 60,

get us started with number 10.

Who do you got?

Number 10.

And I think that this is right around that range

where you start having to ask questions about

how good you feel about whatever this team X team strength is.

I'm going with Buffalo, right?

I'm going with Buffalo here is number 10.

This is me really calling my shot with Jim Winter

as a defensive play collar.

This is me, I think crossing my fingers

at Oliver and Christian Benford are going to be available

for this defense and be playing at peak

capacity, which we've really only had an opportunity to see in spots

fight the last two, three seasons because they've been banged up

or not had the right amount of supporting cast around them

to really maximize their skill sets.

And I think that just changing the way that they approach things

defensively if I'm to assume that Jim Winter wants to borrow

from some of that bands Joseph really going back to Rex Ryan

and ask approach to defense.

Well, we are just trying to make plays in the backfield

as aggressively as possible.

We're going to play tight coverage and trust Benford and Max

Well, here's to be our speed guys who can run in one on one

coverage with all these guys and that Leonard being a really good

safety in his playing days and somebody who maybe not to the same

level of Christian Parker, I'm sure we'll get to and Dallas at some

point, whether they're in or out of the top 10.

I think that he has, he has also built up a reputation as a great

teacher, a great developer of talent.

And I'm trusting that he will be able to impart some information

to their young safety to kind of help them even out some of the

issues that they were having over the last two to three seasons.

All right, so I love this one.

I don't have them in my top 10, but again, it was I honestly,

number 10, I was like, I have no idea who to pick here and I'll

tell you in a minute who I landed on, but I started ranking the

defense and I thought, you know what, I'm probably going to have

the bills pretty low because I'm looking at the depth chart

and I don't love the depth chart.

And then as I'm going through other teams, I'm like, well,

do I like a more or less than the bills?

And I kept going to the bills over a lot of the other teams.

So I definitely got to the point where I'm like, I think they're

better than I thought they were going to be when I started this

exercise.

I had them kind of in the middle group around, you know, 15,

16, not too far out of it, but it was interesting because

they're such an interesting defense because I felt like with

McDermott, you could kind of hand them any personnel,

any injuries, and he's going to get you to at least like the

15th best defense in the NFL or maybe the 20th.

It was going to reach a level of competency where you're

going to win a lot of games because you have Josh Allen.

But then in the playoffs, I mean, they just have gotten

cooked in a lot of these playoff games with Sean McDermott.

He hasn't had answers and that's why they haven't gotten to

the Super Bowl.

So now you bring in Jim Leonard and tell me, Deontay, it feels

like the hipsters and not just the hipsters, like kind of just

like even when I was young and even when I was young and

even when I was young and even when I was young and even when I was

young and even when I was young and even when I was young and

even when I was young and even when I was young and even when I was

young and even when I was young and even when I was young and

even when I was young and even when I was young and even when I was

young and even when I was young and even when I was young and

even when I was young and even when I was young and even when I was

lineage in coaching, right?

Like he followed, this goes back to his time in college,

really following up, Dave Oranda, you know,

with Dave Oranda, left Wisconsin for LSU.

I think that's really the first time

that people started having conversations about Jim Litter,

and I think that, you know, he probably has a good agent

that was doing a great job, keeping his name in the mix of like,

hey, this guy is down at the college level now coaching well,

but we know that eventually he's going to end up in the NFL.

And then I think being in Denver and really overseeing

what I think has been one of the most consistent teams

in spite of their style of play, right?

Like they are very aggressive.

They play a bunch of man coverage.

They do blitz a lot.

They are, you know, they have a kind of record-sumanding

to their style of play at times

that you don't typically see in a stable defense, right?

Like when I think about a Mike McDonald defense

or a big fan geo defense, they're aggressive too,

but everything is built around.

We're not giving up explosive plays.

Whereas, you know, that Vance Joseph Rex Ryan,

and now I'm assuming will be Jim Leonard style of play

is built more on, hey, what can we take away

in the backfield from an offense?

How can we play the game on our terms?

So I think that that's really what it is

is people just being excited about a different stylistic approach

or maybe just kind of retrofitting a defensive approach

to make it work in today's context

because we have seen Denver be successful with that.

So I think that that's what's at the heart of it.

And, you know, like he is a guy who's a former NFL guy,

which probably means there are people in the media

who have known him since he was a player.

And really like him a lot too.

Like you're one of the best people

I've pointed that out of being like,

hey, that's be wary of people who have these meteors.

This guy was nice to me.

Yeah.

Exactly.

He gave me an extra 10 minutes after practice

when nobody else would, right?

Like I think that that's part of it,

but really I think there's a lot of excitement about

what whether or not he can bring that Vance Joseph Rex Ryan

as a approach to defense to a spot like Buffalo,

which really I think needs a facelift

in approach to the game on both sides of the ball.

Man, I don't want to set bills fans up for part break,

but if they have a top 10 defense, you know,

they're gonna be right where they've been every year.

And maybe this is the year they would get over the hump.

You have the talent, you know,

you look at the talent a little bit

and you wonder, are it is this talent

good enough huge turnover, Deont.

I was looking at it.

I think 10 players who played at least 300 plus snaps

for them last year are gone.

So this is just like we are moving away from Sean McDermott

and his guys, they would just bring back the veterans

who had played for him.

That was often their answer on defense.

And again, it worked pretty well in the regular season.

It didn't work so well in the playoffs.

So yeah, I'm looking at my notes here

and I have bills and then in parentheses,

not sure where to put them and then my first sentence is,

I'm not sure what to make this group.

So they were a difficult one.

I'm glad we got to talk about them.

Cause I mean, a guy like Maxwell,

Harrison, at corner, just could have a huge impact

on whether this defense is good

and whether the bills are super bowl contenders.

So nice little surprise there from Deont at number 10.

All right, let's see if I surprise him with my number 10

because my number 10, there was a team that made a big trade

in the middle of the last season

and I ripped the trade pretty vehemently

and I stand by everything I said.

Yet I kinda think their defense has a chance

to be pretty good this year.

I went with the Indianapolis Colts, Deont at number 10,

so here's the case.

Media ochre defense last year, 15th in DVOA,

however, the forest Buckner played 10 games,

char various word played seven games,

saw a scarred and her played four games.

And so I feel like injuries to some of their key players

in that trade again happened in the middle of the season

were really a factor here.

I kinda liked their draft a little bit.

You know, I know CJ Allen I think is injured,

but I like some of the picks they made

like it's Cedos rookies playing for them right away.

And in Arumu, I've been more on the side of like,

you know, he's pretty good, but let's not get carried away.

He's only produced I think a top 10 defense once

in his career.

That's in seven NFL seasons.

Now we hasn't had great talent to work with really

at either stop.

So I was looking at a bunch of teams here

and I don't wanna give them all away

because you might have a elsewhere in your top 10.

But ultimately I was like,

I think the Colts will be able to cover.

They've got lots of, they've got a good past Russia,

they've got Buckner, you know, a defensive tackle.

It's like there might be enough here for them to kind

of just sneaking to the top 10.

What do you think about the Colts chances

of fielding a good defense this year?

I think you're really rust on the shoulders of Ardenky

and Leotl-A-2, right?

Like knowing what we know about a Luanna Romo defense

and then just knowing what we know about the way

that this roster is bill, they've addressed the cornerback

position that is really where their super strength is

and those corners in order to me maximize,

I think have to trust that, you know,

Leotl-A-2 key and really I guess all rotating around

to force Buckner being healthy too, right?

That that trio is going to force enough quick pressure

in the aggregate to not risk giving up explosive plays, right?

That's really been the problem if there is one

or a critique I would have had of the Luanna Romo defense

at the end of the time, end of his time in Cincinnati

and without sauce gardener last year after, you know,

he started missing time post-trade.

It's that when they haven't had, you know,

when he hasn't had a peak tray Hendrix in Sam Hubbard,

tearing off the edges to really disrupt quarterbacks.

When he lost, you know, BJ and DJ has defensive tackles,

right, that their run defense started to create

her a little bit and then offense was really just started

kind of having their way with the style of play.

Not because he's calling the wrong things,

he just hasn't had the people in order to, you know,

maximize what he wants to do schematically.

It's very similar to Matt Eberfluss in Chicago, right,

where everybody was talking about,

hey, this is the guy that has been, you know,

reputed, reputed to have this great approach to defense

and we're looking up and he's wrecking 22nd,

he's wrecking 26, he's wrecking 19.

Where's his great defense you're talking about

and a lot of it is more Jimmy's and Joe's and X's and Nose

and I think that for me, I need to see lot to really kind

of turn that corner and be a pro bowl week to week,

major impact level ed rusher.

I think that is probably the straw that will stir

the drink for this defense.

I had them out of the top 10.

They're really in that kind of 14 to 16 cluster for me

because I just don't know what I can count on from them, right?

Especially because they're not a defense

that's really leaned on forcing a ton of turnovers

in the same way we've seen from Jacksonville

and some other teams that we may get to later on down the line.

I just kind of have to see it with them first

and until I see some of these young guys

really punch through, especially up front,

I think I'm just gonna exercise some caution with this group.

It's hard to get to 10.

I'm telling you, there's probably bills, fans and cults,

fans listening to this being like,

what?

No, I don't think we're gonna, we're not gonna have a top 10.

Defense, it doesn't go through yourself, do the exercise,

try to get to 10.

You're gonna have to fill out those last maybe two or three spots

with teams that you're really not sure of.

So I'm taking a flyer on the cults.

Deontay's taking a flyer there on the Buffalo Bills.

All right, number nine, Deontay, who do you have?

The same way you couldn't quit this team

when we were talking about offenses.

I can't quit this team on the defensive side of the wall.

I'm going with the Kansas City Chief set number nine.

Oh, another surprise, not in my top 10.

I honestly felt better about saying that the bills

would have a top 10 defense, just knowing that they're gonna

really prioritize stopping the run

and playing tight coverage and trying to get a bunch of sacks.

Then I did about Kansas City because you have to just talk

about what people are in what spots and how much you trust,

you know, some of the young, more improvement commodities,

especially on the back end.

And, you know, I could be falling victim to just,

A, how I feel about players and B, just what the buzz is

out of training camp, but we've heard a lot of good things

about Peter Woods so far as a defensive tackle.

And I think that for me, when I think about what the elite

builds of defense have looked like over the last three

or four seasons, having a pair of dominant defensive tackles

is something that continues to come up or having someone

who cannot be denied in terms of stopping the run

as a defensive tackle to allow you to play more split,

you know, it's more split safety looks where you can play

lighter boxes, you know, that will allow you to prioritize

stopping the play action pass without it necessarily risk,

without necessarily risking giving up chunk gains

in the run game.

I think that was what was at the heart of bringing Woods in.

And if he and Chris Jones are locked in as a tandem

that I think they can be, that alleviates so much pressure

from guys like George Carloftes from this linebacker core,

from young corners like Noel Williams and Mansour Delaene

to have to be stud star pieces.

And I really just have a lot of trust to Steve Spagnolo, right?

He was able to make it work with Dan Sorenson, you know,

he's been able to make it work with all manner of guys.

You know, he's gotten Nick Bolton and Drew Trinkwood

will look like, you know, much better linebackers now

than they did earlier in their careers on a year-to-year basis.

I just have a lot of baked in trust on that side of the ball.

I don't think it's going to look anywhere near as dominant

as it did in 2022 and 2023, right?

Where they were showing up in these high leverage games

and just erasing whatever the strength of their opponent was,

immediately taken it away, right?

You think about the Super Bowl against the 49ers

after the 2023 season and it was like everything that made

that San Francisco offense, world beaters, all year long,

they couldn't access any of it and is because of how well Spags

was calling that defense.

I don't know if they have the people to be able to access

that height, but I do just trust that his baseline

if his bodies are healthy will still be in that eight to 10 range.

He definitely sets, he feels like he's earned the benefit

of the doubt of setting the floor of the defense.

It's kind of like what we talked about,

McDermott in the regular season.

Now Spags has obviously been better in the postseason.

He has maybe, I don't even think maybe, well, now maybe,

one of the best postseason resumes of any defensive coordinator.

I was going to say definitely and then I'm thinking buddy Ryan,

I'm thinking, you know, bellichec.

Right, you got a bellichec.

Yes, there's other great, you know, great coordinators

or great defensive coaches who have had masterful game plans

in the postseason, but he's right there with a lot of them.

They're tough.

I mean, so much turnover on this defense.

I mean, they lost Trent McDuffie, Jalen Watson, Brian Cook, Charles O'Mennehew,

Leo Chenle, Mike Dana, Jerry Tillerie.

I know all those players are not great players,

but that's seven of 15 players who like really played for them last year.

And they're really just, it feels like an organizational philosophy

that we can do more with less with Steve Spagnol.

Now I thought they were really going to lean into that

and then they spend two first round picks on defensive players.

So it wasn't quite, you know, they spent their first pick on a cornerback.

So it wasn't like, oh, we can just draft anybody on day three

that he likes and they'll play.

So they did get him some talent.

Because I'm always a little bit wary when they're like, oh, we can do, you know,

we can do anything with these day three picks.

It's like talent.

You might be able to, but talent still matters.

So it's just such a transition period for them

that I'm not sure what to make of them.

But to your point, I mean, their defense is underspags.

I mean, 12, 5, 15, 18, 19, 18.

Like they're never really going to be in that bottom quartile.

And so I think you're right.

If these young players, and that's a theme with a lot of these defenses

where you're like, hey, if this one rookie,

who they spent a lot of draft capital on can actually play that feels a big hole.

Now, if you do that for every team, you're going to be wrong

about probably over a hundred percent of them, you know,

that's kind of a trap we all fall into in the summer that like, oh,

they were bad at linebacker, but they drafted this guy in the second round.

They're fine now.

They're probably not going to be fine.

But I don't know with a guy like Delane, with a guy like Woods,

if those guys can be good players for them, they don't have to be all pros,

but good players for them.

Maybe they have a chance to overachieve.

So yeah, I had them kind of right in that middle ground,

probably around 15-ish.

I had them, I think a couple spots below the bills.

But they were one that I looked at and I considered and I thought,

maybe I just give spags the benefit of the down that they'll figure this out.

But I couldn't quite get there with the talent on the roster.

So Deontay's got the chiefs there at number nine and inspired.

I like it from Deontay there at number nine.

All right, my number nine pick actually felt good about this one.

You know the cold tells like, I don't know.

Do I actually feel good about this one?

I feel good about calling my shot here.

Let's see if they're in your top 10.

I got the Tampa Bay box in my top.

I had them just outside, but I think there's an interesting reason for us to have that conversation.

I like their talent.

I'm just looking at their talent going.

All right, Kalajakantzi was injured last year, played I think three games.

He's back.

Vita Vale, let's assume something, whatever gets done with his contract.

Ruben Bane, Jr.

I like that draft pick in the first round.

Yaya Diabi, I mean, he was top 10 in pressures last season.

Not necessarily a household name unless you're a Bucks fan, but has been very productive.

They got some depth with Al-Qadim Muhammad who had kind of an outlier season last year,

but was very good for Detroit there.

And I'm just looking at it like, all right.

I like their front quite a bit.

They're talented in this secondary, unproven, where I'm like, I'm not, you know,

if this ends up being a stupid pick, it'll be because all right, their secondary actually

wasn't that good, but just looking at the depth chart and who are the 11 guys who are going

to be playing the majority of the stamps if everyone's healthy for some of these other

defenses.

I was like, I kind of like their group better than a lot of these other groups.

And so I think they're a sneaky, potentially sneaky, good defense this year.

What did I, what are you more skeptical of with this Bucks defense?

I mean, it's not like there's anything major because I had them at 11th, ultimately,

right?

So they were right, you know, a hair's edge away from being in the top 10 for me.

I think that really my biggest question is just what can I expect from Todd Bowles

as a play caller, right?

Because I think that while they've never been bad and I think that it's almost impossible

for a Todd Bowles defense to be bad because of its tempoles and trying to stop the run,

you know, playing zone coverage, all of those things, right?

I think that the way that he runs his defense almost insulates it from being bad and also

limits it from being elite, right?

Because you don't always see that high level performance from them in terms of coverage.

Now, some of that, I think is personnel dependent, right?

Because they just haven't been able to find since Carlton Davis, you know, left another

corner that they can genuinely trust to be in one-on-one coverage on a snap-to-snap basis.

And maybe that's Benjamin Morrison, right?

And I think that this continues to come up, right?

Who are the players that you are going to be putting, you know, a lot of weight on whether

or not this team turns a corner on?

And I think that Benjamin Morrison is that.

I think if Keon Tay Scott is able to punch through and become a starter in the slot, he

may need to be that for them as well.

And then I think that Yaya Diabe is another guy who needs to kind of repeat what we saw

last season, right?

He did have, you know, he was great in terms of generating pressure.

And we get him to finish even more of these pressures with QB hits and sacks.

Can he really become a household name somebody we think about?

Maybe not in the tier one of Ed Drusher's, but that guy that's outside of tier one, but

you feel confident if the circumstances are right can go turn in 12 to 15 sacks.

If he turns into that player and you get the kind of play that I'm talking about from

their defensive backs, then yeah, this could just, this might not just be a top 10 defense.

It can be a top five defense because I think it's pretty well balanced.

All three levels in a way that we haven't really seen from a Tampa Bay defense in a little

bit.

I think that for me though, I just keep falling back on.

Do I trust that top bulls is going to be able to address some of the issues that these

offenses are throwing at defenses on a week to week basis?

And we have absolutely seen some teams get after a top bull defense over the last few

years.

So I'm fascinated to see if the personnel here is good enough to overcome some of the

schematic issues that I think gets presented to the way that bulls likes to call his

own his defense.

Yeah, it's like does he have a second pitch or a third pitch because you know, for many

years there was like Todd Bulls established one of the best defensive coaches in the NFL

and then kind of the Shanahan tree guy started kind of carving them up.

But it just got ugly.

It felt like every time he faced those teams and even if you just look at it overall the

last three seasons, 17th, 18th and 19th, the box in terms of EPA, they're defense.

So they've been more mediocre than good.

Now if they can get that pass fresh going, maybe any defensive coach will tell you that

makes life a little bit easier.

But I'm with you.

He has to prove that he's got kind of some wrinkles not as predictable maybe or you know,

as some of his defenses of the past.

When I was Deonte when I was a young buck reporter and Eagles fire their defensive coordinator,

Todd Bulls takes over.

Is that dream team season?

It's a disaster.

As you know, I'm in the locker room after a game and bulls is you know, surrounded.

They like, I forget what game it was.

I forget how much they got carved up.

But there was a big play.

We're not Namedi Asama who was having a nightmare season off just got just got toasted.

And you know, I'm like, all right, how do I kind of fragile ask Todd Bulls about that

play?

So I'm like, you know, on that, whatever it was, 37 year touchdown was it like, you know,

educated coverage or you know, trying to basically act.

I don't want to be like, did Dombi just get toasted, but kind of tell you what happened.

I just looked at me and goes, nothing complicated about it.

I was high school cover three.

I'm like, oh, I don't think he's happy with Dombi Asama on that play.

So yes, that was always I was like, after that, I never heard like just the defensive coordinator

be that direct right after a game with like, no, I'm not giving any excuses for that.

He just got burned on that play.

So yeah, anytime I think of Todd Bulls, I think a high school cover three for the last decade

or so because I'm an old man.

And you know, those, those, that's a core memory for me as a young reporter.

All right, let's take a break.

We come back.

We will get to our top eight defenses for 2026.

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All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show.

So far only disagreements.

Deonte's got the chiefs and bills in his top 10.

I've got the bucks and Colts number eight.

Deonte, who do you got?

Going with the team that has been in the top 10 for each of the last few years, even

though they've made a coaching change.

I'm keeping the Los Angeles Chargers here and I've got them at number eight.

Okay.

I don't have them in.

I feel now.

I've kind of made a habit of being like, they're not going to do this again and been wrong

because like you said, they've been in the top 10 the last two years.

I worry that losing Jesse Mintor that we will see this roster is flawed and they might

not be top 10, but I could be wrong.

Make the case chargers at number eight.

I think the case starts with the fact that the new defensive coordinator, Chris O'Leary

has been had worked under Jesse Mintor for a while, right?

And that they were pretty well connected going back to the time where Mintor was coaching

in college, right?

So there's that piece of it.

So a lot of, I think the skeleton, the bones, the DNA of this defensive scheme, Chris O'Leary

was there, putting his fingers on that just as much as Mintor was maybe not as much, but

was certainly present with Mintor in that process.

And going to training camp and talking with reporters there and sitting in those press conferences

and asking questions of my own, I think that what I've come away with is the fact that

they're not going to try to reinvent the wheel, right?

I don't know if it'll be a one to one replica of what we've seen over the last two years

with Jesse Mintor calling the defense, but they're not going to stray from what works,

right?

And I think that what made this defense work, there was obviously some ingenuity from

Mintor in terms of the simulated pressures and all the creative ways to manipulate protection,

to manipulate blocking schemes to get plays in the backfield.

But at the, at its heart, what makes this defense work is that 2, 2, 2, and below 2 has

been a huge win for them as an edge.

It's that Clill Mac continues to be ageless.

It's that Durwin James continues to be one of the three best slot defenders in the NFL.

Those are like the tent poles that they built, what was the successful scheme around.

And I have no reason to believe that those guys are taking a step back until I see it myself,

right?

Now, what I feel even stronger, even more strongly about it, if we got a news report while

we were on this podcast, it's a charge or somehow consummate to some trade for Vita Vaya.

Yeah, of course.

You know, I think it will be much easier to stamp this thing, right?

If they had, you know, a bonafide, number one corner that we knew was it had all pro potential,

right?

Yes, I will feel a lot more comfortable about it.

But we've seen this team be able to apply, you know, more aggressive man coverages, more

match coverages, these simulated pressures with less than household names at these spots,

because they've been able to lean upon their superstars to do the heavy lifting and the

scheme to put them in positions to be able to manipulate offenses to the defense's benefit.

I need, while I don't think Chris O'Leary could ever reach what mentor did, I think I'm

just going to keep leaning back on the fact that I trust that they'll find a way to replicate

at least what we've seen in pieces, if not, you know, wholesale one-on-one comparison.

You know, I was on a group chat earlier this week and you know, you're batting around

teams, who's more likely to get to the Super Bowl, this team or this team?

And I forget the chart, I think it was the chargers and the Texans, someone brought up

who was more likely to get to the Super Bowl.

And I said Texans, and it's hard for me because I like Harbaugh, I like McDaniel, I like

Herbert, there are things I like about this chargers team, quite of it, even like you said,

you know, O'Leary, he could, like, I kind of like what they did there.

He was in the building, he left, was a DC in college, came back, like that high

or make sense to me, I have no issue with the process there, maybe he'll be good.

I just, I don't know that the chargers have a Super Bowl caliber roster and that's why

I have them out of the top ten on defense.

I'm just looking at the names here and to your point, I'm just like, why were we not

more aggressive in some of our decision making him the offseason?

I know we've both been on the same page with their offends, but they could have done

something and it's the same thing with their defense.

This feels like a time, a year where they could have said we have Harbaugh, we have Herbert

in his prime, we kind of, you know, at Barista ourselves in the playoffs last year, we

have McDaniel for a year, you know, I don't know that you're going to have him for three

years, that if it goes well, you might not have him for that long.

Like, let's kind of, I'm not saying you have to put, you don't have to turn to the Rams

and before you go, you know, give up your three first round picks or whatever, but you

could have done more, I feel like then what they've done because I just look at spots

on this roster and, you know, you're right, some of the personnel on defense is really

good, you know, Tui Tui below two is very good.

Cleal Mac was good, but he's 35, like I would rather have and maybe a key message or

they're like, hey, that's our insurance policy.

Okay, we'll see.

Derwin James is 30.

They signed Dalvin Tomlinson, he's 32 Tony Jefferson.

I don't know if he's going to start for them or not.

He's 34.

When I start getting to three four guy, you know, four guys over 30 who might be playing

a key role for you.

And now I add in a defense, new defensive coordinator.

And now I look at some of the other positions and I go, I don't know, was Mentor kind of

doing a really good job of doing more with less with that defense because that's kind

of how I felt the last two years.

Some of these defenses we'll talk about.

I'm just going to be like, they're talents on overwhelming.

I like the coordinator, but they're not, they're winning because they're talents overwhelming.

This team, this group of players, I think if you just handed to, you know, your league

average defensive coordinator, they're not a top 10 defense in my opinion.

So you're kind of really relying on the coordinator to do more with less and maybe he'll be able

to, but I couldn't get, that's why I couldn't get there with this charger's defense.

Where'd you have a rank I'm curious?

You know, I kind of did my top 10 and then sort of, I didn't put a number, but it looks

like here, I have them between 15 and 20.

Okay.

So yeah, I have them actually in a similar range with the bills and the chiefs.

I don't think they're going to stink.

I just think they're not going to be as good as last year and I have some concerns about

them.

But again, it doesn't mean I'm right.

I could, I probably, honestly, someone could probably find a clip of me last year saying

something very similar and they still had mentor and they found a way to get it done.

So maybe I'll be wrong once again, but that's kind of where I landed with the charger.

Sorry.

It's a good segue here.

Yeah, take his mind number 18 is the team that mentor went to and you might become at

me with the same argument being like, have you seen you though like the charger's talent?

You really like the Ravens talent.

So maybe you will go that far, but mentor now back to back seasons.

I thought he had to do more with less with that charger's defense.

And to your point, they were top 10, both years.

This non-demat of boot can use is among the biggest headlines of the summer so far.

You know, I don't know.

I think it's going under discussed if I'm the right one.

Absolutely.

So this is, I mean, it was a really scary situation.

He had a neck injury and harbond, the Ravens were kind of just not giving any details about

it and they don't have to that, you know, hopefully that's Mattabique's decision, but it looked

like it could be a career under for a guy who had been emerging as one of the best, you

know, he went from sort of the hipster.

Hey, you got to watch Mattaboke.

Hey, man, I'm telling you he's good on the Ravens to then he's a free agent or you

approaches free agency and he gets a big contract.

And then we all agreed, nope, he's not no longer a hipster under the radar defensive tackle.

He's like one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL to then having that injury.

So I think adding him to this defensive line and then adding tray Hendrixen to this defensive

line to me is a big, big deal and kind of an easy explainer for why they can be better

than they were last year, which they were 15th last year.

And if you look at any pass rush stat pressure rate, sac rate, I mean, we're talking about

one of the five worst teams in the NFL.

So in my head, you're adding Mattaboke, you're adding Hendrixen, you're adding minter that

feels like enough for them to be better than last year.

Now, maybe I'm going too far.

Maybe they'll be, you know, 12 instead of eighth, but I looked at it and I felt good about

those pieces combined with some of the pieces in the secondary with Nate Wiggins with Kyle

Hamilton.

I felt like they could be a pretty good defense this year.

Do you have the Ravens in the top 10 Dite?

I do. I have them sixth.

So we're in similar ground with them.

And it's two things that really make you feel confident about Baltimore.

And spider, how badly they struggled over the last two years defensively before bringing

in Jesse Menter.

I think number one, they gave him all the ingredients that I think he's most interested

in in terms of building his defense.

And those ingredients also look very similar to what was in Seattle this past year,

really the past two years.

Right. I think that especially I would say that a lot of the singles on Nomadimata BK being

the version of himself that they need him to be.

If he can be this team's version of fair, it's great.

I'm glad that he's backflagged, but yeah, you're right.

I mean, and Baltimore has been Baltimore has really emphasized that they're taking a

time, letting him ramp up, ramp it up slowly.

They'll that they're going to let him kind of find his way as a player first.

Make sure that he's not, you know, skittish or unsure of what his health is going to be.

But it seems like the arrow is trending upwards, right?

I think I just saw a tweet that, you know, Travis Jones has been dealing with the

pec injury is going to be returned in a practice soon.

And I think that that combination, if you're telling me the Travis Jones in Nomadimata BK is

going to serve as their version of Linder Williams and Byron Young, I like that starting point.

It's a good day.

Yeah.

I really like that starting point.

You know, I don't think that I think that you're really banking on tray Hendrix in being

maybe not the 17 and a half sat guy that he was, you know, at the peak of his time.

That's an addy, but if he can be a 10, 12, 13 sat guy, there's your speed rusher, which is exactly

what I think this defense is looking for too.

We want one guy who we can really count on being able to win those one on ones and we'll

let the scheme handle the rest in terms of pushing the pocket and we'll send, you know,

creative blitzes to make sure that he gets his one on ones.

So they have that piece as well.

And then I think that what I'm most confident in and this comes, this goes back to

Mentors time in Los Angeles, what he was able to get out of guys like Tar Heep still,

what he was able to get out of Don's Hay Jackson, what he was able to get out of

unproven young commodities at corner and in veteran guys who have bounced around a bit.

That is, he's kind of bought cart blotch for me in terms of trust with developing this position.

And when I look at a guy like Nate Wiggins, when I look at, you know,

Chidobu Wuzae, when I look at Marlon Humphrey, these are guys who are still talented enough

to serve an important purpose for a defense, but we have just seen these wild fluctuations

over the last two years and how they play, you know, Wiggins has been banged up.

Humphrey's been banged up.

Chidobu Wuzae is just not the same as he was when he was younger and more and more closely,

um, more closely tied to his athletic peak.

But I've seen Mentor figure out a way to get aggressive, you know,

matchy taking away these passing lanes and intermediate areas and offenses want to attack.

He's bought my trust in that way and I think that he can get that out of him.

And then they've got maybe the greatest chess piece on defense in the league in Kyle Hamilton, you know,

and we saw with, I would say a sub-hard defense of play collar in Zach or they were always able to say,

hey, 14, we've got a problem out in this area of the field.

We're going to put you here and you're going to fix it and lo and behold, the problems will get fixed.

It's in annual tradition week six, week eight.

All right.

Our Ravens defense.

We're moving them back because we're giving up two new tricks.

Okay.

You know, let's be nice.

Yeah.

We go through two months.

Okay.

We give it to many explosive plays.

So Kyle Hamilton's going to play deep.

Okay.

We're giving up too much in the run games.

So Kyle Hamilton's going to play close to the lattice image.

We're not getting enough out of our past rush.

I call Hamilton's going to be more of a blitzer.

And I need just inevitably hands up being the most impactful player on the field in that way.

And you know, Darwin James was that for just human term Los Angeles.

So again, like if I'm just kind of stacking up, do you have something that looks like what you were doing

when you were successful most recently, which he does?

And do you have some pieces that kind of fit the current meta of championship level defenses

across the league?

And I think that they do.

Now it hasn't all coalesced yet.

And this is not the first time that we have talked about anything with Baltimore and said,

hey, well, they've got all the pieces that you need to be a contender.

And we're expecting them to turn that corner.

I just trust that what Jesse Mentor did in his two years under Jim Harboss,

a defensive coordinator for the chargers that he'll be able to replicate that here.

And if they do, this can be 100% a team that is right back in what I think they believe is

their rightful position as one of the Super Bowl front runners.

I like the deante defensive tackle theory here.

You know, maybe just maybe just, all right, let me go through.

Let me rank the who are the best defensive tackle pairings on these teams?

Those might just end up being the best defenses because it kind of feels that way.

Sometimes when you look at it, who are the defensive tackles, who can kind of control the game,

both against the run and provide disruption as past brushers, you know,

that's a nice foundation to build a defense off of.

And again, the Ravens is not guaranteed that they have that, but maybe, hopefully,

it'll be a great, nice, feel good story.

If Dom Di Madabouquet can come back and play well for them this season.

All right.

So when I was, when I was given the explainer to Deant, I couldn't tell if he had him higher than

May or if he's like, no, are you crazy?

They're not even in the top that he did have the high.

I'm improving.

I'm improving on my poker face because I typically give away exactly how about to get

ripped. He's going to be like the Kyark to cost a terrible job putting this defense together.

But no, he's with me.

He's got him at six.

I had him at eight.

All right.

Number seven, Deante.

Who do you got?

Got again.

This is all comes back to this theme of how much do you trust the team strengths?

And what I saw in the post season from New England has bought my trust, especially on

the back end, defensively.

I've got them at number seven.

They're there.

My number seven defense on this list.

I do not have the Patriots in my top 10.

All right.

Now I did again, your defensive tackle theory works here.

And there's other stuff working in their favor.

It was an impressive post season.

What else has you bullish about the Patriots?

Well, it's really that, right?

You have no surveillance.

You have Christian Barmore.

They were really effective.

All season, I would say in terms of pushing pockets.

And then I think as the season went on and they kind of found themselves in terms of what

personnel they wanted to use really being able to stop the run with those two guys as

your interior pieces.

And then I'm looking at their edge combo, which is nothing really to write home about

between Dremont Jones, Harold Landry.

And then you look at his back up, maybe top back up, it'll be Gabe Yackeus, right?

It was a rookie.

I think that there's maybe if there's one spot where you're left wanting, it's probably

there because there's nothing that really screams to you.

High end production, right?

But they've been able to get they were able to get away with that last year because Carlton

Davis and Christian Gonzalez, sir, maybe outside of Houston, the best, you know, man coverage

duo in terms of cornerbacks in the league, right?

Like I would say specifically with Christian Gonzalez.

And it's funny.

I've been I was just working on a piece about cornerbacks, which I'm hoping is out.

Not too long after, you know, people listening into this podcast, but you look at Christian

Gonzalez on a snap by snap basis.

And then just the trajectory he's been on early in his career.

And I feel like we say this with every young corner.

But maybe he really is the next best guy after Patrick's or 10, right?

Like he's right up there with Quenyan Mitchell.

He's right up there.

You know what Derek Stingley, like, and I would say that his playoff performance really,

I think kind of cemented that for me.

And then having Carlton Davis as a number two, even though he is aging a bit, you still

see that he can ramp it up and be a great press man corner.

He can still play the ball really well.

He wasn't a big, a huge problem with penalties the way that he was at times in Detroit.

And him being healthy, I think makes a big difference for this team as well.

So again, another team that has some of the component pieces I'm most interested in,

run stopping defensive tackles and guys who can push the pocket.

You can play tight coverage out on the perimeter.

And the one thing that they are missing, I think, is an ability to be extra multiple in terms

of what defensive backs they can put on and take off the field to match up or get advantages

on offensive personnel.

But again, Larry, but a kind of butture set by the fact that they're one and two in terms

of their corner room is at the, is near if not at the top of the NFL.

I'm having such a hard time this summer deciding whether I think the Patriots are going

to be good or not in 2026 because I know I'm sure if your Patriots fan you're tired

of hearing about the schedule strength stuff, but just cover your ears or hit the fast

forward 15 seconds if you want to.

But Deonte, their defense last year faced the easiest schedule of opposing offences.

And it wasn't even close like I was looking at DVOA, the difference between them and the

bills who had the second easiest slate of opposing offences.

That was the same as the difference between the bills and the chiefs who had the eighth

easiest.

So difference between one and two, same as the difference between two and eight.

So I'm just like, huh, well, I mean, the playoffs, you know, they face some not like

unbelievable offences, but some decent offences and they completely, I think that you're

being generous in that.

Yeah.

Well, the quarterbacks is like, all right, I kind of like the quarterbacks, but those, those

were not good offences.

Offensive lines were bad offensive line.

Yeah.

So it's just like how much do I believe what I saw, you know, you got the schedule.

They had the fifth healthiest defense last year when you look at adjusted games lost yet

to your point, two defensive tackles, so I really like two corners, so I really like.

So now that's a nice foundation.

Now can the edge group be good enough?

Can the linebacker group be good enough?

Can the safety group be good enough?

Those guys don't have to be all pros, but if you're coaching it up and it's like, all right,

everyone knows what their job is.

Then I do think there are the bones there for a top 10 defense.

I just wasn't quite there, but I wasn't far off.

I had them between 10 and 15.

So I had them above the bills and a lot of, you know, the other defenses you mentioned,

chiefs, bills, um, chargers, I actually had the Patriots above, uh, all those defenses.

So they were kind of right outside my top 10.

They were a team I considered, but ultimately I'm just like so much of the defensive statistics,

which I, you know, I like defensive, I like statistics, but it's like, what quarterbacks

did you play last year when the quarterbacks are good?

Your stats aren't going to be as good when the quarterbacks are bad.

Your stats are going to be a lot better.

So you have to do more than just statistical analysis when it gets to the defenses.

And I was just kind of on the fence a little bit there with that Patriots team.

All right.

Deontes got them number seven.

I like this.

So we're going to have at least four different teams in our top 10 because you've got Patriots,

chargers, chiefs and bills.

I don't have any of them.

My number 17, 17 is just a hand this coach, any 11 players in a year where I can't

find 10 defenses.

And I'm just going to throw them in the top 10.

If I get burned, so be it, but that's how much trust I have in him.

And that's Brian Flores.

And that's the Minnesota Vikings.

Deontes, did he, did he make your top 10 or did you look at that depth chart and go, I can't do it.

I can't do it with the depth chart.

I have them at 14 in this exercise.

All right.

So, you know, not like I expect this defense to totally fall off a cliff, but I think last year,

while it wasn't bad, I think kind of left me wanting a little bit, right?

Like I just found myself watching a Vikings defense.

That was very competitive, right?

But still it's like, man, imagine if they actually had, you know, a tier one, tier two player

at this position here, how much more they'd be able to get out of it.

Imagine if they had X, imagine if they had Y with all the other heavy lifting that the

scheme is doing for them.

I just keep coming back to that.

And that's probably why I have the mouse on my top 10.

I mean, I feel pretty strongly without doing a full analysis here that they are probably

the least talented defense in either of our top 10s.

I think I think that Brian Flores, if you were like, Hey, you can swap.

Now, you know, he might be like loyal to his guys, but even, you know, I think maybe

if you got the lie detector on him and we're like, you can swap your personnel with any

of these other defenses that she'll and Deante had in their top 10.

Do you want to do it?

I think they would probably have to say yes.

This, this depth chart is not close to a top 10 depth chart in my opinion in terms of

just the talent, you know, the names on the piece of paper.

So it's going to take a great coaching job from Brian Flores to get them to the top 10.

Now the last two years, they've been with you.

And last year you watched it and there were certainly games where they got exposed.

And it's not like they felt like a juggernaut defense.

And yet you looked up at the end of the year.

And they were what's third and defensive DVOI.

I believe so I'm just like man.

And that was a better defense, but that wasn't the most talent, you know, nearly the

most talented defense in the NFL.

So they lost Jonathan Grenard.

They traded him this off season.

So they lose some past rush.

Harrison Smith, his status is kind of uncertain as he retired.

Is he going to come back?

I think that remained unclear as of this recording.

They swapped out some old older defensive tackles in Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen.

And they used draft capital to draft defensive linemen.

A lot of uncertainty, you know, the Dallas Turner is a big, big player for them.

I think they, you know, you had a better year last year.

They need him to be a big time player for them.

But yeah, this isn't going to be a defense where even if they're good,

we're looking up at the end of the year going, oh, they had three all pros on this defense.

I just don't think that's going to be the case yet.

I'm going to give Flores the benefit of the doubt.

I think that's fair, right?

Especially with the way that our conversation has gone today,

because there are a lot of this outside of the top five has been, you know, checks

and we're checking on trust.

We're checking on, you know, what's been proven on a year to year basis.

And there's nobody who checks that box more than Brian Flores, right?

So much so that whether it's been in Miami or over the last few years in Minnesota,

when people leave his defenses, they typically don't play as well anymore,

which is like the greatest sign that you could look for that the steam is what's really

unlocking what these guys are as players.

They don't check a lot of my boxes.

And I think that that's why I left them off, right?

They don't have a dominant defensive tackle to at least to my eyes, right?

I think Jalen Redmond is interesting.

I think a Caleb, a healthy Caleb Banks in theory can be dominant.

We've seen it.

We saw that in his college tape coming out of Florida.

And I'd like to believe that his foot, you know, his feet injuries are going to be

a thing of the past and they'll be able to depend on him to play, you know,

15 plus games in his pro career, but it's just not something that's been demonstrated yet.

And I'm not ready to, you know, banker battle on that.

They don't have edge rushers, I think, to make up for that.

I think the Dallas Turner has certainly started to turn a corner in his career in terms

of being more consistent because there was a moment in a first year,

year or so of his career where I found myself asking like,

so when exactly is it the Dallas,

I was supposed to take over.

They traded a big trade for him.

Yeah, there was a lot invested in.

They called their shot on that guy.

And he just hasn't turned out quite yet.

Now, maybe, you know, down the second half of last year,

when you, when things were more thrust in his lap,

and he just had to be their lead rusher, maybe that's a sign of what's to come.

And maybe that was just volume goes up.

So production goes up because the opportunity is there.

I don't know really what to make of that quite yet.

And then after that, you look at the rest of the back seven.

And it's just a lot of stuff that's being taped together, right?

With, you know, toothpicks, glue, et cetera, et cetera.

Right. I think that there's a lot that you're really hoping on in terms of

by, or Murphy still being able to play at a high level,

Isaiah Rogers being able to play at a high level.

These are boom and bust guys that we're talking about right now.

Players who, when they're not forcing turnovers, not blitzing and getting

sacks, not jumping routes, you're not going to get high level snap to snap play.

I just don't know if I'm willing to bet on that because there's just nothing

really undergrading this in case they don't force turnovers,

in case they don't scheme up on a bunch of snaps.

There's nothing outside of Brian Flores's is that makes me feel like,

Oh, okay.

We can look up in October and this team might be, you know, pushing in the top three,

you know, or even in the top eight and more stable defensive metrics.

I just can't project that right now.

Yeah. I agree with everything you said.

And yet I looked at the other teams.

I said, I heard who do I want to bet on here?

And I said, let me just bet on, you know, that's the right approach.

It's maybe it might be a number of approach where we're like, why did I think you know,

coaching is great, but no coach you could have, you could put together the 10 greatest

coach defensive coaches of all time and they can't get this to be a top 10.

I will say if there is, if there's one guy who you won't get,

y'all, Defer, be in wrong going, I feel like Brian Flores is on that short list.

You can understand even they, they could be the 25th best defense.

But if you say, hey, I see Brian Flores, I hit the top 10 button.

I don't think anybody is going to protest that one too hard.

Well, listen, nice job by him getting that raised this off season because he probably

looked at the depth chart.

And I was like, all right, and I'm not going to say this out loud.

I'm running my, I'm running every penny here.

Now's the time to cash in because he's looking at some of these other defenses that

were probably about to get to.

And he's like, oh my gosh, if I were to go to a team that had that kind of talent,

look out, you know, we're going to be the best defense in the NFL.

All right, let's take one more break.

We come back.

We already have Dionne Tase number 16 as the Ravens.

I'll tell him my number 16, which I think he's going to have in the top five.

But maybe not.

Maybe he'll surprise me.

We'll get to those when we come back.

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Back here on the ringer NFL show.

Are like I said, Deontay had the Ravens number six.

My number six team, Deontay, the Denver Broncos.

Do you have them in your top five?

They are in my top five.

They're number five for me.

Number five.

Okay.

So we're pretty much on the same page here.

You know, this one's a pretty, I think a mostly easy analysis.

We can get to maybe why we don't have them top three Broncos fans might be

yelling.

What do you mean five and six?

They're going to be better than that.

So top five in consecutive seasons.

Very good roster.

You know, again, this is one of four.

Is this probably looking at it going on?

You can't call it up.

Vance Joseph.

Can you imagine?

You got some dogs over there.

You know, I would love to have bats or tan as my number one corner.

So they just, you know, the pressure, the upfront, the past rush was very good last year.

Sac raid, pressure rate, whatever.

You know, they still play that aggressive style, which I like.

I like that not everybody is moving to a specific scheme.

You have a team that say, no, we're going to play a man coverage in Vance Joseph is saying,

we're going to blitz.

And he's coached a lot of good defenses over the course of his career, doing it this way.

And they've got the core, you know, one of the best groups of corners, I would say in the NFL.

I think there's a case that they're the best.

But certainly top three.

So past rush, great corners, good scheme, aggressive play collar.

You're going to be in a good place, Deontay.

That's really what it came down to for me with the Broncos.

I think this is probably the first scene we've come across.

Or I'm like, I actually don't think I have to pitch that heart to make this make sense.

We have a proven track record of great defense continuity is there outside of John Franklin,

Myers, the part of for Tennessee, right?

A lot of the other component parts are still there.

I mean, Dre Green law left to go back to San Francisco, but he was banged up in Denver.

And it's not like they got the best version of him anyways, because he was still recovering.

I think from the Achilles injury and trying to find out what his, you know, career and his

30s is going to look like because he's just not as explosive a player as he was in his athletic prime.

Everything that matters most to this team is still basically in place.

They still have Zach Allen, who's performed at a high level for them.

You've got Nick Bonito and Jonathan Cooper, one of the better ad-dressing duos in the league.

Nick Bonito specifically, the one of the most unique, you know, past rushers, effective past rushers in football,

you know, being able to play as a relatively undersized guy in terms of weight and really winning

almost exclusively with speed, you know, in a great get off.

That's been one of the, one of the things that I really enjoyed watching about this team.

And then I've got the best corner back in football, right?

The best corner back with the bullet in my opinion in football and Patrick Sartain in the second.

And I think that the only thing that can really disrupt what we've seen in terms of them being

stable on a year to year basis is if offense is fine, a new way to feel like we never have to throw the ball

at Sartain ever, we can just detect their safeties and rally moss.

Now, that is on the table.

That's on the table, but if you're able to force offenses to work through such a narrow lens,

that speaks to all the things that you're doing well, schematically and in terms of building your defensive roster.

I don't know because of their, I don't know if it's because of their aggression on a, you know, play to play

basis that I'm just not comfortable saying that a team that blitzes, a team that plays as much man

coverage as a way that the Broncos do are going to be the number one defense, but then most certainly

could be and I would say that every team that I have in my top five, you know, you could play

a coin to me and lay out, you know, and I can lay out the case for them being the top defense in

football. Denver definitely meets that requirement for me.

So the only thing I really looked at, well, I guess there's two things. One, very healthy last year,

third and adjusted games lost. So maybe your depth gets tested a little bit more this year, but I

sort of feel like they're built to handle that. The big thing to me was they were second pressure

rate and first and sac rate last year. And you mentioned it, they lose John Franklin Myers, which is,

you know, it's not like losing Miles Garrett, but very good player, John Franklin Myers.

And then Jonathan Cooper has this legal trouble. He's facing this from the the AP was arrested,

multiple chargers that he violated a protection order filed against him after his initial arrest

stemming from a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. So this is, you know, obviously troubling,

troubling off-field news for Jonathan Cooper. This was in June and it's he potentially facing

a suspension because if you're talking about losing Cooper and Franklin Myers from that past rush,

now all of a sudden I'm thinking, all right, that's not as deep or as quality of a group as they

had last year. So that was the only thing I could really look at. So that's something to keep an eye on.

This summer about, you know, how that situation plays off off the field and then obviously how it

affects the Broncos on the field. So that's the only reason I had them down there at six and not

higher. Deontay had them at number five. All right, Deontay, you ready for my biggest surprise here?

And number five. I'm afraid now just looking at the list of available defenses. Like,

I think that this is going to be you calling a pretty big shot if I'm just looking at what's

available here. I would say so. I think I were top four. I would imagine are the same 14.

It's maybe not in the same order. Number five, Deontay. I got the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Number five. Okay, you know what? That's not as wild as I thought it was. Okay. All right, he's not

ready to be like signing off this pod. You've been throwing his headphones down and be like,

get me out of here with this bow. So all right. So here's the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Patrick Graham may, I don't know what kind of wizardry he was working last year with the Raiders.

They were 14th in defensive DVOA last year. This was with probably Pete Carroll telling him for

half the year we got to do some of my stuff. So he didn't have full autonomy. And then a defensive

depth chart that just, I mean, we were saying the Vikings were top 10. I mean, I'll do respect. There's

our professional football players. I'm not, you know, dogging them, but just comparatively to the

other defenses, not even close to my opinion to top 14 talent. And so now he goes to Pittsburgh.

He's working for an offensive head coach in Mike McCarthy. So he will presumably have full autonomy.

And this is a guy Patrick Graham has a long track record in the NFL. I mean, I'm not saying he's

like a top five defense everywhere. He goes, but I've kind of liked him everywhere. He's gone where I've

always looked at it at the end of the season and been like, he's gotten the most out of that talent

that he's had. So now he's got what I think might be the most underrated front in the league. I mean,

I really like this group up front. I think it's a great blend of Vets, TJ White, Alex Heismeth,

KM Hayward, Nick Herbigan there. And then you have young players who I like,

Keanu Benton Derek Harman is another sort of X factory like if we're we might be talking a

week eight like man, Derek Harman looks like one of the best, you know, players on this defense.

So I really like the front quite a bit. And I think they're deep where one of the two of those

guys gets injured. Guess what? It's not going to all go out the window because they're pretty deep

there. So you've got that. And then listen, I'm not telling you the secondary is a sure thing,

but Joey Porter Jr. I thought had a pretty good year last year. You've got Vets, Jalen Ramsey,

Jamel Dean, Jacwan Frisker. These are all guys who have played a lot of football, a little edge to

them where I can see them fitting well together in that stealer's secondary. And I looked at it.

And the stealers last year were 11th and defensive DVOA. So 11 to five if you look at it that way

is not the biggest leap in the world. So I'm putting faith in Patrick Graham and then this is

just I like the talent here on this defense. So every year I try to, you know, call my shot with

a little surprise in the top five. Some of them miss some of them hit, but the stealers are kind

of my big surprise for the top five this year. So I had them in that same range between like 12 to

16 or it's like I just don't know what to do with you as a team. And like one of the notes I had

is like awesome depth in the front seven, no depth in the back, right? Like that. And that is just

very, it's just been very concerning for me, right? Like I'm assuming the Jalen Rams,

you by the time the season gets around that he will be totally available. I think that he started

doing some field work at training camp recently, which I think is, you know, a positive sign.

I think they'll be fine. I think the same for Joey Porter, Jr. Right? Like you get these guys

available. Their top 11 should be able to score off with any top 11 in the NFL and feel like we

can stop just about anybody, especially I would say if Joey Porter, Jr. is able to replicate what we

saw last year at his peak, where it really seemed like the physical, you know, the physical nature of

his play, you know, kind of having that height, having the long arms, having just enough speed to be

able to match up with receivers. It all started to seem like it was starting to click for him and the

game was starting to slow down. And you weren't seeing the holding the illegal contacts, the defensive

passive interference penalties or giving up, you know, these catches where you feel like a player of

his stature and his ability should be a little bit more competitive at the catchpoint. You're starting

to see that corner get turned. So I can definitely buy the fact that he can continue to play at a high

level. But I look at you, Corn Briskler, that somebody I'm really concerned with from a health and

injuries long term perspective. Jamel Dean has been banged up throughout his career because he is

one of those smaller guys who has just like no problem throwing his body in the mix, right? Like he

will definitely lay it all on the line. He's dealt with quite a few lower body injuries. Nothing that's

really been significant, but he just is that kind of guy that is going to have to miss some games

here or there because he is going to be banged up. And you're just look at the bodies that are behind

some of these players that were naming in. You're really going to be clenching on Sundays if you're a

Steelers fan hoping, hey, if it's third down, it's an obvious passing situation. Let's please get some

good pressure quickly. So this quarterback doesn't start picking on, you know, some holes that we might

have in the secondary, especially if the guys are banged up. So not quite sure if I'm ready to take

the top 10 leap for them. I do think this is a playoff quality defense though. And I think that

they're really going to be relying upon their offense to set a proper game script that is not

going to ask this very veteran late in starting 11 to have to be, you know, not perfect, but playing

a game every week. Because I don't know if they can access that as often as some of these guys used

to be able to in their primes. All fair concerns. Yeah. The front has to make up for deficiencies in

the back end. And sometimes good defenses, they're able to do that. And other times they're not able

to do that. And all of a sudden, the flaws are exposed there a little bit. So let's see, if I'm

right with that Steelers prediction or if I'm wrong guy, we're at the top four, I would be pretty

stunned if we did not have the same top four, but they might not be in the same order. Deontay,

who do you have as the number four defense? God, this almost feels like I'm going to go 1A,

1B, 1C, 1D, right? Just to be a total coward about this. Can't do it. Got a rank. Sorry, but no

cupping out here. The number 14 for me will be the Philadelphia Eagles. That's who I have at four.

And I think that again, we've been talking about common threads all the way around. And this team

checks all the boxes that I've been talking about this episode. And then they have, they have the thing

that would otherwise give me caution with other, you know, strong young defenses, which they

actually have depth. They've got the defensive tackles. They after adding Jonathan and Ard, you

look at their bedroom and you say, Hey, if the worst, you know, if you're number three guys,

no one Smith and the worst guy in your week to week ed rotation is going to be some mixture of

honor, debit, Ketie or AJ F and Esa. There are a lot of teams that I think that will be beaten down

the door to say that that's their four to five man ed rotation. You think about Zach Bond,

you know, maybe he's not going to access that first team all pro level that we saw, you know,

during the Super Bowl run. But even last year, I thought that he was good against the run.

Maybe made a few more mistakes and past covers unusual. But that was also just the defense took

on a bit of a different shape because guys were banged up and he didn't have the best version of

Jalen Carter playing in front of him. I think that, you know, training camp reports about

the hot Campbell starting to, you know, maybe get a better grasp of the defense, playing a little

bit faster, not having to split his time between learning linebacker and age. And maybe most

importantly, he's not entering training camp, nursing a pec injury, the way that he was,

you know, coming into last year. So I think that that helps big time. And then I think that this

is a player that you might be just as excited about as I am to see what it turns out to be having

Rick Wollen as your number two corner instead of the mixture of Adoree Jackson and, you know,

all the other guys that they were bringing in trying, you know, Ducorian Bennett, etc. All those

names that they were rotating opposite of Kinyan Mitchell. A Rick Wollen, even I think at his C

plus B minus level is an upgrade there. And because of his athletic potential, right, he could

very easily have, you know, a Trevon digs ask, you know, big pop this year where because he knows

he's protected in all these different ways. He's playing aggressively. He's jumping routes.

You're playing with another elite defensive coordinator and a team that I think wants to see him play

his best, even if they can't retain him. If he does play like, you know, a probable level player

because it would help Philadelphia remain as contenders in the NFC and in the NFL outright.

So they've got all those pieces, you know, they've got two great,

you know, two great young players in Mitchell and Ducyne in the back end, two great young players in

Jalen Carter. And I'm Jordan Davis on the front end. You've got young ad rushers. Again, all those

boxes are checked. The depth is there. I can definitely see this being the best defense in the NFL.

And I think more importantly, they are set up well to not be, you know, any worse than a good

defense, a top eight defense in the league. I think the top four teams, you could definitely

make the case any of them as the best defense in the NFL wouldn't surprise me. Whereas it would

actually kind of surprise me if the teams below our top four, if one of them ended up being the best.

Now it's crazy. Anything can happen. And there are always surprises. That's why we watch. But

I'm with you. I was out of the Eagles training camp last week and you just kind of look around

and they're just like, they are loaded with talent and not only are they loaded with talent and

is on defense. Loaded with talent on defense. But every player, the arrow should be pointing up

or pointing sideways at work. Like every guy is between or a sender. Yeah, exactly. Every guy is

basically between 22 and 27 years old. I think Sackball might be the only exception there. But

I mean, those corners, Cooper, D'Agin, Quinion Mitchell, Rick Roulin, Jihad Campbell, very

interesting player to watch on this Eagles defense in year two. He could end up being a household name

where we're like, oh, Jihad Campbell's a top 10 offball linebacker in the NFL by the end of the

season. Like I don't think that would necessarily shock anyone. Jalen Carter was playing in

your last year. He could have more of an impact this year. You mentioned the edge group, Jordan

Davis. So it's just like you look up and down. And when you have that much talent and when you have a

tremendous defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio, you know, kind of what you said earlier,

you don't have to work too hard to convince people that this is going to be a very, very good defense

that can withstand some injuries. You know, they have some depth. Safety is probably the biggest

question mark. But that's what the money's for for Vic Fangio. You know, sorry, you can't have an

old pro at like every position. You're going to have to figure it out at some of these. So yeah,

Granart is an injury to keep an eye on. He's been injured this summer where I really like that

pick up for them, but he's got to get healthy for them to kind of give them. I think, you know,

enough cash rush there. So I actually had the Eagles at number three. So we're in the same ballpark

there. I had them at three. Tiante had them at four. I have the Rams at four. Tiante, how high

would you go with the Los Angeles Rams? The Rams are mere two. Two. Okay. You went with the Rams at

two. I went again, these teams we don't mean we could just move on. We could end the podcast on

gear or top four. Everyone gets it. Honestly, man, miles, you know, the thing about the miles

gear in addition, I think we did talk about it at the time, but it can't be overstated that this

is such a different situation than he had in Cleveland when you look at the supporting cast. I mean,

the Rams last year without miles gear ranked fifth and pressure eight and ninth and sacrate.

And now you're adding miles, frickin' Garrett. So it's just like, you know, to a group that has

Byron Young, who had 54 pressures last year. They had Kobe Turner, who had 54 pressure, 52 pressures

last year, Braden Fisk, Poon of Ford. Like they've got other guys where it just, I know teams are

still going to go in and say, we have, you know, I know how offensive coordinators think. We cannot

let miles get wrecked the game. We cannot let miles get wrecked the game. But now those other

guys are really positioned to take advantage of it. And then you just look at the corners. It's like

they looked at their weakness from last year and were like, screw it. Let's just go get some,

you know, a great corner back. Okay, you can say we overpaid whatever, Tremick Duffy come on down.

And then Jalen Watson, that's going to be an improvement because last year, I think those

pressure rate numbers and the sac rates are pretty impressive because they were vulnerable

at corner. And when, you know, sometimes the pastor just can't get home because the coverage

isn't good enough. And so now you tie it all together. And as of this recording, this is

important to say, Aaron Donald has not signed with the Rams by the time you listen to this. He may

have signed with the Rams. It just feels like it's happening at some point this week. And even if

you don't know what you're getting from him, it's like, I don't, they don't even need to have

Aaron Donald to be a top five defense to me. And if you add him, easy, easy ceiling to be the best

defense in the NFL, Deante. What did I miss there with the Rams breakdown?

Nothing. I mean, you checked all the boxes, right? Like, I think that one of the things that's

interesting for me, and you know, I got to see, I got to see the Rams practice at training camp,

didn't necessarily get to talk to anybody and depth about it besides, you know, check it in with,

you know, some of our reporter buddies about just what the feeling has been in the building as I'm

watching from the sideline. But you can infer, right? You can always infer what messages teams

are sending based off of how they approach the offseason. And there was two major messages that I

think the Los Angeles list was sending. One was that they felt like they needed closers, right?

That's why you go out and get a Miles Garrett. And then I think about Trent McDuffy in the

Chiefs 2023 playoff run, which led to them beating San Francisco in the Super Bowl. You think

about what his postseason looked like then when he's locking up guys like Debo Samuel, you know,

who was the skeleton key for the 49ers offense that year. He played really well against Tyree

Killin' Jalen Waddle when they had their wild card game, you know, in Kansas City. Obviously,

he was freezing, which was a disadvantage for Miami. But he was playing very physically at that time too.

Played great against Buffalo. This is a guy that does everything for this defense, right? Played great.

He played great against Baltimore in the AFC Championship game that year as well. It was really,

you know, in Zayflower as a shirt and shot Bateman shirt throughout those games.

I think that you look at adding players like that and Jalen Watson, you're bringing in guys who are

physical, who are closers, who in high-leveraged situations have a proven track record,

being able to rise to the occasion. And then there's something else that I think that they're

messaging to. I think the Sean McBabe probably spent all spring and summer rewatching his games

against Seattle and then watching the way the Seattle played the rest of the season and saying,

we were talented enough to say that we could beat them, but they had a little extra oomph

that we were missing in terms of physicality, in terms of, you know, making the game look like it hurt

on the defensive side of the ball. And I think that that's what some of these additions are signaling

as well. That they want guys that are the guys that kind of guys that throw the first punch, right?

I think that that's really what they're looking for. It's not a surprise to me. It would not be a

surprise to me, I should say. If they show up and say the way that Seattle played last year,

the way the Philadelphia played two years ago, where they've got their set best 11, you know,

personnel grouping. And no matter what you do as an offense, you're going to have to deal with

our best 11 defenders. And we're just going to try to put a dip in everybody's face mask.

I think that that's going to be the style of play that they're really going to try to embrace

and wrap their arms around. And I would not be surprised at all if whether they have air and

Donald Beck or not, if we're looking up and watching the rounds, be one of the two or three toughest

defenses to deal with on a snap to snap basis from a physicality tackling and being fundamentally

sound perspective. I mean, the other thing about those matches with Seattle is McVeigh has to feel like

we want, you know, it's McVeigh's offense first McDonald's defense. They actually won that match.

They won those matchups. They're the only T's literally him and staff are were the only guys who

were able to figure out how to put points up and move the ball and put yards up against the

Seagulls defense, which was the best in the NFL. And it wasn't enough because, you know, you can

look at, you look at Sam Tarnald. And it's like if he doesn't just shred that Ram's defense,

you know, in the NFC championship, they don't win the Super Bowl. And you know,

who knows what conversations we're having, you know, after the way last season,

played out. So he's looking at it go, man, we just, if we need to be better defensively,

I'll figure it out offensively. They went out. They were aggressive. By the way,

overall, I know there were times I just mentioned that an NFC championship game. There were other

times specifically in the second half of last year where the Rams defense didn't play well.

If you added all up, they were 10th in EPA per drive and 4th in DVOA last year. So they

faced a tough schedule. They were in a beverage defense by any metric. And now they had a

Miles Garrett, Trent McDuffy, Jalen Watson, and they're even better positioned this year. So I

know, yes, and I'm sure people are tired of the Rams hype. But like we said before, go get your

team to go get trade for Miles Garrett. And we'll talk about them a lot, you know, in the off season.

So you've got the Rams too. I've got the Rams for I had the Eagles three. You had the Eagles

for who do you have number three, Deote? Number three, I have our reigning Super Bowl champion,

Seattle Seahawks. Okay. And I think that, I think that there are a lot of Seahawks fans that will

probably be miffed a that there is this Rams hype train. Be that the Rams are again ranked ahead

of Seattle who won a championship and beat this team, you know, in two of the last three games that

they play in two of the three games that they played last season. And I totally get that. This is

really of no fault of Seattle's. They did such a great job building this roster and maximizing

every corner of it last year that it was almost impossible for them to maintain or improve upon

what was already there, right? And then Kobe Bryant leaves, Rick Wallen leaves. You lose some talent.

It doesn't mean that they're going to be worse off for it. I actually think that they have the depth

to be able to survive that. But the team is relatively static and I can't give them credit for

the same things that we mark as potential concerns for other teams. And we're talking about Denver,

continuity is both, you know, a feather in their cap and something to watch for in case guys go

down because that means that you probably aren't adding a lot more depth if you're trying to hold

your starting 11 together as much as possible. So I'll just have an eye on what the health of this

team looks like. What the interior depth looks like if guys do go down or have to miss time.

And in what some of their new additions in the back end looks like, right? If no Eggman Agony has to

go because Nickyman Worry is banged up this year. I'm interested in what that does for the shape

of this defense. Does that mean more depth and weather shaman in the slot in the slot? Which means

less proven guys playing out on the perimeter and that worked great for Josh Job last year, right?

Like they maximized having Job going from, you know, a practice squad, fringe roster guy to be in

a, you know, magnificent contributor really out on the perimeter in Seattle once he got there.

I'm just interested to see if you can do it again. And that's not really a challenge. It's not me

saying that I have any doubt. It's not me saying that they can't do that. But this is just the nature

of the league. Once you're a champion, there's some attrition, you know, it's been in small amounts

for Seattle, but I am fascinated to see if they can kind of line up what was clearly just the best

defense I've been able to put their best 11 guys on there and just being better than anybody else

that they were mashed up against. I don't know if you can do that back to back years.

Yeah, I think you said it well. I mean, they were great last year, but they did lose guys and they

do have injuries this year. I mean, I guess that doesn't have to be that complicated to drop them

out of one and you're not dropping them to 10. You're dropping them to number three. So yeah,

they lose Kobe Bryant, Rick Wolland, Boi Amathe, and then the even warrior injuries bigger than kind

of probably any of those things where just them out who knows, maybe he'll be fine. But, you know,

did you are you watching hard knocks the entire now?

Haven't gotten to it yet. Okay, I just watched the first episode last night. And Mike

MacDonald basically says as much. They're like in a meeting with the medical staff and he's like,

if we don't have that guy, it's like a big, big deal for what we want to do on defense. So yeah,

it's not us saying it is the head coach saying it by the way, Mike MacDonald just comes across as

like one of the most likable NFL coaches of all time. He's just talking to players like a normal

human being. He's just to be easily the most normal person that has come up with some hard knocks.

Yeah, and listen, NFL coaches are not going to be normal people. But on the scale of NFL coach,

it's just like, you know, he's like going up to them after fired and like kind of talking it

out and then like making, you know, joking around. I'm like, what a what a breath of fresh air

from the lot of the NFL head coaches we've seen on hard knocks or just in our lives.

Over the year. So yeah, episode one, Mike MacDonald to me is that I already liked Mike MacDonald,

but he was just like the big, big winner I thought from having the camera on him for an extended

period of time. I appreciate the fact that there's a coach who can embrace the fact that like,

yeah, I'm kind of adorked about some of this football stuff. Like, I don't have to cause play as like

one of these historically great men, right? Because that's, you know, the kind of, you know,

rarefied air. I view other football coaches in like, he's like, I'm kind of a weird dude,

man. Kind of awkward. I got to see some of the clips like, I'm pretty normal. I try not to,

you know, he does a lot of the things that I think that you recommend most people who listen to

our podcast do get outside, you know, breathe some fresh air, try not to be, you know, a total

slave to your, you know, sell device cellular devices in, you know, just be you. I think that

that definitely emanates. And I think that that's why they respond. In spite of the fact that sometimes

he is talking to the team and I'm like, man, I have to recalibrate myself because I am so used to,

you know, coaches who want to give you the fire and brimstone. Right. Oh my god. I have to,

I got to inspire you to walk and chew gum at the same time. You know, like, I appreciate the fact

that he can kind of change gears for me and be a little bit more well adjusted. Yeah. He doesn't

have to go like full tough guy. Hard though. Yeah, he is jacked, he on tech. So, you know,

he's showing off the guns and he's wearing that. I don't know what size T-shirt he's rocking

there. But he's been putting in the work in the off season. So, you know, he's got that. But he

does show it off. So, yeah, I enjoyed Mike McDonald quite a bit. I have them number two. Now,

from a content perspective, I think I should have had them one because then C. Hawks fans could be like,

no one had S1 except for Shio Kappati. I did have them one going into last year. Okay. So, listen,

I don't look at where I had their offense. We don't have to talk about that. But I did have their

deep. So, that was one of the shots that I called last year. And I do put McDonald in that

Flores mold. We're basically hand him anybody and they're probably going to make my free season.

Top 10 list. I mean, he's done it for consecutive seasons. Ravens, C. Hawks, he's been first twice

by the way in the last four seasons with two different franchises, which is pretty impressive.

But just, you know, some of the talent there that they lost in the offseason. Again, we're not

saying it's a huge deal. We're not dropping them to 10, 12, 15. We're just dropping them.

Out of that top spot, which means I assume barring something that would be the biggest surprise ever

on the Ringarena Fellowshow, Deontay. I assume we both have the same team number one. And it's

making me a little bit nervous because I feel like this team is generating quite a bit of pre-season

bus. Who is your number one defense? Number one, defense is probably my favorite one to watch.

Anybody who I feel like has followed my written work or what we talk about on podcasts. They know

how I feel about this unit. It's the Houston Texans. Yeah. I wasn't going to get cute here and throw

Cincinnati or Dallas or some team. Another team that has some height because they added new players.

But we're overall bad the year before. Like this again, I don't have to sit out a pulpit and tell

you why Houston is great on defense. This is actually probably the one team that needs the least

amount of sales pitching in order to get you to believe because they play a very straightforward

style football. It's four down. It's cover one. We are going to mash you. We've got better

ad-dressers and you have tackles. We've got better corners and you have receivers. And they just

play aggressively in a way that I think scratches the itch of the linebacker in me. That's what I like

to watch. I can just start on the all 22 of you like man. This is what it looks like getting

11 hats to the ball. This is what it means to fire out of your stance. I'll put your hands on

somebody, right? Like they they check all those boxes. And the reason why they're number one for me

over teams like the Rams over teams like to see Hawks and the Broncos is because they addressed

a one thing that I think would have kept them out of this conversation before. And that's adding

fresh new bodies to serve as their depth behind their starters. This has been something that they

really haven't had to concern themselves with because they've actually had a great stretch of

health across their defense. Says Demiko Ryan's has been there. But there's always been that question

of, Hey, if the wrong defense attack goes down, this is already a team that's not the greatest on

a down-to-down basis defending the run. Right? Or at least if there was a chink in the harmer,

it would have been that they go out and get Logan Hall, 290 pound defense of tackle, you know,

flex guy to be your fourth detackle. And right above him is rookie Kaden McDonald, who was like that

323 pound. That was tackle. Right? Like that's exactly what they needed. You look at Will Anderson

and Daniel Hunter and say, we need one more guy who can play for us on run downs and at least keep us

stable in case one of these guys pull a groin or hurt their biceps. You go out and get your

Davian clowny who's like the ultimate mercenary in that right? And somebody who you don't have to

ask to go play 70% of the snaps. He can just be a bit player for them. And then you go out and

you address a free safety spot with two guys, Reed Blankenship, who obviously for you, you know

being in Philadelphia. And I know as an Eagles fan, doesn't always pop, but as rarely if ever in the

wrong spot and typically finds himself making great plays because he just knows where to be on the

field. And then Kamari Ramsey, who is a former USC Trojan who I've watched very closely and believe

that he fits what this team likes to do really well. So up and down the roster, you just check every

box in terms of having all the pieces. And then I think maybe the most important thing is outside

of Seattle, LA of Philadelphia. This is the kind of group in the type of play style that I truly

believe will rise in playoff moments, right? And we've seen it. We've seen we saw them

erase the Steelers offense last year, made it really a non competitive game. And so right

of the fact that Houston's offense couldn't score, we saw them erase the Chargers offense the year

before. They were the best unit on the field. You know, I would say on a down and down basis when

they played the Patriots, it's just that their quarterback kept on the ball away,

continuing those defensive backs, right? Like they were one of the they've been one of the best units

every playoff run. They really just needed the support of their offense. Really most times you

just get them like 17 to 20 points. It's not even like they've got a light up the scoreboard. I

imagined that they're going to be very similarly positioned this year. And I think if their offense

can keep this defense where it needs to be in terms of game script, they can 100% ride this group all

the way to the Super Bowl. I think if you're looking at, hey, who's the version of the 2025

Seahawks or the 2024 Eagles? Where it's more the defense leading the way? They've got that formula.

Now, whether that defense whether that offense can be good enough or not, I do think that's a big

question, but the defense certainly can be good enough. And I love what you said about just kind

of the way they play. You know, we talk a lot about scheme and everyone's too high and this

coordinator's doing that. When you talk to, I found this at least in my experience. I don't want to

generalize all, but when you talk to retired NFL defensive players, yeah, they're generally like

you're over complicate like defense is about inflicting pain on our opponent and having them feel

they're going to know on Monday when they played us versus when they played another team and having

think twice about when they're running that route over the middle or having that quarterback when

he's holding on to that ball for that extra split second, be like, I don't want to do that

against these guys. And I really do believe that just for my time as a fan to then covering the

league to then talking to defensive players, I like learning about the new schematic wrinkles and

we're playing too high in zone, but I really do believe that that's what defensive football at

its heart is actually about. And I just think, you know, you can almost hear it when you know when

you're watching a Texans defense play, you can kind of feel it, you can hear it, you can see it.

The teams that play them, I'm sure no, during the week that we're going up to that game,

this is not going to be a good time. Whether we win or lose, this is not going to be a good time

when we face these guys. And that's what I really like about them more so than really any other

defense on this list. And then of course, the talent. I mean, listen, all these teams in the top

five are just loaded. I thought before they signed Jadevi and Clowny, I was like, I think Will

Anderson might be the most indispensable defensive player in the end. Really worth it.

You know, it was him and Daniel Hunter. And he still is up there. But I was like, that Clowny

signing made sense to me where it's like, all right, if he's out for a month or something,

you can withstand it because he really is one of the most complete defensive players

in the entire NFL. So you got the edge rush. You got the corners. You've got the personality.

You've got the coach is just like, you know, they were second and pretty much every statistical

category last year behind the Seahawks. And I think they're going to be right up there again

this year. So the Houston Texans, we agree are the number one projected defense in the NFL. Okay.

So we got let's say we got six teams that are the same Deonte. We got Texans, Rams, Seahawks,

Eagles, Broncos, Ravens. So six out of 10 are the same. You had the Patriots, the Chargers,

the Chiefs and the Bills in the top 10. I have the Steelers, Vikings, Box and Colts in the top 10.

So there you go. I think he's just good. We didn't agree on all of them. We agreed on,

you know, top four. So I listen, I think most people are going to have the same top four.

Maybe it's great. A little bit of group thing probably, but it's also there's a reason by you.

But you know, if you don't have them in the top four, I would love to hear what the analysis is

for a team other than them. And I'm not saying you're wrong. There's probably a good zag to be

hat out there for somebody. I got close with the Steelers, but I'm like, nope, I'm not putting the

Steelers above any of these teams. So we fun to watch. These are fun defenses to watch. Those are

our top 10 defenses for the 2026 NFL season. Deonte, what did you say? You had a piece,

you got a piece on the wringer.com coming up this week. Coming up, we're going to be talking

about corners, not necessarily straight ahead ranking, but I think there's something that people

who like to debate this type of thing will really enjoy. There you go. Defensive heads. The

Deonte's got you covered there on the wringer.com. Check that out. All right. Thank you to Deonte Lee.

Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing Stefano Sanchez on video and additional production

supervision by Connor Neffens and Arjuna Ramagopal Amsillo Kapate. We will talk to you later this week

on the wringer NFL show.

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