As NFL teams build their rosters for the 2026 season, we’re using a data-driven power index to isolate pure unit talent and identify who possesses the best collection of defensive players at certain positional groups.
Defensive units can be the hallmark of an NFL franchise: Some of the best teams in league history were anchored by a stout players on an individual level or in some combination of the defensive front, the middle of the field and the secondary.
Yeah, think the Steel Curtain Pittsburgh Steelers, the Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks, 1985 Chicago Bears and other impenetrable defenses.
As every NFL team heads into the 2026 season, we’re looking at four key defensive units and finding the top team for each one: pass rushers, interior defensive linemen, inside linebackers and defensive backs. For every group, we looked at raw production relative to each position, as well as player ratings, to determine a power index that ranked all 32 teams against an average offense.
The task is similar to our selections for the best NFL offensive units.
The 2026 draft class wasn’t added to these calculations, given there’s not an objective way to determine whether a rookie’s college production will translate to the NFL. However, some selections have added a cherry on top of some teams’ standings.
Following are the teams that possess the best NFL defensive positional units heading into the 2026 season.
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Best NFL Defensive Units
Interior Defensive Line: Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City have a few glaring attributes that helped secure the top spot: They have the best pass-rushing interior defender in Chris Jones, added one of the best run-stopping interior defenders in Khyiris Tonga this offseason, and selected one of the best defensive tackles in the first round of the 2026 draft, Peter Woods.
Jones’ 25.2% pressure rate ranked third and Tonga’s 20.0% was 20th among 147 interior defenders with at least 150 snaps last season. In run disruptions, Tonga ranked first at 37.4% and Jones 12th at 30.8%.
While Woods didn’t have the best metrics in the 2025 FBS season (a 7.1% pressure rate and a 13.0% run disruption rate), his 2024 stats were exceptional, with a 20.6% pressure rate and an 18.1% run disruption rate.
There simply isn’t another defensive line trio like this in the NFL, which is why they finished well above the Tennessee and Denver for No. 1.
Pass Rushers: Houston Texans
This was the tightest race of the positional groups. The Houston appeared to be the team to beat with defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, but the Los Angeles altered the landscape significantly with their high-profile acquisition of Myles Garrett.
To put in perspective how that trade altered this discussion, the Rams’ pass rusher power index bumped from 1.10 to 1.56 when Jared Verse was swapped for Garrett and joined linebacker Byron Young. Their average pressure rate and adjusted sack rate went up by almost 2% each, average run disruption rate increased by almost 4%, and pass-rush and run-defense ratings went up by 6.7% and 1.56%, respectively.
However, this still wasn’t enough to unseat the Texans. Houston’s duo of Anderson and Hunter beat out LA’s trio of Garrett, Young and linebacker Josaiah Stewart in pressure rate by nearly 2% and in run disruption rate by almost 5% when looking at edge rushers who had at least 60 pass-rush snaps in 2025.
Best NFL Rams Texans Pass Rushers
On an individual level, each team’s top playmakers were neck and neck. Anderson and Garrett ranked second and third, respectively, with 31.3% and 31.0% pressure rates, while Hunter was 21st at 23.8% and Young 27th at 22.8%. Anderson and Hunter ranked fifth and 56th, respectively, with 27.5% and 16.9% run disruption rates; Young and Garrett were 25th and 52nd, respectively, at 17.5% and 20.8%.
Garrett and Young also were both inside the top eight in pass-rush rating and the top nine in run-defense rating, while Anderson Jr. and Hunter finished inside the top five in pass-rush rating and Anderson was eighth in run-defense rating.
We’re splitting hairs at this point between which edge-rushing group is superior. Both will be dominant in 2026, with the Texans perhaps a smidge better entering the season based on 2025 metrics.
Linebackers: Philadelphia Eagles
Evaluating linebackers as a collective unit is challenging. Assessments must account for a wide range of responsibilities, including tackling, run stopping, pass rushing and coverage.
Even still, the Philadelphia ran away with this positional ranking heading into the 2026 season thanks to their duo of Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell. Together, they had the position’s best average run disruption rate and pressure rate, as well as the lowest burn rate allowed, last season. Among 97 linebackers with at least 200 snaps, both ranked in the top 21 in run-defense rating and top 26 in coverage rating. Baun also ranked eighth for pass-rush rating.
Behind those two, third-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is an ascending talent with a 21.6% run disruption rate, a 70.8 pass-rush grade and a 70.7 coverage grade after just 81 snaps in 2025.
None of the Eagles’ top linebackers is a game-wrecker by himself, but they become a force to be reckoned with as a unit.
Defensive Backs: Denver Broncos
Rather than split this unit up between cornerbacks and safeties, we’re looking at the secondary units as a whole with burn rate allowed, open rate allowed, pass-rush rating, run-defense rating and overall coverage rating.
For this category, we looked at defensive backs with at least 100 pass-coverage snaps and at least 200 total snaps last season. The Broncos came out on top thanks to star cornerback Patrick Surtain and their considerable depth at defensive back.
Best NFL Denver Defensive Backs
Two pass coverage metrics: BURN-A% = burn rate allowed; OPEN-A% = open rate allowed
Four of the Broncos’ top cornerbacks – Surtain, Ja’Quan McMillian, Riley Moss and Jahdae Barron – ranked inside the top 50 of the 238 defensive backs in burn rate allowed. Surtain, McMillian, Moss and safety Brandon Jones also ranked inside the top 50 in open rate allowed.
This explains why it was so hard to throw on the Broncos, who at 14-3 tied for the best record in the regular season. They surrendered the lowest burn rate at 43.9% and the lowest yards per play at 5.2, while finishing second in completion rate allowed at 57.8% and second in passing success rate allowed at 35.6%.
While star power is a luxury, it was the Broncos’ exceptional depth that secured their position at the top of the league rankings heading into the 2026 season.
Stats Perform’s Greg Gifford and Kyle Cunningham-Rhoads contributed advanced analytics to this story. For more coverage, follow on social media at Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook and X.