Best Defensive Linemen of All-Time

There’s something about the defensive line that symbolizes the toughness and determination of pro football. Although not as glamorous as quarterback or wide receiver, many fan favorites played defensive line. Here is a look at some of the best defensive linemen of all time.  

Although this list compiles great defensive linemen in NFL history, it’s important to remember that there are difference between the defensive line positions. Defensive ends are often able to obtain higher sack totals rushing from the outside. Some defensive tackles play in a 4-3 alignment, with a second defensive tackle right beside them. Others, such as Curley Culp, excelled as the only defensive tackle in a 3-4 alignment. Such players, often called nose tackles, are often double and sometimes triple-teamed in that formation.  

Rarely does a player become so engrained in franchise history that his number is retired by the team. Ever rarer is when the player has his number retired by multiple teams. In Reggie White’s case, however, he was so dominant and so popular playing for both the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers that both franchises retired his number. He ruined offensive lines, racking up 198 sacks and over 1,000 tackles. His sack total places him second on the all-time list. He also forced 33 fumbles in his 15 seasons, and he is 20^th all time in that category. The “Minister of Defense” made 13 Pro Bowls in his Hall of Fame career, missing only his first and final seasons. His career Weighted AV score of 160 puts him at fifth all time in that category.

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Deacon Jones was a major part of the Los Angeles Rams’ famed Fearsome Foursome defensive line. Before sacks became an official statistic, Jones said, “I must have had about 200 of those.” Since then, unofficial sack totals appeared on Pro Football Reference and Deacon Jones’ total weighs in at 173.5, remarkably close to his estimate. The sack total slots him at third on the all-time list. Stathead tells us Jones still would have held the all-time sack record after the 1996 season, over 20 years past his retirement. Reggie White would have broken Jones’ record during the 1996 season.

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Dubbed “Mean” Joe Greene, he certainly was mean to offensive line schemes at the defensive tackle position. He anchored the Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970s, a team that won four Super Bowls in a six-year period. Greene himself won two Defensive Player of the Year honors in a three-year span. He and Aaron Donald remain the only defensive tackles in history to win the award more than once. Greene often saved his best for the biggest games. He intercepted a Fran Tarkenton pass and recovered a fumble in Pittsburgh’s 16-6 victory in Super Bowl 9.  

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Bob Lilly was the first-ever draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys. He moved from defensive end to defensive tackle in his third season, a position in which he proceeded to make 10 consecutive Pro Bowls. Lilly posted three seasons with more than 10 sacks as a defensive tackle, but he was also a top-notch run stopper. A complete player, Lilly made the NFL 100 team and is still considered one of the best defensive linemen of all tie.

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Alan Page is the only defensive lineman to ever win the AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Despite retiring after the 1981 season, Page still holds the NFL record for sacks by a defensive tackle. More impressively, he holds that mark by over 40 sacks! Page was part of the Minnesota Vikings famed “Purple People Eaters” defensive line before finishing his career with the Chicago Bears. Alan Page also had a knack for blocking kicks and tallied three safeties during his illustrious career.   

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Rarely will I place a current player in a “greatest of all time” list, but there is no question that Aaron Donald belongs on the list of greatest defensive linemen in NFL history. At the time this was written, he has played nine NFL seasons and was named All-Pro in seven of those years, proving his sustained dominance. He gathered over 20 sacks as a defensive tackle in 2018, which Stathead tells us is the highest single-season sack total for defensive tackles. Although a relatively new statistic, Donald is the all-time career leader in tackles for loss by a defensive tackle, and stands eighth overall in that category. He led the NFL in tackles for loss for two consecutive seasons. His 25 and 22 tackles for loss during those years rank as the two highest single-season totals by a defensive tackle in recorded history.

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Pro Football Reference recently added unofficial sack totals to include seasons dating back to 1960. Official sack totals started with the 1982 season. Bruce Smith is the NFL’s all-time sack leader no matter which list you choose. He is the only player in football history to compile 200 sacks. The first-overall pick of the 1985 NFL Draft, Smith led the league in forced fumbles two times. He made the Pro Bowl 11 times and was recognized as one of the best defensive linemen in his day. 

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Merlin Olsen played alongside Deacon Jones on the Rams Fearsome Foursome. Olsen, a defensive tackle, was selected to the Pro Bowl 14 times in his 15-year career, the most decorated defensive player in history in that category. Known for his outstanding toughness, he is credited with 91 career sacks, one of the 10 career highest totals for defensive tackles. Stats weren’t well-kept in Olsen’s era, but there is little doubt about him being one of the best defensive linemen of all-time.  

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Gino Marchetti was a tough World War II vet and one of the NFL’s great defensive ends of all-time. Unofficial sack totals only go back to 1960, midway through Marchetti’s career. He is listed as the NFL’s leading sacker in 1960 and totaled at least 11 sacks in three out of four seasons. That was during an era when the NFL played only 14 regular season games. Since stats weren’t well-kept over Marchetti’s career, accolades such as his 11 Pro Bowl selections and 7 All-Pro honors commemorate the greatness that landed Marchetti in the Hall of Fame. 

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Michael Strahan’s 22.5 sacks in 2001 remain the highest single-season total in NFL history. He also led the league in forced fumbles and tackles for loss that year. Strahan’s greatness wasn’t limited to simply one season, however. He led the NFL in tackles for loss three times and sacks twice. His career sack total gives him the sixth-official highest total in history, and he ranks in the top 20 in tackles for loss. 

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Playing on the defensive line isn’t the most glamorous position, and defensive tackle brings even less recognition. Yet that is the position at which Curley Culp built a Hall of Fame career. He won a Super Bowl ring with the Kansas City Chiefs and anchored at nose tackle for the Houston Oilers 3-4 alignment that landed the Luv Ya Blue era Oilers in back-to-back AFC Championship Games. Culp collected 11.5 sacks in 1975 for the Oilers and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. His great playmaking skills , despite being double-teamed for most of the time, landed him on PFR’s All-1970s Team and earned him a spot on this list of greatest defensive linemen of all time. 

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Like Gino Marchetti, Leo “The Lion” Nomellini mostly played when the NFL didn’t keep many defensive stats. Nonetheless, we can tell he dominated his era by playing in 10 Pro Bowls over the course of his 14 seasons. He was named to PFR’s All-1950s Team, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the Hall of Fame’s 1950s All-Decade Team. Nomellini doubled as an offensive tackle for two seasons. According to Stathead, is one of only two defensive tackles in history to be credited with a punt return for a touchdown.

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Rarely does a defensive tackle lead the league in sacks, but John Randle accomplished the feat in 1997. His 108.5 career sacks is the second-highest total ever for a defensive tackle. His ability to produce pressure up the middle made him a extremely disruptive defensive lineman, and he forced 29 fumbles during his career. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. 

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2023 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Top Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.