NFL video games are sometimes received with coronary heart and grit much more than with talent. Vast receivers and quarterbacks get the entire highlights on sports activities tv and social media, however defensive gamers ship the stops that win championships. Even because the NFL has given extra leeway to the offensive gamers, a few of the greatest defenders of the twenty first century carved out their place and likewise seem on this listing of the 22 greatest defensive gamers in NFL historical past.

1. Lawrence Taylor – Linebacker

Lawrence Taylor introduced defensive play to a completely new stage with the New York Giants within the Nineteen Eighties. The final defender to win NFL MVP, Taylor bodily overpowered whole offensive strains and quarterbacks. He’s one of many solely non-quarterbacks in soccer lore one may argue is much more influential and devastating than his offensive counterparts.

2. Reggie White – Defensive Finish

Arguing for Reggie White or Lawrence Taylor as the perfect defensive participant ever is commonly a dialogue round peak versus longevity, however those that desire the Minister of Protection say he had each. White displayed lethal defensive prowess for the Eagles and Packers throughout 14 seasons with the groups. His 1998 marketing campaign with 16 sacks at 37 years previous is likely one of the true oddities in sports activities.

3. D. Butkus – Linebacker

Butkus pioneered the kind of domineering linebacker play that stars equivalent to Luke Kuechly and Bobby Wagner aspired to within the 2010s. Butkus made positive that when he hit an opponent, they’d be feeling the aftereffects the following morning or two. The Bears have by no means possessed a participant of Butkus’ caliber ever once more.

4. Deion Sanders – Cornerback

Coach Prime will get loads of headlines with the Colorado Buffaloes proper now, bringing swag and substance to a poor faculty soccer program. In his enjoying days he flashed unreal athleticism and ball expertise to close down whole receiving corps and scare quarterbacks from ever throwing his approach. Sanders is likely one of the solely secondary defensive gamers to win Defensive Participant of the Yr.

5. Deacon Jones – Defensive Finish

Deacon Jones has been forgotten by casuals with the passing of time, however soccer purists won’t ever let his reminiscence fade. Jones remodeled the aim of a defensive finish on the soccer area, attacking the quarterback with unmatched pace. Jones famously laid declare to the time period “sack” that now could be crucial statistical measure for a defensive lineman.

6. Bruce Smith – Defensive Finish

Bruce Smith is soccer’s model of Tim Duncan. Whereas by no means a league chief in sacks, Smith racked up 200 over his profession to ascertain himself as the perfect tackler of quarterbacks ever. His tenacity laid the muse for the Buffalo Payments within the Nineties, however he by no means received a Tremendous Bowl.

7. Ray Lewis – Linebacker

Ray Lewis is commonly considered because the final remnant of a misplaced period of physicality in soccer. He hounded the center of the sector and hit gamers with a vengeance in his eyes, main the league in mixed and solo tackles in three totally different seasons. Lewis’s hassle off the sector typically overshadows his greatness on the gridiron.

8. Joe Greene – Defensive Sort out

Joe Greene was the primary defensive participant marketed as a celebrity for the lots to understand. Greene carried his duties with the Pittsburgh Steelers with honor and coronary heart, main the workforce to 4 Tremendous Bowls and making them the perfect workforce defensive unit ever, coined “The Metal Curtain.”

9. Rod Woodson – Cornerback and Security

Rod Woodson turned over offensive gamers with impeccable ease. Historians who cite Woodson as the perfect nook ever will level out his document variety of pick-sixes and fumble recoveries. Woodson’s versatility was displayed when he succeeded as a security late in his profession with the Baltimore Ravens.

10. Ed Reed – Security

Ed Reed will be the smartest security in NFL historical past. Peyton Manning famously tells of the occasions Reed’s mind compelled him into throws that he wouldn’t usually make. His mixture of expertise within the backfield helped Ray Lewis shine up entrance on the road and propelled the Baltimore Ravens to playoff success.

11. Ronnie Lott – Security

The San Francisco 49ers are extra identified for his or her offensive legends equivalent to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Ronnie Lott exhibited parallel prowess on the opposite finish of the sector, offering much-needed protection on a workforce that wanted stops to again up their scoring drives. Lott received 4 Tremendous Bowls with the Niners.

12. Aaron Donald – Defensive Sort out

Aaron Donald swallows up whole NFL offenses in an period that many followers say is mushy. Donald maintains a bodily and calculated strategy to protection, and the Rams have been benefiting from it for a decade. Donald has received three Defensive Participant of the Yr awards and a Tremendous Bowl.

13. J.J. Watt – Defensive Finish

J.J. Watt’s prime was brief in Houston, however he holds maybe the perfect peak in NFL historical past. Watt had not less than 17 sacks in three of 4 seasons from 2012 to 2015. Accidents prevented him from additional high-level play within the again finish of his profession, however everybody knew what he was able to.

14. Jack Lambert – Linebacker

Jack Lambert was simply as necessary to the Pittsburgh Steelers as Terry Bradshaw and Joe Greene throughout their 4 Tremendous Bowls within the Seventies. His mixture of expertise and management made the Steelers probably the most formidable defensive workforce within the historical past of soccer throughout a whole decade.

15. Emlen Tunnell – Security

Emlen Tunnell helped set up the backfield defensive positions as a few of the most necessary within the recreation. Tunnell intercepted passes at a daunting fee and made it practically unimaginable to move the ball throughout an already run-heavy period.

16. Derrick Thomas – Linebacker and Defensive Finish

Derrick Thomas is likely one of the most underrated brilliant spots for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, a workforce that didn’t expertise lots of success earlier than Patrick Mahomes was drafted. Thomas had seven seasons with not less than 10 sacks. His profession and life have been tragically reduce brief as a result of aftermath of a automobile accident he was part of in 2000.

17. Charles Woodson – Cornerback and Security

Charles Woodson was probably the most versatile cornerback and security of the 2000s. He knew the place the ball was going to be earlier than anybody else, and his management had a dramatic impression on each the Packers and the Raiders.

18. Mike Singletary – Linebacker

Mike Singletary was the scariest a part of the 1985 Chicago Bears protection that led the franchise to their solely Tremendous Bowl title. Singletary’s prominence in the course of the sector was instrumental in clogging up the opposing workforce’s offense and made the Bears completely unbeatable.

19. Bob Lilly – Defensive Sort out

Bob Lilly cemented himself as Mr. Cowboy after main the Dallas protection for the whole thing of the Nineteen Sixties. Lilly launched fashionable defensive methods to his recreation that others wouldn’t undertake for an additional couple of a long time. He received a Tremendous Bowl in 1972.

20. Michael Strahan – Defensive Finish

Earlier than he turned probably the most distinguished retired soccer participant in media, Michael Strahan sacked the quarterback in addition to anybody in NFL historical past. Strahan’s document sack whole in 2001 nonetheless stands as we speak, though T.J. Watt tied the 22.5 sacks Strahan recorded.

21. Paul Krause – Security

Paul Krause was the primary NFL security to point out the world how important turnovers within the backfield will be to the gamers up entrance. When Krause intercepted passes for the Vikings, it helped the Purple Folks Eaters defensive lineman eat up the inside.

22. Bobby Wagner – Linebacker

Bobby Wagner was the perfect participant on the Legion of Increase protection that stored Seattle on the high of the NFL for a lot of the mid-2010s. Wagner continually leads the NFL in tackles and nonetheless mans the center of the Seahawks’ protection proper now.