NFL 2023 Defensive Player of the Year – Scores & Metrics – Rank 1-50

NFL Analysis
February 26, 2024

NFL 2023 Top 100 Defensive Players Rankings & Ratings

Here are rankings & ratings of the NFL 2023 Top 100 Defensive Players using only statistics. In the attempt to use statistics to determine a defensive player of the year, there were a few positionally based difficulties.

Cornerbacks put up the least amount of countable statistics. The best CBs put up the least amount of statistics due to the fact that their area or the man they are covering is targeted less. This is simply the NFL version of Don’t poke the bear with a stick.
Defensive Tackles also generate less countable statistics since many times their primary responsibility to try to engage multiple, or disrupt blockers as opposed to attempting a tackle from the moment the ball is snapped. Again, the best DT will be absorbing multiple blockers in order to free up would be teammate tacklers.
In general, the algorithm is using very limited defensive stats, weighting the metrics, and attempting to rank players using only statistics. It can’t see:
- QBs ignoring one side of the field due to a shutdown corner
- Defensive linemen being double and triple teamed
- Snap counts or the effect of injuries on statistics.
- An argument could be made that the Top 10 Playwreckers list is a more definitive list of the best defensive players.

Thus we can’t expect a perfect list and there are going to be some head scratchers. For example, most would expect Myles Garrett & Micah Parsons to be high on the list. They are not. Teams scheme to negate them which diminishes their amount of countable statistics. This is the downfall to using only statistics to rank any list of players.

For example, Garrett had 42 total tackles all season (33 solo 9 assists), Parsons had 64 (36s 28a). Bobby Wagner led the league with 183.

Does anyone believe Wagner has 3x-4x the range and tackling ability as Garrett and Parson? This is a combination of teams scheming against Garrett/Parsons, and Seattle scheming its own defense to keep Wagner free to make tackles. Parsons/Garrett’s job is to wreak havoc(see Behind the Line stats/List). Tackles are almost a necessary evil. For more, see the Tackles Don’t Count section below.

For the record, Parsons scored 521 (29th) & Garrett scored 466.5 (38th).

Defensive Player of the Year Awards

Defensive Player of the Year: Foyesade Oluokun (685.5)
- 2nd:Bobby Wagner (658.5)
- 3rd: T.J. Watt(647)
Top Linebacker: Foyesade Oluokun (685.5)
- 27 pts more than 2nd Bobby Wagner(658.5)
Top Defensive End: T.J. Watt (647)
- 31.5 pts more than 2nd Danielle Hunter(615.5)
Top Defensive Tackle: Justin Madubuike (454.5)
- 3.5 pts more than 2nd Deforest Buckner(651)
Top Cornerback: Kenny Moore (418.5)
- 15.5 pts more than 2nd Taron Johnson(403)
Top Safety: Antoine Winfield (624)
- 63 pts more than 2nd Jesse Bates(561)

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Score vs QBR vs Passer Rating – Ranking the QBs – NFL 2023 Week 18
Coach of the Year: NFL 2023 Awards – Coach of the Year

Top 100 Defensive Players

NFL 2023 Defensive Player of the Year - Scores & Metrics - Rank 51 - 100 — NFL 2023 Defensive Player of the Year – Scores & Metrics – Rank 51 – 100

Defensive ends, linebackers & safeties are treated best by this exercise as they accumulate a decent amount of statistics during the season. If I were to estimate a final scoring range for the top 10 – 20 players at each position using just the 2023 stats, this is the best guess(amount of players in Top 100 in parenthesis):

Top Linebackers range (49)
- 600 – 700
Top Defensive Ends range(10)
- 400 – 650
Top Safeties range (24)
- 400 – 600
Top Defensive Tackles range(5)
- 350 – 450
Top Cornerbacks range (12)
- 350 – 450

The Metrics, Weights & Algorithm

Here is the list of metrics and statistics used in the scoring. The scoring value of the statistic is in (parenthesis). If the metric is a formula, the formula is listed. The final score is simply the sum of the scoring stats. All the statistics come from the NFL Game Statistics & Informatiom System(GSIS).

Scoring

Limiting ourselves to the simplistic type of scoring the AP voters use(5/3/1), here is the scoring system based on (10/5/4/3/2/1). Here is where the major faults are going to lie in the algorithm. But we are trying to compare a defensive tackle to a cornerback and say which is the better defensive player, so we are starting on pretty shaky ground to start with.

Tkl – Tackles (4)
Ast – Assisted Tackles (2)
Sack – Sacks (5)
Sk Yds – Sack Yardage (1)
TFL – Tackle For Loss (3)
QH – Quarterback Hits (2)
Int – Interceptions (10)
PD – Passes Defended (3)
FF – Forced Fumble (5)
FR – Fumble Recovery (5)

METRICS

Tkl – Tackles (4)
Ast – Assisted Tackles (2)
Comb – Total Tackles (Tkl + Ast)
Sack – Sacks (5)
Sk Yds – Sack Yardage (1)
TFL – Tackle For Loss (3)
QH – Quarterback Hits (2)
Int – Interceptions (10)
PD – Passes Defended (3)
FF – Forced Fumble (5)
FR – Fumble Recovery (5)
Score – Top 100 Defenders Score
Behind The Line – Total run & pass tackles for loss
Ball Touchers – PD + INT + FF + FR
Turnovers – INT + FF + FR
TKLr – Run Tackle
TKLp – Pass Tackle
ASTr – Assisted Run Tackle
ASTp – Assisted Pass Tackle
TFLr – Tackle For Loss Run
TFLp – Tackle For Loss Pass
run stuffer – TKLr + ASTr + TFLr
pass snuffer – TKLp + ASTp + TFLp

The Top 22 Players

Twenty two players(* or **) scored 1+ Standard Deviation Units higher than the average top 100 players.
Three players(**) score 2+ SDU higher than average: Oluokun, Wagner, Watt.
There were 3 Defensive Ends, 2 Safeties, & 17 Linebackers in the Top 22.
12 players scored 600+ or higher. Oluokun led with a score of 685.5.
Player with last name listed first had less than 80 total tackles which was the cutout for the top 100 in total tackles.
Defensive Player of the Year: Foyesade Oluokun (685.5)
- 2nd:Bobby Wagner (658.5)
- 3rd: T.J. Watt(647)
Top Linebacker: Foyesade Oluokun (685.5)
- 27 pts more than 2nd Bobby Wagner(658.5)
Top Defensive End: T.J. Watt (647)
- 31.5 pts more than 2nd Danielle Hunter(615.5)
Top Defensive Tackle: Justin Madubuike (454.5)
- 3.5 pts more than 2nd Deforest Buckner(651)
Top Cornerback: Kenny Moore (418.5)
- 15.5 pts more than 2nd Taron Johnson(403)
Top Safety: Antoine Winfield (624)
- 63 pts more than 2nd Jesse Bates(561)

NFL 2023 Defensive Player of the Year - Top 22 — NFL 2023 Defensive Player of the Year – Top 22

Tackles Don’t Count

This isn’t a full list as I just did it quickly to show the list of playwreckers, and how tackles is a secondary responsibility for them. Here is the list of the 8 players scoring over 300 when tackles are worth 0 points. Thus this is just for the play wrecking stats:

Watt 415
Mack 381
Allen 354
Hunter 341.5
Hendrickson 331
Crosby 324
Parsons 321
Garrett 316.5

To give you an idea of how good those 8 guys are, here is the list of players who scored over 200 in the same, Tackles Worth Zero:

Madubuike 266.5
Chubb 262
M. Sweat 260
Winfield 228
Sieler 225.5
Wilkens 213
H. Landry 209

Winfield’s 228 score as a safety stands out as the only safety to make the 200+ list. Only 15 defensive players scored over 200 points, a group dominated by edge rushers, DEs, DTs. Linebackers are scoring their points from tackling which makes sense. The best LBs mix in the play wrecking with tackling. The same holds true for safeties in most regards.