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Here’s a look at ranking the interior defensive linemen across the AFC South.
The interior defensive linemen across the AFC South range in variety when you take a look at each team’s depth chart.
The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans have elite players in the trenches and underrated veterans that deserve more recognition than they get. Meanwhile the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans don’t have the top names for defensive linemen but still have quality guys on that part of their rosters.
Let’s take a look at how they rank across the division:
The Houston Texans have activated two players from the physically unable to perform list while also waiving a receiver as part of their roster moves.
The Houston Texans announced two players have passed their physicals and can take part in training camp.
The Texans took defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and cornerback Kendall Sheffield off the physically unable to perform list Sunday.
Houston signed Rankins in free agency to provide depth along the interior defensive line. The former New Orleans Saints and New York Jets defensive tackle enters his eighth season.
Sheffield has his second chance to make the Texans’ roster. In 2022, the Texans claimed Sheffield off waivers during organized team activities in May, but cut him at the end of preseason. Following a stint with the Dallas Cowboys midway through the season, wherein he was not signed to a reserve/future contract, Houston brought Sheffield back on March 3.
The Texans also waived receiver Amari Rodgers. The former Green Bay Packers 2021 third-round pick caught 12 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown through six games for Houston last season.
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Three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil was not among the participants at Houston Texans OTAs on May 31.
The Houston Texans were missing a key piece of their offensive line again at organized team activities.
According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil was not practicing at Houston Methodist Training Center.
OTAs are voluntary, and Tunsil similarly did not show up last year. However, the former Miami Dolphins 2016 first-round pick was present for mandatory minicamp.
Other non-participants included defensive tackles Maliek Collins, Sheldon Rankins, and cornerback Steven Nelson.
The Texans had players not practicing due to injury, which included receiver John Metchie (hamstring), guard Kenyon Green (knee surgery, shoulder), linebacker Denzel Perryman (labrum surgery), defensive lineman Thomas Booker (hamstring), defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway (groin), and linebacker Garret Wallow (ankle surgery).
The aim for the Houston Texans with the arrival of new coach DeMeco Ryans is upgrading the offensive and defensive lines.
As a defensive-minded coach, DeMeco Ryans understands the importance of the play in the trenches.
Ryans earned the 2022 NFL assistant coach of the year honors thanks to his work as defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. Defensive end Nick Bosa and the 49ers defensive line helped make Ryans look fabulous as a coordinator as San Francisco smothered opposing offenses with 3.4 yards per carry, tied for the lowest in NFL, and gave up 5.0 yards per play, tied for third most in the league.
Ryans also bore witness to the 49ers offense with 4.7 yards per carried, tied for the eighth-most in the NFL, and tied for fourth-most in the league with 5.9 yards per play.
If the Texans want to follow the San Francisco model, it will have to start upfront on both sides of the ball.
“The O-line, D-line, as I talked about earlier, that’s the important piece to building a football team,” Ryans told reporters March 27 at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix. “You have to build it from inside out, and to add interior defensive linemen, to add really good offensive linemen to our team, that’s going to be vital to us moving forward and being successful. That’s where it all starts.”
The Texans have done what they can through the first wave of free agency as they signed former 49ers defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway and former New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins. Houston even traded for Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Shaq Mason to beef up the offensive line, which already boasts three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil along with 2019 first-round tackle Tytus Howard and 2022 first-round guard Kenyon Green.
“If we can’t play well up front, we’re not going to be a good football team,” said Ryans. “We want to continue to add up front as much as we can on the defensive end, offensive side, add as much depth as we can, because you lose those guys at times, so you have to have enough depth, you have to be able to rotate guys on the defensive side, and you have to have solid guys in the offensive line that you can count on and that can run the ball behind those guys and they can also protect.”
Last season, the Texans were the fourth-worst in the NFL defending the run at 5.1 yards per carry. Houston also was the second-worst in the NFL running the football at 3.7 yards per carry.
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Here is a look at the contract details from the Houston Texans’ deal with defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.
The Houston Texans added some beef to their defensive line with former New Orleans Saints and New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.
Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV was able to obtain the details from the contract. The former 2016 first-round pick has a one-year, $9.75 million contract with $8.5 million guaranteed.
Sheldon has a $7 million signing bonus with $1.5 million of that money guaranteed.
The former Louisville product earns $73,528 per game active roster bonus, and gets a $750,000 playtime incentive.
Rankins provided the Jets with 40 combined tackles, nine tackles for loss, 14 quarterback hits, 6.0 sacks, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries through 31 games, 18 of which he started.
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The Houston Texans are signing former New Orleans Saints and New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to a one-year contract.
The Houston Texans are adding even more beef inside the interior defensive line.
According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the Texans have signed former New Orleans Saints and New York Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to a one-year contract worth $10.5 million.
Rankins spent the last two seasons playing for the Jets, coached by Robert Saleh, who was the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers from 2017-20 while Texans rookie coach DeMeco Ryans was the defensive quality control and later inside linebackers coach. Rankins generated 40 combined tackles, nine tackles for loss, 14 quarterback hits, 6.0 sacks, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries through 31 games, 18 of which he started.
The Texans still have defensive tackle Maliek Collins under contract along with third-year defensive tackle Roy Lopez.
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Ranking the 10 best free agent defensive tackles available for the Saints, with Sheldon Rankins on top:
Everyone knows what position the New Orleans Saints need to make a priority: defensive tackle. The team lost its top two players in Monday’s start to the free agent legal tampering period, with David Onyemata joining the Atlanta Falcons and Shy Tuttle going to the Carolina Panthers. All of their other interior linemen who got on the field last year are free agents — Malcolm Roach (who wants to test the market before accepting a two-year contract offer), Kentavius Street, and Albert Huggins. The Saints couldn’t field a complete defense if they had a game today.
And money has been flying around the league with defensive tackles on the move. The San Francisco 49ers are going to sign Javon Hargrave. The Washington Commanders retained Daron Payne. The Seattle Seahawks lured in Dre’Mont Jones. And the Cleveland Browns reached an agreement with Dalvin Tomlinson. The cupboard is starting to thin out before the Saints even get on the board.
Still, there are options available. Here are the top ten free agents still out there at their top position of need:
Even after landing Dalvin Tomlinson, the Browns must look to add more depth to their defensive line.
The Cleveland Browns swung and missed on defensive tackles Javon Hargrave and Dre’Mont Jones on the opening day of NFL free agency. They did land a pass rusher in Ogbonnia Okoronkwo to upgrade their defensive end room and struck a deal with Dalvin Tomlinson late at night to make a massive upgrade to their interior.
Given their cap space and the lack of talent currently in their defensive tackle room, adding multiple mid-level contracts rather than one big-named player may just be the better plan of attack. Here are the best available defensive tackles still on the board as the Browns look to regroup.
Jalen Ramsey and Daron Payne are off the market. How does that impact the Detroit Lions plan in free agency?
On Sunday morning, not only did we all wake up to our clocks being moved up an hour, we also got word that the Rams were trading Jalen Ramsey. Now there were all kinds of betting odds stating that the Lions were the favorites to land Jalen Ramsey. Most of that makes sense, especially with the ties of Brad Holmes to the Rams. However, after the Sunday coffee brewed, the news broke and Ramsey wasn’t headed to Detroit.
Los Angeles receives a third-round pick and TE Hunter Long. https://t.co/uu9qMFVOE5
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2023
The Miami Dolphins were able to land the Pro Bowl cornerback, not Detroit. While the Dolphins barely gave up anything, they are giving Ramsey and adjusted contract that will pay him fully guaranteed money for the next two seasons. It will average out to $20 million per season and an additional $25 million guaranteed.
I’ll say this to the Lions fans that feel like Detroit are doing it wrong for not “offering anything.” We don’t know what has been discussed behind closed doors but keep in mind that the Lions have some contract extensions that are going to have to get figured out over the next year or so. Also, Miami was the preferred destination for Ramsey. It was going to be hard to top that and to be honest; there’s no reason to get into a bidding war for a defensive back that’s approaching the age of 30 and is starting to see decline in play.
To add to the disappointment for Lions fans, not only will they not be adding Jalen Ramsey, they won’t be adding defensive tackle Daron Payne. On Sunday afternoon, the Washington Commanders announced a four-year contract extension worth $90 million dollars for Payne.
While we still need to see how the contract is formatted, it’s still a lot of money for a player that the Lions probably were never going to sign. One thing we’ve learned by watching the Brad Homes regime is that he takes a conservative approach to free agency.
So keep that in mind as we await for some crazy deals for the Lions over the next few weeks. That said, I wouldn’t expect them open the check books and just start slinging money around. The Lions could look at bringing in cornerback Jamel Dean if they wanted to sign a big name but it wouldn’t be surprising if he signed elsewhere. While I’m becoming the bearer of bad news, let’s take a look at two free agents that match the conservative approach that we’ve seen from Brad Homes and the Lions over the last two off-seasons.
Like I said, it would be pretty cool if the Lions became big time spenders and brought in Jamel Dean. But it wouldn’t be surprising if they pivot and look for a cheaper options. One player that comes to mind is New Orleans Saints cornerback P.J. Williams. He’s got some familiarity with Aaron Glenn but he’s also going to be 30-years old this summer.
So what if the Lions don’t go with the top free agent cornerback in Jamel Dean or a familiar face in PJ Williams? I could see them looking at a potential hometown kid in Sean Murphy-Bunting. Coming out of Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Township, Michigan, he wasn’t highly recruited. He ended up at Central Michigan and carved out a very good career in Mount Pleasant. It ended up leading to him getting a Scouting Combine invite and ultimately, he ended up being a 2nd round pick to the Buccaneers in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Sean Murphy-Bunting picks Mahomes
Bucs ball, trailing 41-24 with 4:42 left.
📺: #KCvsTB on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/o84hsBqv8I pic.twitter.com/xusfZztszg— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2022
Looking at the projected contract predictions on PFF, they’re predicting that Murphy-Bunting will get a two-year deal with $4.25 million guaranteed and an average of $3.75 million per year. While an injured quad limited him to only 9 games played for the season, Murphy-Bunting finished the 2022 season strong with six pass deflections and an interception.
As of now, Murphy-Bunting looks potentially like the odd man out in Tampa Bay due to cap restraints and some injuries over the last two seasons. With a reasonable contract and a potential trip back home, Sean Murphy-Bunting could look to Detroit for the next chapter of his NFL career.
As I mentioned earlier, the market for defensive tackles has been set with Daron Payne getting a $90 million dollar deal over the next four years. Teams are going to pay plenty of money for Dalvin Tomlinson, Javon Hargrave and Dre’Mont Jones. Maybe the Lions will be one of those teams, but we’ll have to wait and see.
If we follow along the conservative approach that we’ve seen from the Lions front office, the top player on the top of their list could very well be Sheldon Rankins.
Look at Sheldon Rankins (98) pic.twitter.com/r6mB0WaFLh
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) December 22, 2022
Over the last two seasons, Rankins has compiled 70 tackles and six sacks for the New York Jets. Prior to that, he had spent six seasons with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints had drafted Rankins in the 2016 NFL Draft with the 12th overall pick. That would bring a player that’s familiar with Aaron Glenn on the defensive side of the football.
While Rankins will be 29-years old this spring, there’s still good reason to believe that an affordable two-year contract could be worthwhile. PFF predicts that his market value will be a two-year contract worth a total of $12 million dollars. Fairly reasonable for a player that provides some pass rush value but is also versatile and is coming off one of his best defensive graded (73.1) seasons (per PFF) since 2018.
Slotting him on the Lions defensive line gives Detroit plenty of flexibility within their rotation. Meanwhile, it gives them an explosive option on the interior. Lastly, it doesn’t force the Lions to not draft an interior defensive lineman. They could still look at a player such as Calijah Kancey, who has a similar skill-set to Rankins. Rather than breaking the bank, this could be a much more affordable option that fits what the Lions are starting to build.
The New York Giants are expected to scour the interior defensive line market in free agency, and here are seven players they may target.
The New York Giants are in the market for another interior defensive lineman this offseason. They currently have Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, who will both likely get contract adjustments this spring, and D.J. Davidson, Ryder Anderson, Henry Mondeaux, and Vernon Butler in the fold.
They can use one of their nine (or eleven) draft picks on a rookie to fortify the unit or they can go the free agent route. Maybe they’ll do both.
There are several free agent possibilities. Here are seven they might consider.
