64 interceptions in his career, good for 1,590 return yards and seven touchdowns, Ed Reed holds the record for the two longest pick-sixes in history at 106 and 107 yards respectively. With nine Pro Bowl selections, and a Defensive Player of the Year honor, Reed rounds out the final Safety position on our all-time Defensive team.
As a rookie, Ronnie Lott earned a first-team All-Pro selection, beginning a streak of six selections. He was a 10-time Pro Bowler, and was a member of all four of the Super Bowl-winning 49ers teams from the 1980s. He is one of only 10 safeties to tally over 1,000 career tackles.
"Revis Island" became a standard term due to Darrelle Revis' single-handed ability to shut down an opposing wide receiver. 31 pass deflections, a second-place in DPOY voting paved the way for a legendary 2009 campaign. However, on his career, Revis tallied seven Pro Bowls and four All-Pro selections.
The all-time leader in fumble recoveries, pick-sixes, and defensive touchdowns, Rod Woodson is also third all-time in interceptions with 71. With five first-team All-Pro selections, Woodson even has a Defensive Player of the Year from 1993, when he had eight interceptions. He briefly switched to playing Safety as well after a trade to the Ravens, earning two more All-Pro selections there, including as a part of the legendary 2000 Ravens defense.
During the 1990s, winning eight All-Pro berths, including six first-team selections was just the tip of the iceberg for Deion Sanders. He won a Defensive Player of the Year from the CB position in 1994 thanks to six interceptions and three pick-sixes. As a returner, he was extraordinary, returning 19 TDs, the most in league history.
12 Pro Bowls, seven first-time All-Pro selections, league leading 2,059 combined and 1,568 solo tackles, and the only player with 40 sacks and 30 interceptions, Ray Lewis was the backbone of the legendary 2000 Baltimore Ravens defense. The fewest points and rushing yards given up in a season came thanks to his contributions, as he even racked up two Defensive Player of the Year awards in his time.
To play just nine seasons and have the best linebacker award be named after you tells you everything you need to know about the dominance of Dick Butkus on the football field. A two-time Defensive Player of the Year, a knee injury cut his career short at just 28 years old, but he already had eight-straight Pro Bowl appearances by then, with his 27 fumble recoveries leading the league at the time.
The second-greatest DT ever, behind the next guy on this list, according to Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame score, Bob Lilly started dominating from Year 3 onwards. Posting 10.5 sacks that year, it would begin a streak of seven first-team All-Pro selections in his career.
One of just three players to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards, Aaron Donald was a Pro Bowler each season of his career, and even got All-Pro selections eight times. In 2018, his disruption as a DT was at its peak, as he set the single-season record with 20.5 sacks.
A 13-time All-Pro selection in 15 seasons, Reggie White recorded 10+ sacks in nine consecutive seasons, en route to two Defensive Player of the Year selections. Whether it was 21 sacks in 1987 or 16 sacks as a 37-year-old in Green Bay, Reggie White was a defensive force until the tail end of his career.
A league-redefining player, Lawrence Taylor not only won two Defensive Player of the Year awards on the back on seven consecutive 10+ sack seasons, he was also critical to the New York Giants winning two Super Bowls in the 1980s. Moreover, with 20.5 sacks in 1986, he became the second - and still, most recent - defender to win NFL MVP. His success led to the two tight end formations that are commonplace today, and his peak is virtually unmatched across history.
