5 BEST DEFENSIVE LINEMEN STILL AVAILABLE

BY ADAM GREENE

After a light edge rusher list, we’re back to some serious talent that, for whatever reason, remain unemployed here this late in the season at defensive tackle. We have multiple former first round picks, guys with Super Bowl rings and even one (maybe more than one) destined to end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If there’s an issue, it’s age for most, an injury for one and maybe the desire to keep playing as an of these players could hang up their spurs after solid careers at this point. Regardless, they’re officially free agents so here are my picks for the five best defensive linemen still available.

5. STAR LOTULELEI, FREE AGENT

Age: 32

2021: 17 tackles, three sacks, four tackles for a loss

After skipping a season on a COVID-19 opt out, Lotulelei was a key figure in the Buffalo Bills playoff run. He played in 11 games and started eight. Lotulelei is a former first round pick of the Carolina Panthers and spent his first five years there, including their 2015 Super Bowl run before joining the Bills in 2018.

Lotulelei has never been a sack machine and, even with the lightened workload, put up similar stats last season as he did in the previous four.

Perfect landing spot: Arizona Cardinals

Not only do the Cards have to face off against one of the best passing teams in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, they have at least two games a year against the league’s best rushing attack in the San Francisco 49ers. A guy like Lotulelei can clog up the middle and close those run lanes while adding some ability to get into the backfield.

4. LINVAL JOSEPH, FREE AGENT

Age: 33

2021: 57 tackles, one sack, three tackles for a loss

Joseph entered the league as a second round pick in 2010 and was part of one of the best New York Giants runs in that team’s history. It landed him a Super Bowl ring in the 2011-12 season. He wrapped up his time in New York for a solid stint with the Minnesota Vikings and spent the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. His best season was 2016, with 77 tackles and four sacks, but his production last season was about par with his career.

Perfect landing spot: Buffalo Bills

While the Bills spent plenty of money this offseason improving their team, they could use another horse in the interior on their defensive line. Joseph has a championship pedigree and he would be an upgrade over current penciled in starter Daquan Jones.

3. GERALD MCCOY, FREE AGENT

Age: 34

2021: No stats recorded

For only the second time in his 11-year career, McCoy couldn’t finish a season. He appeared in just one game for the Las Vegas Raiders before spending the rest of 2021 on injured reserve. It broke an eight season streak where McCoy started at least 14 games. The year before, with the Carolina Panthers, McCoy had 37 tackles, five sacks and seven tackles for a loss.

Perfect landing spot: Tennessee Titans

The Titans already have an elite defensive front with Jeffery Simmons and Denico Autry both piling up sacks last season. They do have a weak link, Teair Tart. McCoy is at the end of his career and could decide to just hang it up and take a job in television. That’s definitely in his future. If he wants to put it off a year, and maybe take a little bit of a pay cut, a season on the Titans line would plug their one weak spot and maybe give McCoy a chance at the ring that eluded him his entire career.

2. SHELDON RICHARDSON, FREE AGENT

Age: 31

2021: 39 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, four passes defended

There was a time when Sheldon Richardson was talked about in the same breath as Aaron Donald. It was a dumb time, a wrong time, but it does show how strong a start Richardson had to his career. He wasn’t able to keep up that pace, but he settled into a comfortable spot as one of the league’s better overall defensive tackles. Last season was a down one for him, his first with the Minnesota Vikings. That could just be poor defensive scheming or a bad fit. Just the year before with the Cleveland Browns, he had 64 tackles and 4.5 sacks, which are numbers he could usually reach or get close to.

Perfect landing spot: Chicago Bears

For a team that started the day with no first round pick, the Bears worked it pretty well and have remained busy all throughout the offseason. As I wrote this, they added wide receiver N’Keal Harry, a former first round pick for the New England Patriots to their roster in exchange for a seventh rounder.  They’ve tried to cobble together a defensive line, but as of this writing are looking at Justin Jones and Khyris Tonga as their two defensive tackles and that just simply isn’t good enough. They could, frankly, use two of the guys on this list, frankly, but should aim for at least one and Richardson would turn that weakness into a strength.

1. NDAMUKONG SUH, FREE AGENT

Age: 35

2021: 27 tackles, six sacks, one fumble recovery

Suh has been one of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL since he was drafted No. 2 overall by the Detroit Lions in 2010. He’s missed two total starts in his entire career and they were both in his second season. Suh has played in two Super Bowls and won one as part of the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This coming season will be Suh’s 13^th and he’s probably got a gold jacket waiting on him after he retires. Considering he’s still one of the best in the game, there’s no reason to do that just yet. What he will do is look at contenders. He won’t just sign with anyone, regardless of the cash offered, but he won’t be available for a discount either. Otherwise he’d probably still be a Buccaneer.

Perfect landing spot: Cleveland Browns

The Browns might as well lean into being NFL outlaws and Suh fits that bill perfectly. As of right now, they’ve got one of the better edge rushing tandems in the game in Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney. Inside, there is a considerable drop off with Jordan Elliott and Taven Bryan slated to start at defensive tackle. Suh would be a considerable upgrade over either guy and eat up blocks to free up Clowney and Garrett to wreak even more havoc. If this is a team that will be without its starting quarterback for at least some of the season, they might as well make the defense in that stretch as formidable as possible.  

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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