The best NFL player of all time at every position - Defense

There is an old adage in sports that ‘defense wins championships’ which we don’t always aspire to, but given we are picking from the greatest defensive players to ever lace up their boots in the NFL, we reckon this defense would be good enough to win a Super Bowl by themselves. We’re going to run a traditional 4-3 defense to try and fit as many greats in as possible, even if having three linebackers is somewhat out of fashion nowadays.

‘The Minister of Defense’ was an almost unstoppable force during his career, finishing with 198 sacks in 232 games. His signature move was tossing his opponent to the ground like they were a rag doll, which just showed his incredible strength. The 1991 Eagles defense ranks 1st all time in DVOA with -38.0% per Aaron Schatz, second place finished with -32.2%... They didn’t have Reggie White.

Aaron Donald was a one-man wrecking crew during his career and a huge reason why the Rams won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. For a defensive tackle to finish with over 100 sacks in their career, as Donald did, you know he must’ve been some talent.

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As Robert Zeglinski wrote for USA Today, “Greene both made his teammates better and dominated his individual matchups for over a decade.” Greene was the epitome of dominance during his career and well deserves his place here.

Bruce Smith was certainly in the conversation for this spot, but we decided to go with the man who made the NFL record sacks. Would his patented head slap move fly nowadays, of course not, but we’re sure he would’ve worked it out, he was that good.

Look, the linebackers are going to be a hodgepodge to an extent, mostly so we could fit LT into our team. He played outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense, but we couldn’t leave him out. He’s considered by many to be the bet defensive player of all time, so we think he’ll be fine playing some off-ball linebacker when required!

8 Pro Bowls, 8 All-Pro nods and the award for best NFL linebacker named after him, Butkus is THE linebacker. He was a feared, physical presence but could also read his opponents as well as anyone who ever lived.

Per Athlon Sports, Lewis is the only linebacker to ever win a Super Bowl MVP award. There’s not much more we need to say. He read, react, and demolish an opponent before they knew what had hit them and made the Ravens one of the most feared teams to play during the 2000s.

‘Prime Time’ could have probably been a Hall of Fame wide receiver if he had wanted to be, such was his ability when he got the ball in his hands. He was everywhere on the field during his career, locking down wide receivers for fun.

Lott spent time at every position in the secondary during his career, but his best position was free safety where he could read the play, crash down on the ball and either intercept the pass, or crush the ball carrier. In 1986, Lott had 10 interceptions, forced three fumbles and had two sacks, per Pro Football Reference. That’s not a bad career for an NFL safety, let alone a season.

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Ed Reed played during a golden era of safety play, with Brian Dawkins, John Lynch, and Troy Polumalu all overlapping with his career. Reed emerged from that period as the best of the lot, often knowing more about the opposing offense than the receivers did. There’s a reason he finished his career with 64 interceptions, and it wasn’t just his athleticism.

Per Pro Football Network, Woodson finished his career first in fumble recoveries (32), first in pick-sixes (12), tied first in total defensive TDs (13), and third in interceptions (71). That’s about as good as it gets!

There are many names we had to leave out of this list as we can only fit 11 players on the field at once! So here are a few names we considered that we haven’t previously mentioned, Darrelle Revis (CB), Kenny Houston (S), Alan Page and Bob Lilly (DT), J.J. Watt (DE).

Bill Belichick cut his teeth in the NFL as a special teams and defensive assistant before getting his first defensive coordinator role with the Giants in 1985. Since then, he has put together probably the greatest resume of any head coach ever, winning eight Super Bowls, two as a DC, and six as a head coach. When it comes to defense, there’s been no greater mind in history.

Tom Landry also got his coaching start as a DC with the Giants, bizarrely Vince Lombardi was the OC for most of that time, making the mid-50s Giants probably the best-coached team ever. Landry went on to lead the upstart Cowboys to two Super Bowl championships, with his defenses playing a huge role in their success.

There are so many names we didn’t get to mention in this list, but it’s nearly impossible to get every position correct in a way that please everyone. So, if you disagree, please let us know, but we would love to know who would’ve chosen instead!

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