Good defenses are good to great everywhere. All those teams are spreading resources. On most of those teams you can argue about what unit is their dominant unit. IMO the best defenses have dominant pass rushers and excellent secondary play
No. Great defenses appear to be good to great everywhere. Take Carolina. In the past, their secondary has looked damn good. That also happened to be when they had a dominant front-7. This year, the front-7 took a step back and the secondary has looked like crap. Now, losing Josh Norman hurt but not nearly as much as the regression along their DL.
Seattle's DL only appears to be good because how talented the secondary is. Bennett is a very good player. The rest of the DL aren't noteworthy. Avril is a very good role player, that's about it.
Chargers- You say the chargers have focused on building a domniant DL/ pass rush (3 first round picks), but they spend alot on their secondary as well with a first round pick and 2 big FAs.
I get that, but their secondary is beat to hell right now. Verrett is their #1 CB. He was lost for the year early in the season. Flowers has not played well this year. They've gotten good play out of Casey Hayward, who wasn't considered more than a solid player this past off-season.
Meanwhile, their pass rush has been one of the best in the NFL at pressuring QBs. However, their defense hasn't been good this year. So I'm not sure why they're on the list.
Vikings- You say Minnesota focused on their d-line. Their d-line consists of DEs who were mid round picks and earned big contracts, a first rounder, and a big FA. They spent two 1st and a 2nd on their LB crew and three 1st rounders on their secondary. They have invested the least draft capital on what you call their dominant unit.
It doesn't much matter what you "spend." The results are what matters. Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen play like first round picks. Robison is a good pass rusher still. Linval Joseph is a force inside. Sharrif Floyd is a quality DT when he's on the field. And they have depth behind those guys. Plus, Anthony Barr is a stellar pass rusher.
Their LB corp is good but not great. Their secondary has a mix of good pieces and bad pieces. What makes that defense so lethal is the dominating DL.
Eagles- have invested a ton in their d-line probably your strongest argument, but they also have the most expensive safety duo in the league.
But they have shitty CBs. I've said it over and over again. We don't need to gut 66% of our defense. What we need to do is focus on a unit if we want it to become great. That means either stacking our secondary or defensive line this off-season.
Arizona- They pay matthieu and peterson alot after investing first and third round picks, but Tony jefferson is a UDFA and they acquired their other corner through trade for a later pick. Conversely they invested 2 1sts on their d-line and a 1st and three 2nds (including chandler jones trade) on their d-line.
Tony Jefferson is a very underrated player. But the Cardinals defense has fallen off this year because they let the secondary become a much weaker unit. They replaced Jerraud Powers with a liability at #2 CB and Tyrann Mathieu got injured.
Broncos- Dont even have to say anything here they invested as heavily in the DL/pass rush Wolfe, Miller, Demarcus Ware, Shane Ray, Sylvester Williams
The Broncos defense chose their secondary when they made the jump. They shelled out a ton of money to Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward, and spent a first on Bradley Roby. It helped that they already had some very talented players on the DL (Von Miller, Derek Wolfe, and Malik Jackson). But they made their choice.
Giants- Yes they have JJ and DRC and high picks in Collins and Apple, but Only 3 teams spend more the d-line one being the rams
Giants were smart. They added a great pass rusher in Vernon. But that was more to plan for the departure of JPP imo. They have thrown a ton of resources into creating a dominant secondary. It's panned out for them.
Ravens- Suggs and dumervil both middle of the pack for pass rushers salaries, whereas Baltimore has the 5th most expensive secondary in the league.
so on and so forth
Ravens are a bit of an odd team. They really don't have great personnel for stopping the pass. Suggs and Dumervil can get after the passer. And they have a DL that specializes at pushing the pocket. But their secondary is pretty weak outside of Weddle and Smith (on Smith's good days).
What makes the Ravens defense so good is that their front is absolutely dominant against the run. Thus, that allows them to sit back and play it safe against the pass to compensate for their relatively weak secondary.
Like I said, we need to make a decision. Do we want a top tier secondary or a top tier DL? Personally, I'd go DL. Why? This looks like it's going to be an amazing CB draft.
