2025 NFL defensive line rankings ahead of Week 12: The Eagles are starting to hit their stride

• The Browns have the deepest unit in the league: All eight Browns defensive linemen with at least 100 snaps this season hold PFF overall grades of 66.1 or better.

• The Eagles defense is starting to hit its stride: In their Week 11 win over a potent Lions offense, Philadelphia’s interior dominated, with Moro Ojomo and Jordan Davis posting 84.9 and 84.8 overall grades, respectively. Ojomo led the team in run-defense grade at 85.6, while Davis topped the pass-rush grades at 86.3, boosted by three batted passes.

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The defensive line is the heart of any successful defense, tasked with both disrupting the opposing quarterback with a pass rush and shutting down rushing attacks at the line of scrimmage.

Elite defensive lines can change the course of a game by applying pressure, forcing hurried throws and creating turnovers while also stifling run plays to control the tempo.

This season, we will closely monitor NFL defensive line play. Unlike our offensive line rankings, which in some cases consider previous-season rankings, these rankings will be based purely on 2025 play.

Here are the highlights for the top defensive lines after Week 11 of the 2025 season.

Rank	Last Wk.	Team	PFF Grade	Top-graded Player	Move	PFF WAR	WAR Rank
1	1	Cleveland Browns	90.0	Myles Garrett	0	0.7148	1
2	2	Pittsburgh Steelers	82.3	Nick Herbig	0	0.6504	2
4	3	Los Angeles Rams	81.1	Jared Verse	-1	0.5798	3
3	4	Houston Texans	82.2	Will Anderson Jr.	1	0.4757	4
6	7	Philadelphia Eagles	76.5	Joshua Uche	1	0.4664	5
12	12	Denver Broncos	67.1	Nik Bonitto	0	0.4619	6
7	6	Green Bay Packers	74.8	Micah Parsons	-1	0.4217	7
8	8	Seattle Seahawks	73.0	Byron Murphy II	0	0.4009	8
11	15	Tennessee Titans	67.9	Jeffery Simmons	4	0.3912	9
5	5	Detroit Lions	77.8	Aidan Hutchinson	0	0.3814	10
13	11	New York Giants	67.1	Brian Burns	-2	0.3531	11
21	20	Los Angeles Chargers	61.7	Teair Tart	-1	0.3485	12
9	9	Buffalo Bills	70.2	Greg Rousseau	0	0.3313	13
17	22	Atlanta Falcons	63.9	Jalon Walker	5	0.3292	14
10	10	Indianapolis Colts	70.1	Laiatu Latu	0	0.297	15
22	26	Jacksonville Jaguars	61.4	Josh Hines-Allen	4	0.2906	16
19	14	Washington Commanders	63.3	Dorance Armstrong	-5	0.2777	17
14	21	Dallas Cowboys	66.8	Dante Fowler Jr.	7	0.2536	18
15	13	Minnesota Vikings	64.9	Jonathan Greenard	-2	0.2471	19
27	30	Baltimore Ravens	57.0	John Jenkins	3	0.2306	20
25	25	Arizona Cardinals	58.7	Josh Sweat	0	0.2176	21
16	17	New England Patriots	64.7	Cory Durden	1	0.2038	22
23	19	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	60.6	Vita Vea	-4	0.2038	23
29	27	Las Vegas Raiders	55.8	Maxx Crosby	-2	0.189	24
20	16	Carolina Panthers	62.1	Derrick Brown	-4	0.1712	25
24	24	New Orleans Saints	58.9	Chase Young	0	0.167	26
18	18	New York Jets	63.9	Jowon Briggs	0	0.166	27
26	23	Kansas City Chiefs	58.6	George Karlaftis	-3	0.1589	28
28	29	San Francisco 49ers	56.2	Bryce Huff	1	0.1132	29
30	28	Chicago Bears	54.1	Montez Sweat	-2	0.0874	30
31	31	Cincinnati Bengals	53.6	Trey Hendrickson	0	0.0549	31
32	32	Miami Dolphins	49.5	Benito Jones	0	0.0243	32

Week 11 Highlights

Best defensive line & best pass-rush unit: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles defense is starting to hit its stride in mid-November, thanks in large part to the recent surge from the defensive line. In their Week 11 win over a potent Lions offense, Philadelphia’s interior dominated, with Moro Ojomo and Jordan Davis posting 84.9 and 84.8 overall grades, respectively. Ojomo led the team in run-defense grade at 85.6, while Davis topped the pass-rush grades at 86.3, boosted by three batted passes.

As a group, the Eagles batted five passes and produced 16 total pressures, with Jalyx Hunt leading the way at six. Brandon Graham returned in Week 10 and has been limited so far, but his 36.4% pass-rush win rate shows he still has plenty left in the tank.

Best Run-Defense Unit: Atlanta Falcons

Despite the overtime loss, the Falcons run defense set the tone early and delivered when it mattered late, holding the Panthers to an 18.2% success rate in the fourth quarter and overtime.

LaCale London and Kentavius Street dominated on the interior with 82.7 and 82.1 run-defense grades, respectively, with each producing three run stops without a single downgrade on the day. No defensive lineman missed a tackle, and all 15 of their tackles resulted in run stops.

Risers and fallers

• Biggest Mover: Dallas Cowboys
• Biggest Faller: Washington Commanders

Season Highlights

Best defensive line, best run-defense unit & best pass-rush unit: Cleveland Browns

The Browns defensive line has led the NFL wire-to-wire with no signs of slowing down. Myles Garrett is in full takeover mode, piling up 10 sacks over his last three games. His 92.7 overall grade leads all defensive linemen, and he remains the betting favorite for Defensive Player of the Year despite Cleveland’s uneven team results.

Cameron Thomas has been excellent in a rotational role, recording a 19.7% pass-rush win rate. Maliek Collins continues to generate steady interior pressure, posting a 14.5% win rate.

Rookie Mason Graham has shown noticeable improvement, earning a 75.8 overall grade across his past four games after posting a 58.1 mark over his first six. All eight Browns defensive linemen with at least 100 snaps this season hold overall grades of 66.1 or better.