Leonard Williams Tops 2026 NFL Defensive Tackle Rankings
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- Leonard Williams jumped from No. 6 to No. 1 in ESPN's 2026 defensive tackle rankings, with multiple offensive coaches calling him the toughest player to guard after he posted 7.0 sacks and a 38.0% run stop win rate on the Super Bowl-winning Seahawks.
- Jeffery Simmons landed at No. 2 after shedding 20 pounds and delivering 11 sacks and 17 tackles for loss for a three-win Titans squad, earning first-team All-Pro honors and a three-year, $105.8 million extension this offseason.
- Jalen Carter checked in at No. 3 despite his production dipping to three sacks and five tackles for loss in 2025, with evaluators sharply split—one calling him a "game-wrecker" and another saying "he flashes 10 times a game but gets dragged far too often by average players."
- Chris Jones slipped to No. 4 for the second straight year after a decade in the league, though he still led all interior linemen in pressures (45) and posted an 18.9% pass rush win rate while logging 762 snaps.
- Derrick Brown rocketed from honorable mention to No. 5, with one veteran assistant saying Carolina "actively ran our running plays completely away from him" during his career-high 5.0-sack, 73-tackle campaign.
- Dexter Lawrence II plunged six spots from No. 1 to No. 7 after a career-low 0.5 sacks, though he still faced double-teams on 71.3% of his pass rushes—the highest rate in the league for qualified players.
- Zach Allen debuted at No. 8 with 131 quarterback hits since 2022, eight more than Myles Garrett, while Milton Williams broke in at No. 9 after validating a four-year, $104 million free agency deal with the Patriots.
Why it matters: Three of last year's top defensive tackles—Jones, Lawrence and the formerly top-ranked Carter—have all slipped in voting, signaling a clear positional reshuffle driven by Williams' Super Bowl-caliber play and Simmons' transformation, while newcomers like Zach Allen and Milton Williams signal a deep 2026 free agency class reshaping the interior.
