- Jeffery Simmons comes in first: The Titans star is on the heels of a season in which he led the position in PFF pass-rush grade.
- Two Seahawks in the top 13: Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II helped anchor Seattle's championship-winning defense by their work up the middle.
- The PFF Early Bird Sale Is Here: Save 33% and get PFF+ for just $79.99, our lowest price of the year.
As our rankings series at PFF comes to a close ahead of the 2026 preseason, it’s time to turn our attention to the defensive line, starting with the players on the defensive interior.
It is one of the deepest position groups in the NFL right now, and every year, we are seeing more young players break through. But it is also a position that is dominated at the top by players who have been in the league for a significant amount of time.
1. Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee Titans
Having just turned 29 years old, Simmons just produced the highest-graded season of his seven-year career, and was absolutely dominant as a pass-rusher in 2025. His 64 total pressures were the second-most at the position, as were his 22 combined sacks and quarterback hits. You can make a strong case for the next five players on this list to be No. 1, but Simmons having a career year with still a full season to go before turning 30 gives him the edge as we head into the 2026 season.
2. Quinnen Williams, Dallas Cowboys
After a down year in 2024, Williams bounced back in the second half of last season after a trade to the Dallas Cowboys. Through the first eight weeks of the season, he had earned a 79.7 PFF grade, but improved that to 89.6 in the games he played with the Cowboys after the trade. While he is a good pass-rusher, generating 50 or more pressures in four straight seasons, it is as a run defender that he dominates. He has earned PFF run-defense grades above 90.0 in two of the past three seasons, leading the position in both of those years too.
3. Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs
Jones’ play against the run has dipped in the past three seasons, but he remains one of the best pass-rushers in the entire league. 2017 was the last time his PFF pass-rush grade was below 80.0, and it has sat above 90.0 in seven of the past eight seasons. He is 32 years old now, so it is fair to wonder if we will start to see some dropoff, but Jones showed no signs of it last year.
4. Dexter Lawrence, Cincinnati Bengals
Over the past two seasons, Lawrence has not been as dominant as he was between 2022 and 2023,, and 2025 saw him set a career low with a 75.6 PFF grade. He doesn’t turn 29 until late in the 2026 season, though, and it’s reasonable to project a bounce-back campaign in his first year with the Cincinnati Bengals. He has earned a PFF pass-rush grade above 80.0 in each of the past four seasons, and was on a three year streak of PFF run-defense grades above 80.0 too before struggling in that regard last year.
5. Leonard Williams, Seattle Seahawks
Williams has been in the NFL for 11 seasons now, and not once has he finished a season with a PFF grade below 70.0. He’s good both as a pass-rusher and against the run, recording at least 50 pressures and 30 tackles resulting in a defensive stop in each of the past three seasons. He also rarely leaves the field, recording 948 snaps on defense in the regular season and playoffs last year to lead all interior defensive linemen.
6. Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaking of iron men, it was Heyward who paced all interior defensive linemen in snaps in the regular season last year, with his 822 snaps 12 more than Williams in second place. He was also the highest-graded player at the position and, as noted when discussing Simmons, you can make the case for him to be the top player on this list. He is 37 years old now, so at some point the decline is likely to come. But to Heyward’s credit, he has produced back-to-back seasons with a PFF grade above 90.0 while seeing a significant amount of playing time.
7. Vita Vea, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Vea recently requested a trade from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, likely tied to a desire to improve his contract given his current average per year half that of Simmons at the top of the position. He is solid as a run defender, but is even better as a pass-rusher: He has compiled PFF pass-rush grades above 75.0 in seven of his eight seasons in the league, generating at least 50 pressures in each of the past two seasons.
8. Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles
Carter just signed a huge extension with the Eagles, and it’s easy to see why. He’s registered at least 45 pressures and a PFF pass-rush grade above 75.0 in all three of his seasons in the NFL. The next step for Carter is improving his consistency, and reversing a trend that has seen his PFF run-defense drop in each of the past two seasons after a solid rookie year.
9. Kobie Turner, Los Angeles Rams
Turner has developed into a really strong pass-rusher from the defensive interior, and is still just 27 years old. He has totalled 50, 62 and 69 pressures in each of the past three seasons, respectively, and set a career-high with an 83.9 PFF pass-rush grade last year. He’s been solid against the run too, with a PFF run-defense grade above 66.0 in each of those three seasons.
10. Zach Allen, Denver Broncos
Allen’s PFF grade has been pulled down some by his struggles against the run, but he’s become one of the more reliable interior pass-rushers in football. He tallied 81 and 83 pressures in 2024 and 2025, and is coming off a 2025 season that saw him earn a career-high 76.6 PFF grade. His 50 combined sacks and quarterback hits in the regular season and playoffs last year were the most in the league.
11. Milton Williams, New England Patriots
Williams’ 2025 season with the New England Patriots was a slight drop-off from his career-high 76.5 PFF grade with the Philadelphia Eagles the year prior, but it was still a very good year from a pass-rushing perspective. He set a career-high with 59 total pressures, while his 80.9 PFF pass-rush grade was the second-best mark in his five year NFL career.
12. Derrick Brown, Carolina Panthers
Returning from injury in 2025, Brown didn’t quite hit the heights of the 2023 season that had him looking like a top-five player at the position, but he was still solid. He totaled 39 pressures, 13 of which were sacks and quarterback hits, from 496 pass-rushing snaps and recorded 44 tackles resulting in a defensive stop. He’s still only 28 years old, and if he can get back to that pre-injury form, then he’s better than this ranking.
13. Byron Murphy II, Seattle Seahawks
An ascending player for the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, Murphy took huge strides in his second season in the league. His PFF pass-rush grade jumped from 64.5 as a rookie to 77.3 this past season. He racked up 62 total pressures from 569 pass-rushing snaps. If he can become a more well-rounded player by improving against the run, he can break into the top 10 at the position by the end of the year.
14. DeForest Buckner, Indianapolis Colts
Now 32 years old, there did appear to be a small decline from Buckner in 2025 before he missed most of the second half of the year through injury. However, he’s still a reliable pass-rusher by generating 36 pressures, 15 of which were sacks and quarterback hits, from 317 pass-rushing snaps last season.
15. Nnamdi Madubuike, Baltimore Ravens
As recently as this spring, it was feared that Madubuike’s career could be over because of a neck injury. But now he’s off the PUP list for the Baltimore Ravens, and it appears that he will be good to go in 2026. He generated 78 and 60 pressures in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and was well on his way to topping those marks with 10 pressures in two games before the injury last year.
16. Poona Ford, Los Angeles Rams
Ford has enjoyed a late career breakout and has impressed over the past two seasons, first with the Los Angeles Chargers and then the Los Angeles Rams. A strong run defender with PFF run-defense grades of 80.3 and 78.6 in each of the past two seasons, he is also a solid pass-rusher, accumulating 34 total pressures from 342 pass-rushing snaps last season.
17. Jordan Davis, Philadelphia Eagles
Davis has continued to improve throughout his career, and was on the field for a career-high 715 snaps in 2025. His 28 total pressures, coming on 397 pass-rushing snaps, was also a career-high, but he’s at his best against the run. He produced a 73.4 PFF run-defense grade last year, finishing the regular season and playoffs with 42 tackles resulting in a defensive stop.
18. Travis Jones, Baltimore Ravens
Jones is coming off the best season of his career, ranking seventh among interior defensive linemen with an 80.1 PFF grade. His foremost work is stuffing the run, and his 82.8 PFF run-defense grade trailed only Quinnen Williams and Cameron Heyward last year. Yet we also saw some versatility from him last year with Madubuike out, racking up 47 pressures from 478 pass-rushing snaps.
19. Ed Oliver, Buffalo Bills
Oliver earned a career-high 84.7 PFF grade in 2025, but it came on just 124 snaps in an injury riddled season. He has been a solid pass-rusher throughout his career by amassing 72 and 49 total pressures in 2023 and 2024. If he is fully healthy now, he can get back to being a problem for opposing pass-blockers.
20. John Franklin-Myers, Tennessee Titans
Franklin-Myers is versatile enough to play across the defensive front, but is at his best as an interior pass-rusher. There was a slight dip in form in 2025, but he produced at least 50 pressures in five straight seasons from 2020 to 2024. The idea of pairing him with Simmons in obvious passing situations will be a nightmare for opposing offensive coordinators.
21. Osa Odighizuwa, San Francisco 49ers
After five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Odighizuwa heads to San Francisco, where he can be a force up front for the 49ers. He has earned a PFF pass-rush grade above 70.0 in each of the past four seasons, and has totaled at least 50 pressures, including at least 20 combined sacks and quarterback hits, in each of the past two.
22. Alim McNeill, Detroit Lions
McNeill is dealing with a neck injury, but until we know that he will miss significant time, he will stay on this list. 2025 was a down year for him, but the player he had developed into by the end of the 2024 season was an impressive one. He registered 43 and 45 pressures in 2023 and 2024, respectively, setting a career high with an 86.8 PFF grade back in 2023.
23. Zach Sieler, Miami Dolphins
Sieler is another player coming off a down year, with his 60.7 PFF grade in 2025 the lowest in his career among seasons where he has been on the field for at least 100 snaps. Back in 2024, he earned a 78.6 PFF grade that ranked 11th among players on the defensive interior. At 31 years old, there is reason to expect a bounceback in 2026.
24. Keeanu Benton, Pittsburgh Steelers
Benton’s PFF run-defense grade has dropped from his rookie year and came in at just 41.6 last year, but he remains a solid pass-rusher. In 2025, he set a career high with 33 total pressures from 459 pass-rushing snaps, and has earned PFF pass-rushing grades above 74.0 in all three of his seasons in the NFL so far.
25. David Onyemata, New York Jets
Despite being 33 years old, Onyemata hasn’t really shown any signs of slowing down and is coming off a strong season with the Atlanta Falcons in 2025. At his best against the run, he has earned PFF run-defense grades above 74.0 in four of the past six seasons.
26. DJ Reader, New York Giants
Reader’s play in Detroit didn’t reach the heights of what we saw from him with the Houston Texans and Cincinnati Bengals, but he was still solid. In his 10-year career, he has never had a season with a PFF pass-rush or run-defense grade lower than 60.0. He should be a solid player for a Giants team that traded away Dexter Lawrence.
27. Christian Barmore, New England Patriots
Barmore missed most of the 2024 season, and while he was impressive as a pass-rusher in 2025, he didn’t show the level that we saw from him back in 2023. He is still just 27 years old, though, so there should be some optimism that he can return to that form. Barmore did set a career-high with 58 total pressures last year, though his 67.3 PFF pass-rush grade ranked fourth among his five seasons in the NFL to date.
28. Moro Ojomo, Philadelphia Eagles
Ojomo heads into a contract year coming off two robust seasons as part of the Philadelphia Eagles interior defensive line rotation. He set a career high with 54 total pressures from 477 pass-rushing snaps in 2025, and is set to cash in after this season — although it’s less likely to be in Philadelphia, with big money extensions handed out to Carter and Davis.
29. Mason Graham, Cleveland Browns
Graham got better as his rookie season went on, and there are plenty of reasons to expect him to take a leap that would place him much higher on this list in Year 2. His 68.7 PFF grade was 6.3 points higher than the next-best rookie on the defensive interior, while his 36 total pressures were seven more than the next-best first-year player.
30. Grover Stewart, Indianapolis Colts
Stewart’s play declined in 2025, with his 57.3 PFF grade the lowest he has produced since 2018. He is 32 years old now, so that’s something to monitor. But if he can return to form, then he is one of the best run defenders in the league at the position. He earned 77.3 and 78.7 PFF run defense grades in 2024 and 2025, totaling 62 tackles resulting in a defensive stop in that span.
31. Kenny Clark, Dallas Cowboys
Clark had a bit of a resurgent season in his first year in Dallas after moving as part of the Micah Parsons trade. He tallied 44 total pressures from 462 pass-rushing snaps and posted a 72.4 PFF pass-rush grade, giving the Cowboys a strong duo on the defensive interior after the Quinnen Williams trade.
32. Jowon Briggs, New York Jets
Briggs broke out in his second season in the league with an 85.6 PFF pass-rush grade that was tied for fifth-best at the position. He racked up 38 pressures from 320 pass-rushing snaps, and has earned PFF grades of 72.2 and 73.6 in his first two seasons in the league. Briggs has played just 721 snaps in his career so far, but the flashes are there that make him an intriguing player to watch in 2026.
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