Everybody often hears the saying, “Defense wins championships.” That saying is true for the most part, as we got to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers completely dismantle the Kansas City Chiefs defensively in the Super Bowl last year. With the 2021 NFL regular season right on the horizon, we take a look to see what teams could have the best defense in the league.
Starting this list off with the Washington Football Team. According to last seasons stats, Washington was second in yards allowed, fourth in points allowed and third in DVOA. They also retained all of their dominant defensive line that has Chase Young, Da’Ron Payne, Jonathan Allen and Montez Sweat on it. Their secondary was solid too and they added onto that by snagging William Jackson III in free agency. The only issue that this roster has is the lack of depth at the linebacker position, though they did draft Jamin Davis a few weeks ago. Ron Rivera always seems to get the most out of his defensive players and this group is no different.
The Buccaneers are definitely another defense worth keeping an eye on this year. This is a defense that doesn’t have to prove anything as they are returning with every starter from their Super Bowl winning season in 2020. Their defensive line is outstanding with Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, Vita Vea, Ndamukong Suh and Steve McLendon rotating in and out. They also have Lavonte David and Devin White to form arguably the best linebacker tandem in the NFL. Age could be an issue with a couple of players, notably JPP, David and Suh but that shouldn’t be much of an issue. Expect them to be at the top of the defensive standings once again.
I have mentioned in the past that the Cleveland Browns have the potential to take the title of best offense in the league. Well, they may very well have the best defense also if their new acquisitions work out. They started their offseason off by picking up John Johnson III to fill their desperate need for an above average safety. They also snagged Troy Hill and Greg Newsome II to add onto their already solid cornerback group that has Denzel Ward. Pass rush was a bit of an issue with teams just keying in on Myles Garrett but that shouldn’t happen anymore. Jadeveon Clowney was brought in to play across from him and Malik Jackson should become a nice rotation player in the middle. Oh right, and they traded up to select Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in what some called the best pick of the night.
If we are basing this off of potential, I believe the Browns have that without a shadow of a doubt. However, realistically I don’t believe that they will be able to put it all together quick enough to back that statement up with statistics. You could roll with either the Buccaneers or Washington for this category as both will be incredibly deserving of it. Although, my personal selection would be the Football Team just because of their stellar play last year and their improvement in the secondary and linebacker position. Also, if you happened to wonder why I didn’t include the Los Angeles Rams on this list, it was because they lost too much talent in the offseason. Yes, they still have Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, but they lost their defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to start. Then they lost John Johnson III and Troy Hill in the secondary. Then wrapped it up by losing Michael Brockers to a trade and Morgan Fox signing with the Carolina Panthers. Their superstar factor is there but overall depth took a massive hit.