Tag Archives: Interior D-linemen

NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen of the 2026 NFL Draft:

We’re closing out our two-week venture into the trenches, as part of the annual positional draft breakdown series, with all interior defensive linemen. In this group, I include I include everything from a true zero-technique head-up over the center all the way out to a 4-/5-technique over the center. With how versatile front alignments have become, even though I incorporated what players are best suited to play as, and some as more defined in the roles they’ll be put into, most of them will be asked to wear different hats.

Right off the bat, I was pretty underwhelmed with this group. There’s a player atop the list who could’ve been a top-15 pick if he wasn’t still dealing with a lingering injury, but another name that was discussed in that range last summer has massively fallen off and there are hold-ups I have with most names beyond that point as well. Altogether, eight of the first ten names are all in the 30-to-100 range.

Once again, these grades do not reflect potential injury or off-field concerns, which is particularly important to point out for this crop of prospects. Let’s talk about them:

 

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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen of the 2023 NFL Draft:

Finishing up our conversations on the top linemen inside and out on both sides of the ball, we end on the best interior defenders. While plenty of these prospects have flexibility in terms of alignment, based on main position, this list includes anything from a true zero-technique nose-tackle all the way out to a base D-end in a 3-4, lining up at five-technique straight across the offensive tackle.

This group includes what many consider the most talented all-around player in this draft. After that, I believe there are two more guys worthy of going in the first round, along with another three names I have second-round grades on and a kid who will go some time on day two I would think, largely dependent on how teams value a fairly narrow role. After that, there are a couple of names I value higher than consensus rankings and I think you can find useful pieces for certain roles way down the line potentially, but in terms of complete players that will play on all three downs, the board drops off pretty dramatically.

Here’s what it looks like to me:


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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen in the 2022 NFL Draft:

Concluding our look at the players in the trenches, we are putting the interior D-line under microscope. This group anything from true zero-technique over the center all the way out to four-/five-technique playing head up on the offensive tackle, in terms of base positions. Obviously depending on scheme, alignment and role can vary a lot.

There’s a clear top two from the same school as chance may have it, then a trio of interesting body-types that some NFL teams may refer to as tweeners, a couple of specific fits with narrow skill-sets that they are outstanding at however and then it’s a lot of variety in terms of what people may value. This class is also loaded with two-down nose tackles on the back-end, but overall I think the depth of the group may be a little overstated.

Once again, evaluations are purely based on my film study and done in a vacuum, without taking schematic fits or skill-sets teams are looking for into account, and I have one name up here that I don’t really see anywhere else.

 

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Concluding our look at the players in the trenches, we are putting the interior D-line under microscope. This group anything from true zero-technique over the center all the way out to four-/five-technique playing head up on the offensive tackle, in terms of base positions. Obviously depending on scheme, alignment and role can vary a lot.

There’s a clear top two from the same school as chance may have it, then a trio of interesting body-types that some NFL teams may refer to as tweeners, a couple of specific fits with narrow skill-sets that they are outstanding at however and then it’s a lot of variety in terms of what people may value. This class is also loaded with two-down nose tackles on the back-end, but overall I think the depth of the group may be a little overstated.

Once again, evaluations are purely based on my film study and done in a vacuum, without taking schematic fits or skill-sets teams are looking for into account, and I have one name up here that I don’t really see anywhere else.

 

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NFL Draft

Top 10 interior defensive linemen in the 2019 NFL Draft:

Having talked about the top interior offensive linemen on Tuesday, we move back to the defensive side of the ball with their direct opponents. Unlike many mainstream pages I am not differentiating between outside linebackers, defensive ends and defensive tackles, because the job descriptions don’t match a lot of times. A base D-end in a 3-4 has completely different responsibilities than one in a 4-3 who is primarily an edge pass rusher and those are way more similar to actual outside backers that line up on the edge than actual stand-up backers. Therefore you will find my rankings on edge rushers here next week and this edition includes all interior D-linemen, meaning anything from head-up on the offensive tackle to true nose tackles lining up across center.

I don’t remember the last time we had such a talented group at the top. Three of them will probably be selected in the top 20 and up to nine of them could be top 50 overall prospects, with one being so talented that he might go in the first round despite possibly not being available at all for the 2019 season. For me, I don’t consider current injuries in my positional rankings. You will find their impact on my big board once I’m done with every position. Most of these guys project as upfield penetrators, who will be asked to play one gap and create problems for opposing offenses, even if their schemes or teams’ needs didn’t allow them to do that at the collegiate level. With the amount of sub-packages and hybrid defenses, true fits aren’t as important as long as you can be a disruptive player and help out your team. I will refer to many of them as “3-techniques”, meaning they line up on the outside shoulder of the guard and only play that B-gap in base sets.

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