I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase “games are won in the trenches,” correct? You invest in the big boys up front on the defensive line and it leads you to championships, at least that’s how the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks have won the last two Super Bowls.
In both examples, the Super Bowl-winning team was led by punishing defensive lines able to rotate players in and out to keep them fresh while dictating the terms of the game. However, it’s easy to just chalk up the previous two champs as “defense wins championships” and be done with it. However, it’s about where these teams are productive and what they’ve invested in to win these Super Bowls that matters, and it changes how teams address their defensive lines moving forward.
If we want to expand to the final four teams left in the playoffs this year, they all have a common thread: dominant play from their defensive tackles. Per Next Gen Stats, the top four defensive tackle duos in pressures all played in the conference championship, including Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers of the Denver Broncos at the top. If you want to expand to run defense, the Broncos were first in yards before contact allowed per carry and the Seahawks were also in the top 10. In 2024, the Eagles finished 11th in yards before contact allowed per carry and while edge rusher Josh Sweat led the team in pressures, the next three were all defensive tackles.
So, why does this matter? Why focus so much on defensive tackle play in the modern NFL when edge rushers like Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons are getting the $40 million-a-year deals? The simple answer can be explained through one of the world’s greatest philosophers, Ronnie Coleman:
What he’s saying in this video is that everyone wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift the heavy weights required to build the body that wins Mr. Olympias. Flipping this to football, everyone wants to defend offenses out of two-high shells, but nobody wants to invest in defensive tackles who will help you do that.Â
Last season, NFL teams were in two-high shells 35.6% of the time, which is the highest percentage TruMedia has ever tracked, spanning back to 2017. We’re a long way away from the Legion of Boom era Cover 3 and well into the era of forcing teams to eat their vegetables on offense via the run game and quick passing instead of gashes via 20-yard digs.
Where NFL offenses have adjusted is by getting bigger up front and leaning into the gap scheme runs over the wide zone runs that dominated the NFL around 2018. In the 2020s, the man/gap run rate hovered around 24%, but 2025 was the first year it went over 25% since TruMedia started tracking it in 2017.Â
Defenses got lighter to defend the pass and spread era of the NFL, and offenses punched back by condensing formations and leaning on lighter, undersized defensive tackles who are more predicated on getting upfield and causing pressure. It’s hard to live in two-high shells without defensive tackles who can hold double teams, especially when defenses get into lighter personnel with more defensive backs on the field. Everyone wants to live in the world head coach Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks live in, but the real fulcrum of the defense is having defensive tackles who can eat double teams and also cause havoc as stunters and loopers in pass-rush situations.Â
When defensive coordinators say they want to stop the run, it gets a lot of groans and complaints, but I see the vision. If you can nullify the run game despite being outnumbered in the tackle box, you can devote more bodies to the passing game and stay in lighter personnel. So investing in the bodies up front that can house double teams and give you some pop as pass rushers could be where teams begin to invest more money and picks.Â
Seattle traded a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick for Leonard Williams in 2024 and proceeded to pay him $21.5 million per year, then picked DT Byron Murphy in the first round. Both guys finished in the top five in snaps played for the Seahawks and played the most important role on the defense.
In 2024, the Eagles had a rotation of Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Milton Williams and Moro Ojomo at defensive tackle, keeping Davis fresh for run downs and turning up the pressure with Carter and Williams in passing situations. Davis and Carter were first-round picks. Williams and Ojomo were picked on Days 2 and 3 of the NFL Draft, respectively, but Williams would leave Philly and go to New England on a monster deal that pays him $26 million a year, along with DT Christian Barmore, who makes $21 million a year. Invest in your defensive tackles and they’ll reward you.
Spinning this into the 2026 NFL Draft, the defensive tackle class feels strong along the defensive tackle spot. Even if we go beyond the consensus top two at the position (Clemson’s Peter Woods and Florida’s Caleb Banks), you get to a logjam of players who are all what NFL defenses need if they want to play in two high against modern offenses.
The grouping of Texas Tech’s Lee Hunter, Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald, Georgia’s Christen Miller, Florida State’s Darrell Jackson Jr. and Iowa State’s Dominique Orange are jumbo-sized defensive tackles who can occupy gaps as run defenders to free up linebackers and other second-level defenders in the run game.Â
While they’re all grouped together in run defense, what’ll set them apart when it comes to my own draft rankings is rushing the passer, because that’ll be what sets their ceiling. If they can affect the passer or show flashes of pass-rush potential, they’ll more than likely be seen in a much different light than others at the position who don’t offer that. With the NFL combine up and running, the growth and change in how teams value the defensive tackles could affect how this position group is seen and sorted after a week in Indianapolis.
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