2025 NFL defensive line rankings ahead of Week 14: Houston Texand are right behind the Cleveland Browns

• The Buccaneers' defensive line carried the defense in a 3-point victory over the Arizona Cardinals: Logan Hall paced the unit with a 90.5 run-defense grade, forcing a fumble and recording a run stop, while Vita Vea delivered his best game of the season (79.5 overall grade, 82.5 pass-rushing grade).

• The Browns remain the gold standard: Myles Garrett has been phenomenal as usual in 2025, but injuries to his two best running mates may begin to chip away at the lead this unit has built through the first 13 weeks of the season.

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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 13 of the 2025 season.

Rank	Last Wk	Team	PFF WAR	PFF Grade	Top-graded Player	Move
1	1	Cleveland Browns	0.989	90.2	Myles Garrett	0
2	3	Houston Texans	0.757	82.8	Will Anderson Jr.	1
3	2	Pittsburgh Steelers	0.724	79.2	Cameron Heyward	-1
4	5	Los Angeles Rams	0.594	84.1	Poona Ford	1
5	4	Green Bay Packers	0.553	73.2	Micah Parsons	-1
6	11	Dallas Cowboys	0.509	72.2	Donovan Ezeiruaku	5
7	6	Denver Broncos	0.503	64.9	Nik Bonitto	-1
8	8	Seattle Seahawks	0.497	74.9	Leonard Williams	0
9	9	Detroit Lions	0.487	78.5	Aidan Hutchinson	0
10	7	Philadelphia Eagles	0.478	70.4	Joshua Uche	-3
11	10	New York Giants	0.445	64.9	Dexter Lawrence	-1
12	12	Minnesota Vikings	0.441	66.1	Jalen Redmond	0
13	14	Buffalo Bills	0.378	67.4	Greg Rousseau	1
14	13	New England Patriots	0.376	64.1	Cory Durden	-1
15	17	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	0.375	63.0	Vita Vea	2
16	15	Atlanta Falcons	0.359	65.1	Jalon Walker	-1
17	16	Indianapolis Colts	0.308	64.4	Laiatu Latu	-1
18	19	Tennessee Titans	0.298	67.8	Jeffery Simmons	1
19	18	Las Vegas Raiders	0.292	57.7	Maxx Crosby	-1
20	20	Washington Commanders	0.234	59.5	Dorance Armstrong	0
21	22	Kansas City Chiefs	0.230	58.9	George Karlaftis	1
22	21	Arizona Cardinals	0.223	57.6	Josh Sweat	-1
23	28	Los Angeles Chargers	0.211	63.6	Teair Tart	5
24	23	Carolina Panthers	0.188	58.2	Derrick Brown	-1
25	26	New York Jets	0.187	63.5	Jowon Briggs	1
26	27	New Orleans Saints	0.184	57.7	Chase Young	1
27	25	Jacksonville Jaguars	0.170	62.0	Josh Hines-Allen	-2
28	24	San Francisco 49ers	0.147	53.8	Bryce Huff	-4
29	29	Chicago Bears	0.085	50.2	Montez Sweat	0
30	31	Cincinnati Bengals	0.078	56.8	Trey Hendrickson	1
31	30	Baltimore Ravens	0.040	57.4	Travis Jones	-1
32	32	Miami Dolphins	0.010	50.1	Zach Sieler	0

Week 12 Highlights

Best defensive line overall & best pass-rush unit: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers' defensive line carried the defense in a 3-point victory over the Arizona Cardinals, led by Logan Hall’s 89.9 overall grade. Hall paced the unit with a 90.5 run-defense grade, forcing a fumble and recording a run stop, while Vita Vea delivered his best game of the season (79.5 overall grade, 82.5 pass-rushing grade).

As a unit, the Bucs piled up 24 pressures and added 15 more pass-rush wins. Hall and Vea produced six pressures each, while Elijah Roberts and Haason Reddick added three apiece. Five players earned pass-rush win rates of 20% or better, as the Cardinals' offensive line posted the third-worst grade of the week under the havoc Hall and company created for QB Jacoby Brissett.

Best run-defense unit: Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens' defensive line has struggled for much of the season, but delivered its best run-stopping performance of the year on Thanksgiving. Led by Travis Jones and his dominant 93.1 run-defense grade, the unit produced 10 run stops, including three tackles for loss or no gain. Jones forced a fumble and accounted for four of the run stops, while three players avoided a single downgrade in the run game. Kyle Van Noy and John Jenkins each added two run stops.

Risers and fallers

• Biggest Mover: Dallas Cowboys & Los Angeles Chargers
• Biggest Faller: San Francisco 49ers

Season Highlights

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

What more can be said about the Browns' defensive line that hasn’t already been said? Myles Garrett is chasing the sack record and remains on track to earn his second Defensive Player of the Year award.

The biggest development outside of Garrett’s pursuit is the loss of Maliek Collins. Collins was in the midst of a career year, with his 75.8 overall grade marking a personal best and his 87.2 pass-rushing grade also the highest of his career. That 87.2 pass-rushing grade ranked second among interior defenders — behind Titans Jeffery Simmons and ahead of Chris Jones — underscoring the level of play he had reached.

Edge Alex Wright has missed the past three games, but was also in the middle of the best season of his career with an 88.8 grade.

Garrett has been phenomenal as usual in 2025, but injuries to his two best running mates may begin to chip away at the lead this unit has built through the first 13 weeks of the season.