Individual Defensive Player Rankings

What’s better than a solid cheat sheet? How about seven combined into one master list? To prepare for the upcoming season, we asked seven fantasy veterans to rank the top defenders at each position, with very interesting results.

Each player was assigned a rank by all seven experts; the lower this score compared with other players at the same position, the better. This way, an overall consensus emerges, yet individual preferences can also be seen.

Average rank indicates the average of the scores assigned to a player by each person (players not appearing in an individual list were assigned a score of 21 for DLs and DBs, 41 for LBs). Each ranker’s list can be seen in the seven columns at the right.

Please note that this is a tool for draft preparation; it will not be updated throughout the season.

DL LB DB

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN	Avg Rank	S l o w	D u k e	F l u x	i r o n	B 4 P	P o o b	B u c k
Michael Strahan – NYG	1,00	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Jason Taylor – Mia	3,43	2	2	3	2	2	11	2
Mike Rucker – Car	4,14	4	3	5	5	3	4	5
Charles Grant – NO	5,29	6	4	8	4	4	5	6
Adewale Ogunleye – Mia	5,71	5	9	6	8	7	2	3
Leonard Little – StL	6,43	3	14	4	3	5	6	10
John Abraham – NYJ	6,86	7	5	7	6	6	10	7
Simeon Rice – TB	7,57	10	8	2	10	10	9	4
Aaron Schobel – Buf	11,57	11	16	10	7	8		8
Julius Peppers – Car	11,86	12	6	13	14	11	16	11
Patrick Kerney – Atl	14,00	8	7	19	9	13
Grant Wistrom – Sea	14,00	9	19	15	11	9	14
Dwight Freeney – Ind	14,57	16	13	9	12	18		13
Alex Brown – Chi	15,86	13	10		19	12		15
Kenard Lang – Cle	16,00		11	11	16	14		18
Kevin Williams – Min	16,29	19		17	17	15	13	12
Darren Howard – NO	16,57	14			13	16		10
Jevon Kearse – Ten	17,29	15	18	14	15	17
Kelly Gregg – Bal	18,43						8	16
Greg Ellis – Dal	18,71			18			12	17
Shaun Ellis – NYJ	18,86		15	12
Willie McGinest – NE	18,86						18	9
Marcus Stroud – Jax	19,00						7
Jason Ferguson – NYJ	19,14						15	14
Kalimba Edwards – Det	19,71		12
Courtney Brown – Cle	19,71	17	20		18	20
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila – GB	20,14			16				20
Andre Carter – Ten	20,43		17
Bert Berry – Ari	20,43						17
Richard Seymour – NE	20,43	20				19	20
Tyler Brayton – Oak	20,57	18
Rod Coleman – Atl	20,71						19
John Henderson – Jax	20,71							19
Marcelleus Wiley – Dal	20,86				20
Justin Smith – Cin	20,86			20

LINEBACKERS	Avg Rank	S l o w	D u k e	F l u x	i r o n	B 4 P	P o o b	B u c k
Ray Lewis – Bal	1,00	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Jamie Sharper – Hou	2,86	2	3	4	2	3	2	4
Donnie Edwards – SD	3,29	3	2	6	4	2	4	2
Keith Bullock – Ten	4,71	7	5	2	3	5	6	5
Keith Brooking – Atl	5,29	4	8	5	5	4	3	8
Zach Thomas – Mia	7,14	5	10	11	7	7	7	3
Andra Davis – Cle	7,43	6	7	7	8	8	10	6
Brian Urlacher – Chi	9,14	8	6	10	6	6	21	7
Nick Barnett – GB	11,00	12	9	12	11	10	8	15
London Fletcher – Buf	11,71	9	12	9	14	11	18	9
Lavar Arrington – Was	12,71	13	4	3	10	15	22	22
Anthony Simmons – Sea	13,29	18	20	17	9	12	5	12
Jay Foreman – Hou	14,43	11	11	8	12	9	30	20
Michael Barrow – Was	14,71	10	16	26	16	13	9	13
Tedy Bruschi – NE	17,57	21	19	13	23	21	15	11
Eric Barton – NYJ	18,43	16	18	25	15	17	24	14
Mike Peterson – Jax	20,00	17	13	22	13	16	35	24
James Farrior – Pit	20,29	14	23	14	18	14	27	32
Takeo Spikes – Buf	20,57	20	14	23	20	20	16	31
Julian Peterson – SF	22,43	19	21	29	19	19	25	25
Dat Nguyen – Dal	22,71	26	17	18	22	26	17	33
Shawn Barber – KC	23,29	25		16	26	24	14	17
Al Wilson – Den	23,71	15	26	34	17	25	28	21
Derrick Brooks – TB	24,17	27	22	21	28	31		16
Barrett Green – NYG	26,14	33			27	30
Chad Brown – Sea	26,57	22		30	21	23	26	23
Akin Ayodele – Jax	28,14	23		32	29	18	36	18
Sam Cowart – NYJ	29,29		35	15			13	19
Napolean Harris – Oak	29,71	31	15	35	25	35	32	35
Chris Draft – Atl	30,29	28	27	24	32	32	39	30
David Thornton – Ind	30,43			20			19	10
Scott Fujita – KC	30,57		33	19			12	27
Derek Smith – SF	31,43	24		33	30	29	29	34
Kendrell Bell – Pit	32,00	30	28	27		28		29
Cato June – Ind	33,29	32	25			27		26
Jeremiah Trotter – Phi	33,43	29			24	22		36
Robert Thomas – StL	34,00	34	31		31	39	23	39
Teddy Lehman – Det	34,14		34
Dhani Jones – Phi	34,43			28			11	38
Chris Claiborne – Min	35,43	37			33	34	34	28
Nate Webster – Cin	36,14	36	24	37	38	36
Mark Simoneau – Phi	37,57			38			20
Shelton Quarles – TB	37,86	35				33	33
Brian Simmons – Cin	37,86	39	36	31	37	40
Lance Briggs – Chi	38,57	38			35	37		37
Will Witherspoon – Car	39,00		30				38
Jonathan Vilma – NYJ	39,29		29
Dexter Coakley – Dal	39,57						31
Courtney Watson – NO	39,71		32
*Boss Bailey – Det**	39,71			36			37
*Sidelined indefinitely following knee surgery
Pisa Tinoisamoa – StL	39,86				34			40
Marcus Washington – Was	40,29				36
DJ Williams – Den	40,57		38
Travian Smith – Oak	40,57					38
Nate Wayne – Phi	40,57			40	39
Dan Morgan – Car	40,71			39
Junior Seau – Mia	40,71	40					40
Rosevelt Colvin – NE	40,86				40

DEFENSIVE BACKS	Avg Rank	S l o w	D u k e	F l u x	i r o n	B 4 P	P o o b	B u c k
Rodney Harrison – NE	1,71	1	1	1	1	1	6	1
Darren Sharper – GB	3,14	4	2	4	4	2	2	4
Greg Wesley – KC	3,43	3	3	2	2	4	5	5
Adam Archuleta – StL	6,86	2	6	3	3	3		10
Charles Tillman – Chi	8,00	9	11	13	7	5	8	3
Sean Taylor – Was	9,14	8	4	10	6		7	8
Fred Thomas – NO	9,43	7	7	8	5	6		12
Sammy Knight – Mia	11,29	5	9		8	7	18	11
Michael Lewis – Phi	11,43	13	12	17	11	9	4	14
Terence Newman – Dal	12,43	11		15	12	10	3	15
Tony Parrish – SF	13,86	16	5	7		18		9
Ed Reed – Bal	14,57		8	6	20		9	17
Ronde Barber – TB	15,00	15		9			12	6
Brian Russell – Min	15,43						1	2
Ken Hamlin – Sea	15,57	17			10	13	11	16
Lawyer Milloy – Buf	15,57	6	20	18	16	8		20
Antoine Winfield – Min	15,86	10		12	14	12
Ty Law – NE	15,86	14		19	13	11	14	19
Mike Minter – Car	16,14	12	13	11		14
Nick Harper – Ind	17,86						13	7
Bryan Scott – Atl	18,14	18			9	16
Corey Chavous – Min	18,43		19	5
Dre Bly – Det	18,86				17		10
Brian Dawkins – Phi	19,14	19	10
Marcus Trufant – Sea	19,57			16			16
Shawn Springs – Was	19,71				18	15
Roy Williams – Dal	19,71		16	20				18
Ifeanyi Ohalete – Was	19,86							13
Brian Williams – Min	19,86				15	19
Dexter Jackson – Ari	20,00		14
Jay Bellamy – NO	20,00			14
Terence Kiel – SD	20,14		15
Mike Logan – Pit	20,14						15
Mike Doss – Ind	20,14		17				19
Deon Grant – Jax	20,43					17
Omar Stoutmire – NYG	20,43						17
Troy Polamalu – Pit	20,57		18
Mike McKenzie – GB	20,71				19
Aenas Williams – StL	20,86	20
Robert Griffith – Cle	20,86					20
Gary Baxter – Bal	20,86						20

Legend
Slow = Slowkidz
iron = ironman
B4P = Bennett4Prez
Poob = Poobah
Buck = Buckychudd

Assumed Scoring:
1 point per tackle
1 point per sack
1 point per blocked kick or punt
2 points per interception, forced fumble or fumble recovery
6 points per defensive touchdown
2 points per safety

Thanks to all the IDP experts who made these rankings happen!

Individual Defensive Player Rankings

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