Tampa, Too: Ranking the Top Ten Defenses of 2026

33:35But look, the Broncos are right there. Like you had them for, I had them five there. I went back and forth a couple of times. Like this is an obviously incredibly talented unit. I mentioned my concerns about pass rush, potentially linebacker, but another absolutely elite secondary. Sertan, where are you on Riley Moss? Are you on Riley Moss' unfairly maligned island with me? I think he gets a little bit too much blame. I think that he is the unfortunate guy opposite of the best corner in football, so you're going to get thrown at a lot. He was thrown at the most in the NFL, but I actually think he's grown a little bit.

34:13He's gotten better as a player. It just hasn't really been seen a lot because while he's also gotten better, Pat Sertan II has also still been the best corner in the NFL, so it really doesn't matter as much because he's going to keep getting the ball thrown at him but I actually think he's improved in a lot of ways I'll be interested in seeing if Jaday Barron who's their first round pick last year can find his way on the field right like because he was taking the first round thought was he could be starting nickel and then McMillan just fended him off um and he only played I think like 30 percent in snaps I saw somewhere so you know I I really liked him in college at Texas, but I didn't view that as him being anything about him, as a referendum on him.

34:57I just thought this is such a talented group. It was just hard for him to find those opportunities last year. Yeah, I was curious when they made the pick because I thought J.K. W. McMillan was really good for them at Nickel, and because he was able to fend them off, I'm curious where he kind of slots into this group and how much dime they kind of play with this team. Because even though they have the DBs necessary to play dime, I don't know if they have the true size to really play those dime packages. We talk about the Seahawks being able to play dime. They're able to do that because Nicky Manwari is basically a Sam linebacker but plays nickel for them.

35:39The Texans are able to do that because Jalen Petrie is a maniac. But I wonder if Jaday Barron can be that sort of be that nickel or that dime player for them, because my biggest worry is that linebacker group. They were they were attacked. If you were looking for a big play against Denver, you're going to go at the linebackers. And I don't think they improved there when it came to just range in coverage. I think they fit for what they want to do run defense and blitzing wise, but I worry about that group and coverage and how much they ask Hufanga to sort of cover everything up. Yeah, it was a popular fix for them.

36:17Our draft pick was like in the second round, like what if the Broncos added a linebacker? It's kind of been the issue. And I say issue, I really think Singleton and Stran were fine. Like they weren't off, they weren't bad. but you know it's similar to any again any of these teams in the top five before picking nits that is has been now for a couple years where teams have tried to go after because largely because they're so one the boss to come out quick because the pass rush is so and a couple with the fact that they blitz a lot like you know the ball like they're it forces a certain style of play from opposing offenses um zach allen i feel like is probably i don't know if he's the unsung hero on this team he had 47 quarterback hits last year just led the nfl that's crazy he he's so fun because you could tell that he took that year that he and jj watt were in arizona and sort of modeled his game after like it's funny seeing the big white defense tackle wearing 99 with the elbow brace and like oh he's doing the jj watt thing but he is actually doing like all the arm over the swim moves and the stuff you're able to do with him is super fun i think dj jones is one of the more unsung nose tackles he's always been good yeah awesome in san francisco he was one of my like most underrated players in the league because of what he did in san francisco i'm curious what this team does without john franklin myers because he was sort of there if you didn't want to play some of the lighter edges because Benito and Cooper are going to get upfield.

37:54And the reason they were able to survive against the run without their edges being so far, like without being, without their edges actually playing in that role defensively, you had John Franklin Myers as sort of your cleanup guy. So I'm curious how, do you have Malcolm Roach step up into that role? He was more of a rotational pass rush guy. But from top to bottom, I still think this team is super fun defensively. All right. That's our top five. I know that wasn't that exciting. It's about to get a lot weirder. I promise. Let's take a quick break, come back, and I promise you JP and I will have different teams six through 10.

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40:51everything in my body told me not to put the Viking 6 I just looked at this depth chart no no I looked at the depth chart and I was just like this is not a top 6 defense on paper I can't do it to Brian Flores at this point. I mean, he can't keep getting away with this, can't he? He can't keep getting away with this. I feel so bad for leaving the Vikings off because of Brian Flores. I didn't have them in my top 10. They're one of my honorable mentions. Okay, you know what? Six is too high. I gave him too much credit. I'm looking at the step chart. It should not be six. I'm switching them. I'm putting them seven.

41:33I didn't want to do it. I'm going to put a different team six. We'll talk about them in a second. Let's talk about the Vikings, who I now have seven. Yeah, I'm cowardly backing up. The benefit, the plus side to the Vikings, who I think are going to be an improved unit this season, is they're just bigger. I think they were a small team up front last year. Jalen Redman was kind of holding their defensive line together by himself with Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen not being the same caliber players. But you add Caleb Banks to that, who, when healthy, is a force, just a dominant player. Dominique Orange sort of compliments him really well against the run.

42:14I think the reason that I left them off is because there's so much change in that secondary. So much change. By the way, if they're improved, JP, they were third in DVOA. They were seventh in EPR for play. Like, the man is a wizard Like, it's crazy because Like, I want to believe in Brian Flores, I want to believe in the defensive Line, who's gotten, I think They've gotten, like I said, a lot bigger A lot stronger against the run, was where I think They're going to improve the most, but I don't know what to make of this Secondary, because Like, they have fun I've said that I know, I know But last year, I was like, I don't know all this corner group and then they yes i know they're they're really the thing about this depth chart that really strikes you and you've kind of touched this is is there's a lot of rookies who are gonna have to play um you mentioned banks and orange dominic orange big citrus great nickname uh i've talked a lot about gala banks if caleb banks hits i mean insane it's gonna be incredible you know he's i don't want to talk about his feet are uh constantly like there's just a lot of a lot of issues there um corner group is kind of this they added pierre but it's pretty similar it's not you know uh and then like they might need like jacoby i mean i don't know what's gonna happen with harrison smith jacoby thomas i was kind of surprised he was the miami safety drafted before keante scott that took me by surprise a little bit um jake golday the linebacker out of Cincinnati might play for he though, like when they made that pick, I was like, Ooh, I I'm not trying to stereotype and compare him to bank ankle.

43:59Like he, he is the exact type of tweener freaky linebacker that Brian Flores likes. Speaker 2 He is. And I think the thing about Jake Golday is you can tell that he's a former defensive end in both the good ways and the bad ways when he's like, yeah, when he was sort of as an overhang at Cincinnati. They played a lot of three safety stuff and he was like their overhang. He wasn't in the tackle box a lot. He would play the run like a defensive end because it's really easy to read the keys of the guard there. He would destroy pulling guards. But when he was in the tackle box, it just, the game wasn't seen quickly enough.

44:40So I'm curious how much of like an on-ramp do they give him to starting reps and just kind of be a specialist on like pass rush situations. That's like the one position where I actually am not really worried at all because they have Cashman. They brought back Eric Wilson. They have Ivan Pace. So they actually have decent depth there. And good luck trying to describe the personnel that they use. It obviously makes no sense and is insane. And, you know, it's like the looks that they present are insane. You know, we've talked about this. This is the team that blitzed 47 % of the time and yet played nearly 80 % zone coverage.

45:16Like they're just insane. The crazy thing about last year was like, even when they didn't blitz, they led the league in pass rush win and pressure rate. And there's a litany of reasons for that. Some of it is schematic and defenses, offensive lines and quarterbacks being fooled by them. But some of it is the production that they got out of their pass rushers. And Dallas Turner was my X factor for them this year. This is it, right? Like he's got to make the leap. So much projection across the board. Now I'm regretting it so much. I just feel like, similar to McDonald, Flores is on my, you know what, let it ride list.

45:55Like, I'm not going to, it is a bit of an eat your vegetables year for them, though, because they had to shed cap, they had to trade Grenard. So they do need some of these rookies to step up immediately. Let me ask you a question. If Caleb Banks is healthy the entire season, do you think this is a top 10 defense? Ooh.

46:18I kind of think they're like just outside I still want to Again, I still want to believe in this defense But I guess I'm still sort of like I don't know about this secondary group Especially if Harrison Smith doesn't come back Because this defense has so many moving parts In the secondary There's so many things that change which counting on a lot of rookies in the secondary is not exactly a scenario that you want if you're the Vikings, if you're Brian Flores, because then you'd have to sort of – you worry about simplifying the defense to make sure the rookies get it right, and that's the best thing about the Flores defense is that they're all complex.

47:02You never know what you're going to get from them. But I could see this team getting into the top ten if Banks is healthy just because if you have that defensive line already back up to speed. If Banks is the guy they hoped he is, you're able to get Dallas Turner that leap year. I mean, there's no reason why Brian Flores still can't pull a rabbit out of a hat and take this defense to a top 10 level. All right. Now I feel super soft. I'm going to leave them at seven. I'm going to switch six and seven. Who did you have at six? I had the New England Patriots. Okay. I have them at 10. So, yeah. Let me pull up my...

47:42Okay. I am such a fan of Zach Corr and what he did in the second half of the season. And I think it's sort of what you got to do when you lose Milton Williams and sort of a pass rusher like Milton Williams. You say, you know what? Screw it. We're just going to blitz all the time. And I think it benefits them because I think their strength is their secondary. When you have Christian Gonzalez, who was phenomenal last year and had an incredible Super Bowl, Carlton Davis, who is a good number two corner when healthy, Marcus Jones at nickel. Craig Woodson is a guy who I think is going to take a big jump in his second year at safety.

48:17I think you have an alleyway to play so many different things because the secondary is that good. And I still think the duo of Milton Williams and Christian Barmore is going to give them a lot of juice up front. And now if you have a guy like Draymond Jones who can sort of be the heavy end for them, and you can get just some pass rush from the combination of Draymond Jones, Harold Landry, Gabe Ackes, who I was a fan of. That's the biggest question for them is that pass rush off the edge. That's the problem. Yeah, it's the one. Yeah. Yeah, that's the big thing. It's looking at me from bringing them higher is that edge group.

48:54It's interesting, too, like profile-wise, like Draymond Jones and Ackes are like just big pocket pusher types, right? Ackes is hurt now, by the way. so we'll see. I hate it when rookies are hurt in the offseason and miss the offseason program because you're like, I don't even know when I'm going to see them. I don't know what they're going to look like. It's kind of frustrating. Drey Munchaus was surprisingly productive last year in Baltimore, I thought, after the second half of the season. And, you know, the defensive tackles are awesome. Barmore and Milton Williams are an awesome combo. But I think your point about Zach Kerr and the potential that we might see a little bit more during the regular season of what we saw in the playoffs and towards the end which is to say him smashing pressure makes sense um because yeah the cornerback group is the strength of this team uh i will say um i don't love jalen hawkins was like kind of the players who walked for the patriots are were like kind of sneaky good which is jalen hawkins and then Kyrus Tonga and Klayvon Chaison, they were all kind of good last year.

50:02And I don't love losing those three players in particular. I understand, you know, cap and all that, but like they were good. Losing Chaison kind of was like, dang, I wish they would have kept him around because of the juice that he had added as a pass rusher in like just designated pass rush situations. I thought he was a nice compliment to Draymond Jones and then bringing in Gabe Akis obviously would have been a really nice compliment to Chaison. on, but I feel like they're putting a lot of chips into the Harold Landry board or in the Harold Landry table. I'm not sure if I'm as confident that he's going to return to 100%, but if he can just give you some form of juice off the edge, you have these two guys who can win Jones and Akis who can push pockets and funnel quarterbacks to Milton Williams and Christian Barmore.

50:51And then you can just allow for Harold Landry to come on in spots. the thing I'll also add is like I think that this could be a very good run defense kind of like how it looked in the beginning of last year and then there was some injuries and even with Tonga out you know Corey Durden's a fine nose but Barmore Williams uh healthy Spillane who missed summer last year as well and I talked about you know Jones the the profile of the pass rushers that they have it should be quite complete up front against the run and if the offense is anything close to what it was last year, they'll get a lot of pass rush opportunities as well.

51:29So yeah, I think, you know, just very talented young play caller who really found the right buttons to push on the postseason run. One thing I'm just sort of interested in is like how much of the postseason run had to do with the quality of the offensive lines that they faced. Yeah. You know, in terms of like all the pressure that they got. against Houston and the Chargers, and then they've got to face Jarrett Stidham. So it's like, you know, a little bit. I count how much of that is real. Yeah. But I do think if they're going to go into 2026 just saying, we're going to be a big pressure team, and we're just going to spam blitzes because we know we have the secondary to live behind that.

52:18I don't see a problem with it. I think it's a gamble, obviously. but when you have Gonzalez, you have Marcus Jones, Carlton Davis, it's a risk you're kind of willing to take because I don't know if they're going to be able to get consistent pass rush with four. All right. My new six after I cowardly changed my team. I got to think they're in your top 10. Going with the Jacksonville Jaguars. They are my number seven. Okay, great. Amazing. So, um, this, first of all, let's talk about last year, because this was a very, I think this was one of the real, like, Oh, take a, take a step back and look at, I, you know, I mentioned some of the rankings at the top, the Jags were ahead of Billy, uh, one, two, three, four, five, six in DVOA third in EPA per play.

53:13And they were 13th in success rate. Um, so I, you know, I think it was a little bit slept on how good they were in Anthony Caponili's first year as defensive coordinator. I think retaining him, having that continuity is massive for this team. But for me, I understand you have players walking out the door in terms of Devin Lloyd, and that really does hurt. And I have some concerns about the run defense, but I really like the secondary and I'm starting in the back here. And I talked about when I talked about Travis Hunter as my ex-factor for the team, but that group of him, Bonteric Brown, Jordan Lewis they have decent depth with Jerry and Jones Dane Jackson and then Antonio Johnson and Eric Murray um so I'm not gonna talk about Hunter I want to talk about Antonio Johnson because I I think like you know we've been talking about who who are like slept on players I mean Monteric Brown you would also put in this group because I think he was kind of he kind of came out of nowhere for me and I was really impressed by him last season uh so antonio johnson when he's targeted a lot of passer rating of 43 which is the best of all safeties in the nfl i thought um he was he was a super complete safety as well i thought he was reliable uh in terms of his tackling and stopping the run as uh on top of that and i kind of feel like when you take a step back and you look at this group as a whole there aren't really glaring weaknesses jp like it's a really if hunter is anything close to what we think he can be as a corner and i think he and i from what i saw last year i think it's there like i i kind of love this they're they're a very well-rounded defense i think they're not I don't think they have a lot of the same levels of force multipliers as teams like Houston or even Seattle.

55:14But I do think Anthony Campanelli and what he did as a defensive coordinator was a very underrated point about the Jaguar season last year. I think the things that he was able to do when it came to changing personnel and changing fronts, Dennis Gardek was a July signing that turned into one of the most important players on that defense. Buster Brown, what are you able to get out of him? Antonio Johnson, I had no idea the ball production was going to happen for the way it did with Antonio Johnson. I fixed, yeah. Just the way that he was able to play the ball coming top down. And that's exactly what Campanelli wants from his defense is just to play top down.

55:51They play a lot of quarter, quarter, half. They play a lot of quarters defense. You want to try and get your safeties flying downhill. And so I think the turnovers probably won't be as sticky because, one, a lot of the turnover production is now in Carolina, which is understandable. But two, turnovers don't really stick year over year. But I think that tradeoff of not getting a lot of turnovers but being able to just get stops, I think they're going to get more stops this year because Travis Hunter at corner, you have built such a really versatile defensive backroom. And if you really are worried about Jordan Lewis' health, he missed a lot of time last year with injury.

56:30Jari and Jones steps in a nickel and you don't really miss a beat. yeah speaking about the turnovers versus stops this was a team that we were we talked about was the elite need people play just outside the top 10 and success rate you could see those kind of approach each other a little bit more where they're a little bit more consistent on a down-to-down basis a very good tackling group something I always felt I felt watching them last season all three levels again Lloyd was really good in run defense and in addition to getting the turnovers last season. Um, and I'll be interested in seeing, I guess Ventral Miller is kind of going to get more run and, and he looked fine and, you know, next to Ola Kuhn, who's just kind of old reliable there.

57:09But, uh, so I do not love that loss, but I also think the front is good enough to protect Miller. And I think the safeties have just been in the whole, the secondaries has been really good against the run to, uh, Hunter to me looked completely, you know, he's, a little bit of a smaller corner. I didn't think it looked like it out there. There's a couple of times where he got a little bit pushed around and pressed the line of scrimmage, but like JP, I thought he was like pretty solid tackling. Like he looked pretty, and I think he's put on a little weight if I saw that somewhere perhaps. So I think like complete is the word I keep going back to when I think of this group.

57:44Like I look at them and you know, Josh Heinz Allen is their best pass rusher walker walker's a great like avatar for this defense he's trevon walker yeah no he's not you know the one one dream upside that perhaps people had in mind when they drafted him but he's a good ass football player he tackles well he gets pressure he fits really well i think within the con like the scheme of what like kevin nearly wants and i think i feel that way about the group as a whole like they're just really solid top to bottom they're such a physical defense and they want it to be more physical. And I think going to the Travis Hunter point, I think people lost in sort of the receiver versus DB, like push pull last year.

58:29He was really freaking good at DB last year. Like he had a lot of really nice moments, just didn't see a lot of it because he was needed on offense. But now that you have him on defense, I think he's going to shine a lot more. And then up front, I mean, Trayvon Walker is, I think he's Anthony Campanelli's Madden user, if he could use any player on the defense, it's Trayvon Walker. He's like, okay, we're going to move Trayvon Walker inside, move Dennis Gardeck down on the edge, and we can rush the passer that way. We're going to move Trayvon Walker inside, and you can play Danny Strigow, who somehow seemingly became their third pass rusher last year, which I thought was really cool.

59:05I just, for me, for them to be higher, I would like to see them at a different pitch as a pass rusher. I think they need, for all their pass rushers wins, converting speed to power and with the long arm with the bull rush I think they need another type of pitch to get quick pressures I feel like they are sort of in the same range as the Rams were or the Packers were pre-adding Miles Garrett Michael Parsons they need quick pressure guys and I think it's going to have to take Josh Hines out another career year for it to happen but that's the biggest worry I think my feeling is that if the secondary is what I think it can be it'll alleviate that to some degree because I just, I really like this group in the back end.

59:51But yeah, they're good. I'm six and seven. It's pretty high. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it. Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 % of all e-commerce in the U.S., from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Shopify gives you a leg up with hundreds of beautiful, ready-to-go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code.

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1:01:51Join the Nordic Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Okay, so I had six Jags, seven Vikings. You have the Patriots at six, correct? Jags at seven. You can go next. Who do you have at eight? I have the Cleveland Browns. They just have the top ten. Okay. Okay. I'm still a believer in the Browns. They don't have Myles Garrett, which is going to be a major, like you don't just lose Myles Garrett and keep up the defense. But I still think this team is very talented on that side of the ball.

1:02:36Jared Verse, while he is not Myles Garrett, I think that is just always going to be like he's not a Myles Garrett player. He's still a really good football player. Adding him on top of year two of Mason Graham, you have the nice depth on the defensive line that I think can really complement both of those guys. Graham started to come along towards the back end of last season. Carson Swessinger was awesome as a rookie linebacker. just everywhere, but I think just the physicality really stood out. I was worried for him that he would put on weight and get a little slower, but his range was still super, super good.

1:03:12Adding Quincy Williams with him is a really nice fit in that defense. And then adding Emmanuel McNeil Warren to the secondary group, I think is going to be really fun. And just some of the stuff that new defensive coordinator, Mike Grudenberg, who comes from Atlanta, he's going to do a lot more. I think he's do a lot more simulated pressure stuff, a lot more like different looks. So I'm curious how that all looks in the grand scheme of things. But this is a very talented team. I'm so interested in what the scheme looks like, because under Jim Schwartz, it was so kind of unique in the NFL in terms of like, we are just going to, you know, rush with four.

1:03:53We're going to play man coverage. We're going to line up our edges wide. And now it's like, who knows, right? Like coming from Atlanta, it's really interesting. It was a defense that was very chaotic last season under Jeff Ulbrich. And I do wonder without Myles Garrett, if we see them send more pressure, if we, like you say, you see more stimulated pressures, I'll be interested in seeing kind of the identity of this group because there's still a lot of talent. It's still, you know, like you named, like the corners are still really good. We'll see what happens with Denzel Ward, by the way, if he stays there.

1:04:27I'm curious. Tyson Campbell was decent for them. Obviously, you know, the backers look like appear to be a strength. So, yeah, I think that was my big question. I was like, if, I think if I had a better feel for the defensive coordinator, I might have snuck them into the top 10 because I do think this is a really talented unit. But this was, for me, like a let's see what this looks like group. But they could be very good. They've obviously, the way the Browns have done their rebuild makes a lot of sense. And they, if they have even decent quarterback play, would be like a league pass type team.

1:05:08But I don't think that's going to happen this year. I don't either. I like how they built their team. I'm curious what year is sort of like, all right now it's time to actually go win some football games instead of being like the cute rebuild team but this defense should be again just an incredibly fast team they should be still very fast very physical yeah all right tampa is my number eight team i'm so glad you included tampa they're my number 10 okay cool uh the whole nfc south might have good defense this year is that crazy i looked at all okay and i so wanted to put the panthers on my list which would have been so like that would have been my big my big one as they say in love island and let's put a pin in the panthers and talk about them later we got to talk about the saints which was a team that was massively better last year under brandon staley but i just and the falcons too like right But the Tampa, I thought, addressed their biggest problem.

1:06:21And I think I just like the players the best on this team from top to bottom, even though the Panthers, I think, have a very high upside potential, maybe higher than Tampa, but it's so speculative with them. But, you know, let's just cut to it. I mean, this pressure, the lack of pressure has been the biggest problem on this team, particularly pressure with the four-man rush it's just something that they have not been able to fix since the super bowl run what was that 2021 supposed to be yeah um and you know i looked at this depth chart and i think yaya diaby is a great number two i really do bain jr al-qadim muhammad who was like crazy productive last year and you don't look he's he's 31 you You want it to be rotational.

1:07:11But I really feel like, and then the addressing the linebacker position with Alex Anzalone, and then they drafted Trotter Jr. Could be, I feel like, in terms of what was our biggest, the Eagles did the best job of addressing their biggest problem last year, which was quarterback too. Okay, you get your people on. But as far as answers for pass rush, this could be a very improved four-man rush JP. I think the way that they improved their pass rush and even their front seven in general might be one of my favorite sort of revamps of a single side of the ball because their biggest issues like you said were lack of a four-man rush and then their linebackers just did not have the range and coverage so Todd Bowles ended up playing this game where you always had to send simulated pressures and when the pressures wouldn't get home you'd have games like um honestly both atlanta games last year with similar simulated pressures wouldn't work quarterback would just pick them apart and then if you just tried to run the basic four-man rushes you couldn't really get home and you still get picked apart because your linebackers are still a liability i think reuben bain jr is such a fun fit in this defense because not only is he going to play 110 miles an hour he is going to be a really good stunter, looper.

1:08:38He is going to open up a lot of things for Kalijah Canty, who is one of the bigger question marks, bigger X factors in the NFC, is if he can just stay healthy, there's your winner as a pass rusher. I love adding Josiah Trotter to this defense. He was one of my favorite prospects entering this draft because he just plays so much bigger than his size. He sort of reminded me a little bit of the Kobe Dean coming out of Georgia where just you want that guy flying downhill as fast as possible. And the fit next to Anzalone, who is more of the coverage guy, now makes a lot more sense. When they just signed Anzalone in isolation, it was like, oh, I see the vision for it, but you need someone else next to him.

1:09:22Now you go get Trotter. And then if you can just keep this secondary healthy, that secondary can be really, really good. I know on this is a secondary where I was like on paper. I really like this, but like Ben Morrison is hurting it. You know, like it's just, but hypothetically you get, uh, Jacob Parrish playing outside, which was a position he played in college. And I know he's like five foot 10 ish, 11 generously, but I'm telling you that he can play outside Keontae Scott then can slide into the nickel. He is like every draft nerd's favorite player. I feel like. And then Winfield Jr. can play free safety and roam.

1:10:04And it's like, OK, cool. All of a sudden you feel everyone's kind of in their natural position. But health is in McCollum, you know, is the guy he's a solid on opposite on the outside. You need everyone to stay healthy. And it is also a little bit on paper right now because there's a lot of moving pieces and young and youth, frankly, outside of. so I do feel like it could all come together really well but the thing I'll say about the bucks is this too JP like I know this is going to be an elite run defense because it's all yeah so there's a baseline for this team last year against the run was first in success rate first in adjusted line yards first in stuff rate and they're as long as you got Vita Veya manning that inside they have a Sean Robinson now which is very funny A'shaun Robinson is going to be one of those guys who's like there's such a archetype of like a first rounder who is like initially like disappointing and then just plays in the NFL for like 20 years.

1:11:07He came into the NFL looking like he had already played for 20 years. Um, but like I know roommate junior is really good against the run too. I know this is going to be a really, really good run defense. And so there's, you know, it's, it's, it's like, okay, cool. Now, if you can just get pass rush juice and if those guys can stay healthy on the back end that's where you go from being like a top 10 to 15 defense to being five to 10 which is where I have them and that's sort of where my question is it's does Ty Bowles still know which uh buttons to press I still think that he was he was a fine coordinator last year it's just they didn't have the personnel to do everything that he wanted to do and this is just overall for the Bucs a huge year because it feels like this might be the last year that this core all stays together.

1:11:59So if Bowles can push the right buttons, which we've seen him do, he is one of those guys where we talked about Mike McDonald, we talked about Brian Flores. I'm one of the guys that sort of believes like Todd Bowles is going to coach a good run defense. He's going to coach a good defense. It's just now, can you get this pass rush back up to 100 % so you don't always have to rely on the simulated pressures. All right, so you had them 10. I had them 8. So to recap, I have Jags, Vikings, Bucs, blank at 9, and then the Patriots at 10. You had Patriots 6, Jags 7, 8 was blank. Oh, Browns 8. Browns 8.

1:12:409 is blank. And then 10, you had one of my teams, the Bucs. You had the Bucs at 10. Okay, so we both have one remaining team. At nine. I'll go first. And then you can tell me. I put the Ravens here. I did too. I also had the Ravens. I really wanted to be really hipster and say the saints. That's one of my. The whole NFC style. I was like looking at me like a demons, like the green goblin mask where I was like, Jalen Phillips, Devin Lloyd, those corners, Derek Brown. and then the saints are so hipster they were so much better last year okay let's talk about let's devote a little bit of time to the panthers and the saints yeah that was my big takeaway making this list i was like the nfc south i have major questions about every single team on offense but defensively they're all kind of good like i really sneaky decent um okay but let's start the The Ravens were destroyed by the injury bug last year.

1:13:45They were 30th in adjusted games lost on defense. Straight up, I'll just say it. This whole thing is predicated on Meduike coming back from here. If Meduike has to come back, I want a huge caveat. I'm taking them out. Yeah. Yeah. One of my notes is Nani Meduike here, they're going to be top 10. If he's not here, I'm removing them from this list. A part of the reason they'd be top 10 is because if he's there, it's like a really sneaky, fun pass rush again. Travis Jones next to him. They added Clayus Campbell back. Tavius Robinson opposite Trey Hendrickson and some mix of Zion Young and Mike Green.

1:14:27Like, that's a good group. And it's if Matabuke's in the mix. I don't think they'd be awful without him necessarily. But if we're talking about them as a top 10 unit, that needs to happen. And I thought a stat last year that was pretty telling. This was a defense that was third in EPA per play when they got pressure. They were 26 when they didn't, and they rarely got pressure. They were near the bottom of the league in every pressure metric that you look at. The back end should be really good, and we can talk about them in a second. But it won't matter if they're not able to get pressure. and on paper this is a group that should be able to get pressure and the biggest thing is adding not only jesse mentor but anthony weaver i think they both have shown they can create pressure they can manufacture pressures that's something that when you watch mentor with the chargers of course they had cleo mac tuli tweet below too but they were able to manufacture pressure really well They were able to use a lot of design pass rush games really effectively.

1:15:35I think, again, I'm hoping Matawike is healthy because he fits this defense and mentors defense so well because he is such an effective guy on stunts, on loops. Because you have a house in Travis Jones, you can have Matawike turning the corner around Travis Jones, and you have the ability to do so many different games opposite Trey Hendrickson, who is just your winner. If you want somebody to sort of flush, like you want somebody who can convert the pressures into sacks, Hendrickson's going to convert those pressures into sacks. So if Matuike's healthy, you have all these different guys who fit as sort of like hammers on pass rush games.

1:16:17Zion Young is a really good hammer. Tavius Robinson is a good hammer. You're just going to open up lanes for Matuike, which is why Matuike being healthy means so much to this team. I also really like the Jalen Hawkins addition Who I mentioned I didn't love the Patriots losing him I think he's really solid It would be the third safety, right? Because this is a team that plays a ton of dime And I really like them when they have It's a team that is at its best when it has multiple safeties So that they can weaponize Kyle Hamilton And both him and Starks are interchangeable to me On the back end out of those split safety looks so you can move Hamilton around, play him close to the box, have him threatening to rush, use him as a big nickel, or, you know, like a do-it-all, you know.

1:17:04So, there's weaknesses, to be sure. Second corner, opposite Wiggins. Nate Wiggins is great. It's like Awuzie or Tampa, you know, probably Awuzie, not the best. Second linebacker remains a little bit of a question mark. But I do think there's enough that pass rush coupled with this three safety look, coupled with the coaching additions, just could get back on track pretty quickly. I'm sort of curious if they move Marlon Humphrey back outside just because you want Kyle Hamilton closer to the action. And I know they signed Jalen Hawkins. I know you want to really play Kyle Hamilton in versatile spots, but just thinking about what Jesse Minter did with Derwin James and just sort of having him close to the action, basically a dime linebacker, I sort of feel like you want to do that same stuff with Kyle Hamilton, but that's reliant on having a second outside corner or having Humphrey play on the outside and just letting Hamilton roam as a nickel.

1:18:14I just think there's a lot of variance with their cornerback group, which is not always great, but I just, again, with the coaching changes, this team was talented last year. They were still a talented defense. It's just now you have somebody else controlling the sticks, and this is sort of hoping that Mentor can still do what he did in Los Angeles. Did you have any consideration for his old team, the Chargers? I did. I think outside of the top 10, I was really considering the Vikings, the Chargers, and then the NFC South in general. Yes. So the Chargers, I gave a lot of consideration to just because the formula for the defense isn't changing.

1:19:01The structure, schematics aren't changing. Chris O 'Leary comes in as defensive coordinator, was a safeties coach under Jesse Mentor in 2024, spent time as defensive coordinator for Western Michigan in 2025. but we've seen recently how changing coordinators but keeping the same scheme doesn't mean that the defense keeps up. We saw with Mike McDonald, Zach Orr. I just worry a little bit about that sort of aspect to it, and I think Jesse Mentor did a really good job of maximizing the players that they did have on that roster because I think the Chargers defense is good, but they didn't have a lot of overwhelming force multipliers.

1:19:41their force multiplier was Jesse mentor. And now he is the head coach at Ravens. So I gave them consideration, but I had them just outside. Yeah. They always kind of felt like a little bit the, some of the parts type defense. Right. And there's really good players. I mean, love Diane Henley, like Derwin James jr. Awesome. And has, you know, such a, he was so good under mentor. And I was thinking like, okay, but you know, like you take out the coach. I don't know. I think the defensive line to me wasn't enough for me to feel good about them sustaining with the coaching change. We'll see. I could be wrong.

1:20:22And then, yeah, the NFC South. Pouring to the Panthers, the Saints were quietly... I'm very high on the Saints. I like a lot about this team. We even talked about them briefly in the top ten offices. We didn't put them in. But there's a lot to like there. and there's a lot to like on this defense that was extremely good in the second half last year. And yes, that's because of the competition to some degree. But guess what? They get to play the same offenses for the most part. I thought Brandon Staley to like quietly rebuilding his resume is kind of a funny storyline. Cody Alexander, who does a great sub stack, which people should check out had a really good piece on how the saints defense sort of made some adjustments as years went on and ended up playing a ton of base uh which with a split safety structure behind it as a way of stopping play action and they were very effective against the run i encourage people to go check out i'll get into it more when i talk about the saints in division preview but um when you look at the depth chart it makes sense like i like this group of linebackers.

1:21:31I love that Caden Ellis is back. I think there's some talented players in the young secondary, the safeties. Justin Reed's been really good there. I think there's still no superstars on this defense. That's ultimately why. I feel like if they added Jalen Phillips, maybe I could put them in the top 10. I'll talk about the team that did because this team was more fundamentally sound than the Panthers last year. But right now it still feels like they're missing like a dude in terms of rushing the quarterback. As good as Chase Young's been, by the way, cause he's been pretty good for them too. So I was looking up like some stats for, and prepping for like potential breakout units this season.

1:22:14And I came along to Saints defense who in 2025, according to true media, they were third in percentages of explosive plays given up behind Seattle and Denver. They were fifth in havoc rate, which is plays in the attack for loss sack, forced fumble, pass breakup, interception. They were fifth in defensive success rate. And I kept going back, and every stat that I was looking for, for great defenses, the Saints always popped up. And so when I went and watched them, I was kind of surprised. I was sort of thinking going in, like, this is a Brandon Staley defense. It's going to play incredibly light.

1:22:47They're going to try and keep everything in front of them. But I do want to shout out their defensive line coach, Bo Davis, for just the turnaround this defensive line unit has been in general. They do so much when it comes to running stunts and games. They know that they don't really have a true force multiplier on that side or on the defensive front. So they do so much when it comes to pass rush games, when it comes to lining up and showing simulated pressures. And then the secondary I think is fun. I still think they're maybe like a year away, And I think they need like one more like impact guy.

1:23:25But I mean, a group of Jonas Sanker, who I thought was pretty good as a rookie. Quincy Riley, who was one of my draft crushes as in 2025, I believe. And then you add Justin Reed on top of that linebacker group like Danny Stutzman played at a level high enough. They're willing to let the Mario Davis walk, which is huge because Mickey Loomis doesn't let anybody walk. So I think this Saints defense could surprise a lot of people. I'm very curious about what they do this upcoming season. Yeah. I mean, brought back Cam Jordan, who was, again, like pretty productive last year. And Chase Young is kind of similar to what I said about A'shaun Robinson, like a player who like never lived up to the initial hype, but is like just going to be a good, I think, NFL player for a long time.

1:24:14Okay. And Carolina, look, I'm so enticed by this defense. I was so close to putting them in the top 10 because like they have not just, they have, I think top 10 players at premium positions, which is something that a lot of the teams we talk about. Derek Brown, Jalen Phillips, Devin Lloyd, JC Horn, and Mike Jackson. Like that in alone is enough. I have questions about a lot of the other positions, safety,

1:24:51nickel second line there's you know like it feels like okay like let's see if those players can kind of elevate everyone else nick scorton was i think showed promise next year now he gets to run rush opposite phillips so like that's a great example like if if phillips's presence suddenly elevates scorton and makes he creates opportunities for derrick brown it's so easy for me to imagine this defense especially with those corners being really good but it is so hypothetical at this point it is my big leap it is very very hypothetical and I do want to see this pass rush because one of the things easier ever oh the Panthers defensive coordinator does he does not tim pressure they're not they're not going to blitz so I just think that having guys like Jalen Phillips who can win with four.

1:25:44Nick Scorton. You have guys at Prince Lee and Manmielin coming off the edge as a designated pass rusher. Nailed that pronunciation. Nailed it. I just think you have all these guys as a pass rush unit. It should work. I'm curious to see what happens, but on paper, it's easy to believe. Also, I know, again, some of his reputation was a little bit inflated last year by interceptions and those can be not sticky especially for the linebacker position but he was also like very fundamentally sound against the run and and plays a position where players tend to peak at this age right like so and i thought the contract was totally reasonable phillips a little bit of overpay but it is funny right like the uh fangio disciples just kind of passing around the same kind of type of play because evero it's some it's not surprising that they wanted jalen phillips and i i remain a big fan of his game even if the sacks haven't been there so i don't know i'm excited to watch this group i think they could be really good the whole nsc south could have competent defense which is really funny um so yeah i okay so to recap i'll read mine again ours were like basically the same at the top um texans seahawks rams eagles Broncos, scrolling, Jags, Vikings.

1:27:10I'm going to regret that one. I know I am. Bucs, Ravens, Patriots. Want to revisit, reread yours to the class? Okay. So I had Texans at one, Seahawks, Rams, Broncos, Eagles rounding out the top five. Then Patriots at six, Jaguars at seven, Browns at eight, Ravens at nine, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at ten. who's going to be the angriest about not being discussed Steelers. Maybe I can see serious fans. The Steelers. Maybe, maybe the chargers. Yeah. The chargers. I know chargers might be the most. I think the chargers offense is going to take a step forward and the chargers defense is going to take a step back.

1:27:51And yeah, it's going to like skew the other way. Um, all right. That's it. Lions. You're too hurt. I'm sorry. I can't do it. Yeah. Uh, that's it for maybe the Falcons. We, I don't know. We'll see. Uh, that's it for their, top 10 this week jp are you watching love island i am not i'm we're thinking about getting into my fiance and i are thinking about getting into it don't do it uh for those who do watch love island you can check out my love island recap pod with david dennis jr also at youtube.com slash at meeting times or you can listen to it an audio it's called viewer discretion um we will be starting division previews next week crazy it's already that time of year so So make sure to tune in for that as we roll through every division.

1:28:35I will also be starting my power hours where I power rank the entire NFL with guests soon. As I mentioned, again, you can check out JP's podcast, Pushing the Pile, wherever you get your pods. Thank you as always to everyone at Omaha Productions, Kirsten Specky, Owen Saylor, Tucker Tashin, and Jack Foster. I'll see you guys next week.

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