The league’s defensive front-seven units are easily one of the most difficult groups to rank in the NFL. With other positional groups, analysts have to consider one or two aspects of the game at most, but with the front-seven, pass-rushing, run defense, and the coverage prowess of linebackers all have to be factored in.
To arrive at this season-ending ranking, we leaned on our season grading of the starters, with strong deference to those receiving the bulk of the snaps. When injuries occurred, we weighed the snap counts of the injured players against his replacement in order to arrive at the most accurate ranking.