The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

{"id":174656,"date":"2022-07-17T10:28:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T14:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/?post_type\u003dfishburn_gallery\u0026#038;p\u003d174656","raw":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/?post_type\u003dfishburn_gallery\u0026#038;p\u003d174656"},"modified":"2022-07-17T10:28:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T14:28:24","password":"","slug":"nfl-best-defensive-tackles-aaron-donald-jeffery-simmons-cameron-heyward","status":"publish","type":"fishburn_gallery","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-best-defensive-tackles-aaron-donald-jeffery-simmons-cameron-heyward/","title":{"raw":"The NFL\u0027s top 12 interior defensive linemen","rendered":"The NFL\u0027s top 12 interior defensive linemen"},"content":{"raw":"It’s an interesting time to be an interior defensive lineman in the NFL. Not only do you have to beat guards and centers inside in traditional four-man fronts, you also have to show a lot of positional versatility, and you’ll be moving around anyway as the league transitions to more five-man fronts. We’re not spoiling much here when we say that once again, Aaron Donald is our best interior defensive lineman, and last season for the Rams, Donald played 11 snaps in the A-gap, 430 in the B-gap, 628 snaps over the tackles, and 188 snaps outside the tackles.\r\n\r\nWhat does this tell you? The Rams want Donald aligned everywhere — whether it’s straight over the center, attacking gaps, or blowing tackles off their feet from the edge. These versatility requests are common in today’s NFL to the point where an interior defensive lineman who works from one of two gaps is the exception, not the rule. Even Vita Vea, the Buccaneers’ ginormous interior threat, spent 50 of his 2021 snaps over the tackles, and 10 snaps outside.\r\n\r\nSo, when we talk about the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen, we’re really talking about run-stoppers and disruptors who make the cake inside, and manufacture the frosting outside to a greater or lesser degree.\r\n\r\nFour of the players from \u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/nfl-best-defensive-tackles-aaron-donald-cameron-heyward-chris-jones/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003elast year’s list\u003c/a\u003e (Fletcher Cox, Akiem Hicks, Stephon Tuitt, Grady Jarrett) didn’t make the cut this time, which can be put down mostly to injury and attrition. Tuitt, for example, missed the entire 2021 season and then retired. Hicks, a serious problem for any offensive line when healthy, played in just nine games last season. Cox was healthy all season, but as much as he’s built up what will be a pretty decent Hall of Fame argument down the road, 2021 just wasn’t the same — though one of his teammates is part of this year’s new blood. Jarrett just missed the cut, and given what he had around him last season, you could certainly make a case for him.\r\n\r\nThe new blood makes for some amazing players and defensive schemes, and here are Touchdown Wire’s 12 best interior linemen in anticipation of the 2022 season — another one of our position lists as Mark Schofield and myself lead up to our rankings of the 101 best players in the NFL today.\r\n\r\n\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-nest-safeties-jordan-poyer-justin-simmons-devin-mccourty/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 13 safeties\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-slot-cornetrbacks-tyrann-mathieu-chauncey-gardner-johnson/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 12 slot defenders\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/bnfl-best-cornerbacks-jalen-ramsey-jaire-alexander-trevon-diggs/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-best-linebackers-fred-warner-darius-leonard/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 11 linebackers\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-best-edge-rushers-t-j-watt-myles-garrett-nick-bosa-joey-bosa/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL\u0027s top 11 edge defenders\u003c/a\u003e","rendered":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s an interesting time to be an interior defensive lineman in the NFL. Not only do you have to beat guards and centers inside in traditional four-man fronts, you also have to show a lot of positional versatility, and you’ll be moving around anyway as the league transitions to more five-man fronts. We’re not spoiling much here when we say that once again, Aaron Donald is our best interior defensive lineman, and last season for the Rams, Donald played 11 snaps in the A-gap, 430 in the B-gap, 628 snaps over the tackles, and 188 snaps outside the tackles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat does this tell you? The Rams want Donald aligned everywhere — whether it’s straight over the center, attacking gaps, or blowing tackles off their feet from the edge. These versatility requests are common in today’s NFL to the point where an interior defensive lineman who works from one of two gaps is the exception, not the rule. Even Vita Vea, the Buccaneers’ ginormous interior threat, spent 50 of his 2021 snaps over the tackles, and 10 snaps outside.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, when we talk about the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen, we’re really talking about run-stoppers and disruptors who make the cake inside, and manufacture the frosting outside to a greater or lesser degree.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour of the players from \u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/nfl-best-defensive-tackles-aaron-donald-cameron-heyward-chris-jones/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003elast year’s list\u003c/a\u003e (Fletcher Cox, Akiem Hicks, Stephon Tuitt, Grady Jarrett) didn’t make the cut this time, which can be put down mostly to injury and attrition. Tuitt, for example, missed the entire 2021 season and then retired. Hicks, a serious problem for any offensive line when healthy, played in just nine games last season. Cox was healthy all season, but as much as he’s built up what will be a pretty decent Hall of Fame argument down the road, 2021 just wasn’t the same — though one of his teammates is part of this year’s new blood. Jarrett just missed the cut, and given what he had around him last season, you could certainly make a case for him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe new blood makes for some amazing players and defensive schemes, and here are Touchdown Wire’s 12 best interior linemen in anticipation of the 2022 season — another one of our position lists as Mark Schofield and myself lead up to our rankings of the 101 best players in the NFL today.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-nest-safeties-jordan-poyer-justin-simmons-devin-mccourty/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 13 safeties\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-slot-cornetrbacks-tyrann-mathieu-chauncey-gardner-johnson/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 12 slot defenders\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/bnfl-best-cornerbacks-jalen-ramsey-jaire-alexander-trevon-diggs/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-best-linebackers-fred-warner-darius-leonard/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL’s top 11 linebackers\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/nfl-best-edge-rushers-t-j-watt-myles-garrett-nick-bosa-joey-bosa/\" target\u003d\"_blank\" rel\u003d\"noopener\"\u003eThe NFL\u0026#8217;s top 11 edge defenders\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","protected":false,"block_version":0},"excerpt":{"raw":"Touchdown Wire\u0027s Doug Farrar continues our position lists with the NFL\u0027s 12 best interior defensive linemen. ","rendered":"\u003cp\u003eTouchdown Wire\u0026#8217;s Doug Farrar continues our position lists with the NFL\u0026#8217;s 12 best interior defensive linemen. \u003c/p\u003e\n","protected":false},"author":24059860,"featured_media":164608,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_external_permalink":"","usat_canonical_link":"","usat_coauthor":"","_format_video_embed":"","_lawrence_general_short_headline":"","_lawrence_general_bridge_headline":"","_lawrence_hide_on_homepage":"0","capi_sync_syndication_toggle":"0","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[{"id":1399,"count":465,"description":"","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/category/teams/nfc/nfc-west/49ers/","name":"49ers","slug":"49ers","taxonomy":"category","parent":1369,"meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/taxonomies/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1369"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?categories\u003d1399"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/imported?categories\u003d1399"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/fishburn_gallery?categories\u003d1399"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listicle?categories\u003d1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1371,"count":360,"description":"","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/category/teams/afc/afc-north/bengals/","name":"Bengals","slug":"bengals","taxonomy":"category","parent":1363,"meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/taxonomies/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1363"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?categories\u003d1371"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/imported?categories\u003d1371"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/fishburn_gallery?categories\u003d1371"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listicle?categories\u003d1371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1395,"count":510,"description":"","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/category/teams/nfc/nfc-south/bucs/","name":"Bucs","slug":"bucs","taxonomy":"category","parent":1370,"meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/taxonomies/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1370"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?categories\u003d1395"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/imported?categories\u003d1395"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/fishburn_gallery?categories\u003d1395"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listicle?categories\u003d1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1385,"count":603,"description":"","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/category/teams/afc/afc-west/chiefs/","name":"Chiefs","slug":"chiefs","taxonomy":"category","parent":1365,"meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/taxonomies/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1365"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?categories\u003d1385"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/imported?categories\u003d1385"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/fishburn_gallery?categories\u003d1385"},{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/listicle?categories\u003d1385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1379,"count":375,"description":"","link":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/category/teams/afc/afc-south/colts/","name":"Colts","slug":"colts","taxonomy":"category","parent":1366,"meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories/1379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/wp-json/wp/v2/cate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