NFL All Quarter Century Team: Defense

The last 25 years have been a golden age in the NFL. Larger than life super stars grace out televisions on a weekly basis as we can only watch in awe of these modern day gladiators. It truly has been incredible to grow up in this age of football.

So when I sat down to create an all quarter century team, it felt like nearly an impossible task. Legends of the game and Hall of Fame players left on the chopping block to narrow down the best of the best team to take the field in the 2000s. Difficult decisions at essentially every position, but I was finally able to make my 50 man roster (not bothering to list the greatest kicker, punter and long snapper).

Keep in mind that this is the quarter century team. So if a player played part of their career before the year 2000 then that section of the career was not counted. This was a factor in leaving several great players not making the cut.

So without further ado, here is my quarter century team. This article focusing only on the defensive players, with the quarter century offense in a previous article. The greatest defensive roster of the 21st century. 

Honorable Mentions

Calais Campbell
Vince Wilfork
Vita Vea
Richard Seymour
Jason Taylor
Michael Strahan
Dwight Freeney
Khalil Mack
Cameron Jordan
Luke Kuechly
Derrick Brooks
Bobby Wagner
Fred Warner
Tyrann Mathieu
Earl Thomas
Darren Sharper

Defensive Line 

Aaron Donald, JJ Watt, Chris Jones, Geno Atkins, Haloti Ngata

Donald and Watt have three Defensive Player of the Year awards each, so they are obviously on this list. Their dominance can’t be overstated and they were no douters here. Jones Has also made his mark over the last decade. He’s been to six All Pros in nine seasons and was the best defensive player on three Super Bowl winning teams.

Atkins was also one of the best pass rushing defensive tackles in recent memory. His 75.5 sacks aren’t quite as many as Jones (80.5), but is still very good from the interior. 

Then there was the nose tackle. I considered both Vince Wilfork and Vita Vea for this spot, but Ngata was the best blend of run defense, pass rush and longevity among the three.

Edge

Von Miller, Myles Garrett, Julius Peppers, TJ Watt, DeMarcus Ware, Jared Allen

This was an especially difficult group to sort out with so many worthy candidates. I had to include the two guys who have dominated the last ten years in Von Miller and Myles Garrett. Another name who was in that conversation is 2021 Defensive Player of the Year in TJ Watt.

Looking back a little further I included Peppers, Wade and Allen. They rank 5th, 13th and 16th all time in sacks respectively. And it’s important to note that they reached these marks all in the last 25 years unlike other worthy considerations such as Jason Taylor and Michael Strahan who had some of their success date back into the 90s.

Linebacker 

Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Lavonte David, Patrick Willis

Ray Lewis might have been the greatest linebacker of all time. His physicality and menacing presence define what the NFL is all about. While Yrlacher was a different style of player, he was also the face of linebackers during his time and helped drag a lifeless Chicago Bears offense all the way to the Super Bowl.

Willis was as big of a talent as you’ll ever see. His career wasn’t as long as others, but it was every bit as brilliant. David has had all the longevity and success, despite not having the accolades on his resume. But don’t let that fool you, he is one of the best to ever play the game and every measure of linebacker play backs that up.

Cornerback 

Darrell Revis, Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, Ronde Barber, Richard Sherman, Patrick Peterson

An abundance of talent here to choose from. I started with the man they called Revis Island. While he didn’t fill the stat sheet with interceptions, that’s because targeting the man he was covering was typically a waste of time. The only player I could compare him to at his peak is Champ Bailey. His twelve pro bowls in fifteen seasons as well as the NFL record for most total passes defended put him firmly in the conversation as the best cornerback to ever play the game.

With Woodson and Barber, there games were all about greatness and versatility. Both could play inside and outside corner as well as safety. Woodson did more in generating turnovers, but Barber had more sacks and tackles for a loss at the prototype of the modern day nickel corner.

Sherman was the face of the Legion of Boom defenses in Seattle. In terms of zone corners, there are very few who have ever been better. Peterson was an eight time pro bowler with Arizona and was on of the best in the NFL for nearly a decade.

Safety

Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins, Troy Polamalu, John Lynch

This is perhaps my personal favorite group of players. Reed was the ultimate ballhawk and center fielder as a free safety. Dawkins was also a turnover machine. When you combine interceptions and forced fumbles then he only had two less than Reed did.

These next two were more traditional box safeties. There may be no more iconic play in the 2000s than Polamalu timing things perfectly and jumping over the offensive line at the snap to make a tackle for loss. And if you are into big hits then Lynch is the guy for you. No one in the last 25 years delivered more bone crushing hits than he did.