Ranking 2024 NFL Defenses: Browns, Jets Among Elite

The NFL is an offensive league, but defenses have been fighting back over the past couple of years. Even if your offense is elite, you still need your defense to be, well, not a disaster to be able to really compete. And if you can get elite play on the less glamorous side of the ball, that’s all the better.

Defenses are fighting back in the NFL.

Because defense is less consistent year to year, there’s not as much certainty about which units will be the best in the league in any given season. For that reason, rather than go through every team from 32-1 on this side of the ball, we’re grouping the teams by how likely they are to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses, based on the quality of their personnel and coaching.

“Defense is less consistent year to year, there’s not as much certainty about which units will be the best in the league in any given season.”

Among last year’s top 10 defenses, we had three in our “most likely” category and three in our “somewhat likely” category. The Browns, Jaguars, and Chiefs were also listed in “possibly,” while the surprising Raiders were all the way down in “most unlikely,” so, whoops. Still, a 60% hit rate on our teams that were some degree of likely is pretty darn good, and having 9 of 10 teams considered as at least possibilities is, as well.

Most Unlikely

The Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, and Los Angeles Chargers are among the most unlikely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses. These teams checked in at the bottom of the defensive rankings last season, and when you take a look at their depth charts, it gets really tough to see the upside of becoming a top-10 unit.

The Arizona Cardinals are among the most unlikely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses.

Somewhat Unlikely

The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, and Washington Commanders are all somewhat unlikely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses. Some of these teams are in this tier instead of the previous one for the most part due to their coaching. Atlanta, Seattle, and Washington do not have particularly inspiring defensive depth charts. But Raheem Morris, Mike Macdonald, and Dan Quinn will be running those defenses, and they have each shown the ability to get more out of less pretty consistently throughout their careers.

Raheem Morris will be running the Atlanta Falcons’ defense.

Possibly

The Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and Philadelphia Eagles are all possibilities to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses. Cincinnati disappointingly slid to 23rd in DVOA last season while counting on younger players to play significant roles after a few free-agent departures. But the Bengals went out and brought Vonn Bell back and signed Geno Stone, replaced D.J. Reader with the younger Sheldon Rankins, and drafted Kris Jenkins Jr., and they have Lou Anarumo as their DC.

The Cincinnati Bengals are a possibility to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses.

Somewhat Likely

The Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders, and Pittsburgh Steelers are all somewhat likely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses. The Bills made a ton of changes this offseason to a defense that essentially crumbled under the weight of a boatload of injuries last year. But Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Greg Rousseau, and Ed Oliver are still here. Sean McDermott is as well. And this has been a pretty consistent top-flight defense when healthy.

The Buffalo Bills are somewhat likely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses.

Most Likely

The Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers are the most likely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses. Barring injury, the Ravens are pretty much a top-10 defense every year. Even after losing Mike Macdonald, I’m just not comfortable betting against them doing it again. If Myles Garrett isn’t the single-best defensive player in the league, he’s pretty damn close. With more depth up front than at any time in recent years, Denzel Ward leading a solid secondary, and Jim Schwartz back for another year, the Browns seem likely to repeat their top-10 ranking from a year ago, even if they don’t again land in the top five.

The Cleveland Browns are the most likely to finish the year among the league’s top 10 defenses.