Which Defensive Stars Played On The Best Defenses?

by Chase Stuart on August 28, 2017

Chris McAlister played 137 games in his NFL career: 135 with the Ravens from 1999 to 2008, and then 2 with the Saints in 2009 (given that he accumulated 0 points of AV with New Orleans, I’m excluding that from the analysis). He was the 10th overall pick in the ’99 draft, and a first-team All-Pro in ’03 and ’04, and a Pro Bowler in ’06. Most notably, he played on very good defenses almost every season of his career. In 10 years in Baltimore, the Ravens defense never ranked outside of the top 10 and ranked in the top 2 more often than not. You can calculate McAlister’s average team’s defensive DVOA by weighting his DVOA in each year (where he received at least one point of AV) by his number of games played that year as follows:

As it turns out, among players with at least 70 points of career AV, his average grade of -18.1% is the highest grade of any player (Jerome Brown is at -18.2% but he had only 48 points of career AV, as his life was cut tragically short). The full list of players below.

Rk	Player	AV	Pos	Avg Def DVOA	HOF
1	Chris McAlister	71	DB	-18.1%	Not in HOF
2	Richard Sherman	74	DB	-15%	Not in HOF
3	Roger Brown	77	DT	-14.7%	Not in HOF
4	Terrell Suggs	100	LB-DE	-14.2%	Not in HOF
5	Jack Lambert	110	LB	-14.2%	Hall of Fame
6	Jack Ham	114	LB	-14.2%	Hall of Fame
7	Ed Reed	109	DB	-14%	Not in HOF
8	Ray Lewis	160	LB	-13.3%	Not in HOF
9	Wilber Marshall	98	LB	-12.9%	Not in HOF
10	Mel Blount	101	DB	-12.9%	Hall of Fame
11	Von Miller	72	LB	-12.8%	Not in HOF
12	Joe Greene	104	DT	-12.7%	Hall of Fame
13	L.C. Greenwood	80	DE	-12.7%	Not in HOF
14	Dan Hampton	101	DE-DT	-12.6%	Hall of Fame
15	Herb Adderley	106	DB	-12.4%	Hall of Fame
16	Donnie Shell	91	DB	-12.2%	Not in HOF
17	Henry Jordan	94	DT-DE	-12%	Hall of Fame
18	Aaron Smith	71	DE	-11.8%	Not in HOF
19	Alex Karras	88	DT	-11.7%	Not in HOF
20	Mel Renfro	98	DB-RB	-11.7%	Hall of Fame
21	Willie Davis	94	DE-DT	-11.5%	Hall of Fame
22	Jethro Pugh	70	DT-DE	-11.4%	Not in HOF
23	Carnell Lake	83	DB	-11%	Not in HOF
24	Dave Robinson	81	LB	-11%	Hall of Fame
25	Reggie White	157	DE-DT	-11%	Hall of Fame
26	Rod Woodson	141	DB	-11%	Hall of Fame
27	James Farrior	95	LB	-10.9%	Not in HOF
28	James Harrison	92	LB	-10.6%	Not in HOF
29	Lee Roy Jordan	90	LB	-10.6%	Not in HOF
30	Levon Kirkland	84	LB	-10.5%	Not in HOF
31	Patrick Peterson	71	CB	-10.3%	Not in HOF
32	Casey Hampton	73	NT-DT	-10.2%	Not in HOF
33	Willie Wood	92	DB	-10.1%	Hall of Fame
34	William Thomas	74	LB	-10.1%	Not in HOF
35	Derrick Brooks	144	LB	-10.1%	Hall of Fame
36	Steve McMichael	99	DT-NT	-10%	Not in HOF
37	Mike Singletary	123	LB	-9.9%	Hall of Fame
38	Eric Allen	99	DB	-9.8%	Not in HOF
39	Andy Russell	79	LB	-9.7%	Not in HOF
40	Cliff Harris	77	DB	-9.7%	Not in HOF
41	Brian Urlacher	118	LB	-9.6%	Not in HOF
42	Troy Polamalu	94	DB	-9.6%	Not in HOF
43	Ray Nitschke	94	LB	-9.6%	Hall of Fame
44	Seth Joyner	85	LB-DB	-9.3%	Not in HOF
45	Lance Briggs	98	LB	-9.2%	Not in HOF
46	Sam Madison	88	DB	-9.1%	Not in HOF
47	Merlin Olsen	112	DT	-9.1%	Hall of Fame
48	Haloti Ngata	100	DT	-9%	Not in HOF
49	Bobby Bell	103	LB-DE	-9%	Hall of Fame
50	Gary Larsen	73	DT	-8.9%	Not in HOF
51	Jason Gildon	76	LB	-8.8%	Not in HOF
52	Charles Haley	83	DE-LB	-8.7%	Hall of Fame
53	Wally Hilgenberg	75	LB-G	-8.7%	Not in HOF
54	Gary Fencik	81	DB	-8.6%	Not in HOF
55	Greg Lloyd	93	LB	-8.6%	Not in HOF
56	Isiah Robertson	100	LB	-8.5%	Not in HOF
57	Alan Page	139	DT	-8.4%	Hall of Fame
58	Curley Culp	86	DT-NT-G	-8.4%	Hall of Fame
59	Jack Reynolds	79	LB	-8.4%	Not in HOF
60	Richard Dent	96	DE	-8.2%	Hall of Fame
61	Trevor Pryce	83	DT-DE	-8.1%	Not in HOF
62	Dick LeBeau	79	DB	-8%	Hall of Fame
63	Cornell Green	95	DB	-8%	Not in HOF
64	Wayne Walker	85	LB	-8%	Not in HOF
65	Jack Pardee	76	LB	-8%	Not in HOF
66	Richie Petitbon	86	DB	-7.9%	Not in HOF
67	Mike Merriweather	73	LB	-7.8%	Not in HOF
68	Warren Sapp	120	DT	-7.5%	Hall of Fame
69	Julius Peppers	127	DE	-7.5%	Not in HOF
70	Ronde Barber	111	DB	-7.4%	Not in HOF
71	Zach Thomas	118	LB	-7.4%	Not in HOF
72	Lester Hayes	74	DB	-7.3%	Not in HOF
73	Jason Taylor	119	DE	-7.3%	Hall of Fame
74	J.J. Watt	82	DE	-7.2%	Not in HOF
75	Pat Swilling	99	LB-DE	-7.2%	Not in HOF
76	Jack Youngblood	105	DE	-7.2%	Hall of Fame
77	Derrick Thomas	106	LB	-7.1%	Hall of Fame
78	Darrelle Revis	89	DB	-7.1%	Not in HOF
79	Clyde Simmons	87	DE-DT	-7.1%	Not in HOF
80	Harvey Martin	78	DE-DT	-7.1%	Not in HOF
81	George Andrie	71	DE	-7%	Not in HOF
82	Ron McDole	91	DE-DT	-7%	Not in HOF
83	Asante Samuel	71	DB	-7%	Not in HOF
84	Jerry Mays	81	DE-DT	-6.9%	Not in HOF
85	Deacon Jones	91	DE	-6.9%	Hall of Fame
86	Buck Buchanan	93	DT	-6.8%	Hall of Fame
87	John Lynch	90	DB	-6.8%	Not in HOF
88	Eddie Meador	83	DB	-6.5%	Not in HOF
89	Sam Mills	101	LB	-6.5%	Not in HOF
90	Lawrence Taylor	137	LB	-6.5%	Hall of Fame
91	Rod Martin	77	LB	-6.5%	Not in HOF
92	Bobby Bryant	71	DB	-6.5%	Not in HOF
93	Johnny Robinson	91	DB-FL-HB	-6.4%	Not in HOF
94	David Harris	81	LB	-6.4%	Not in HOF
95	Bobby Boyd	95	DB	-6.4%	Not in HOF
96	Rickey Jackson	113	LB-DE	-6.3%	Hall of Fame
97	Fred Dryer	72	DE	-6.2%	Not in HOF
98	Bob Lilly	108	DT-DE	-6.2%	Hall of Fame
99	Chris Doleman	114	DE-LB	-6.1%	Hall of Fame
100	Neil Smith	95	DE	-6.1%	Not in HOF
101	William Fuller	74	DE	-6%	Not in HOF
102	Calais Campbell	74	DE	-5.9%	Not in HOF
103	Jeremiah Trotter	76	LB	-5.9%	Not in HOF
104	Brian Dawkins	101	DB	-5.9%	Not in HOF
105	Rodney Harrison	72	DB	-5.6%	Not in HOF
106	Patrick Willis	92	LB	-5.6%	Not in HOF
107	Roy Winston	80	LB	-5.5%	Not in HOF
108	Paul Krause	113	DB-WR	-5.5%	Hall of Fame
109	Pat Williams	72	DT	-5.4%	Not in HOF
110	Howie Long	95	DE-NT	-5.4%	Hall of Fame
111	Bill Romanowski	84	LB	-5.3%	Not in HOF
112	Jevon Kearse	72	DE	-5.2%	Not in HOF
113	Dana Stubblefield	73	DT	-5.2%	Not in HOF
114	Mike Haynes	105	DB	-5.2%	Hall of Fame
115	Louis Wright	87	DB	-5.1%	Not in HOF
116	Carl Eller	123	DE	-5.1%	Hall of Fame
117	Chuck Howley	96	LB	-5%	Not in HOF
118	Jerry Robinson	74	LB	-5%	Not in HOF
119	Dale Carter	70	DB	-5%	Not in HOF
120	Rob Burnett	81	DE	-5%	Not in HOF
121	Henry Thomas	83	DT-NT	-4.8%	Not in HOF
122	Randy Gradishar	88	LB	-4.8%	Not in HOF
123	Ronnie Lott	118	DB	-4.7%	Hall of Fame
124	Ken Houston	96	DB	-4.7%	Hall of Fame
125	Randy White	116	DT-LB-DE	-4.6%	Hall of Fame
126	Junior Seau	130	LB	-4.5%	Hall of Fame
127	Harry Carson	91	LB	-4.4%	Hall of Fame
128	Rosey Taylor	76	DB	-4.4%	Not in HOF
129	Leonard Marshall	71	DE-DT	-4.3%	Not in HOF
130	Trent Cole	70	DE-LB	-4.3%	Not in HOF
131	Sam Adams	76	DT-DE	-4.2%	Not in HOF
132	Darren Sharper	89	DB	-4.1%	Not in HOF
133	Too Tall Jones	94	DE	-4.1%	Not in HOF
134	Tedy Bruschi	71	LB	-4%	Not in HOF
135	Willie Brown	108	DB	-4%	Hall of Fame
136	Charles Mann	78	DE	-3.9%	Not in HOF
137	Joey Porter	89	LB	-3.9%	Not in HOF
138	Carl Hairston	73	DE-DT-LB	-3.9%	Not in HOF
139	Hugh Douglas	70	DE	-3.9%	Not in HOF
140	Tom Jackson	83	LB	-3.8%	Not in HOF
141	LeRoy Butler	90	DB	-3.7%	Not in HOF
142	Dave Grayson	82	DB	-3.7%	Not in HOF
143	Steve Nelson	70	LB	-3.7%	Not in HOF
144	Bill Thompson	81	DB	-3.7%	Not in HOF
145	Al Baker	69	DE	-3.6%	Not in HOF
146	Lou Michaels	69	DE-K	-3.6%	Not in HOF
147	Clay Matthews	73	LB	-3.5%	Not in HOF
148	Claude Humphrey	72	DE	-3.4%	Hall of Fame
149	DeMarcus Ware	100	LB	-3.4%	Not in HOF
150	Willie Lanier	88	LB	-3.4%	Hall of Fame
151	Jake Scott	81	DB	-3.3%	Not in HOF
152	Darren Woodson	76	DB	-3.3%	Not in HOF
153	Albert Lewis	80	DB	-3.3%	Not in HOF
154	Lyle Alzado	81	DE-DT	-3.3%	Not in HOF
155	Chad Brown	85	LB	-3.2%	Not in HOF
156	Calvin Pace	72	DE	-3.2%	Not in HOF
157	Hardy Nickerson	99	LB	-2.9%	Not in HOF
158	Maxie Baughan	84	LB	-2.8%	Not in HOF
159	Kevin Greene	95	LB-DE	-2.8%	Hall of Fame
160	Mark Haynes	70	DB	-2.8%	Not in HOF
161	Terence Newman	70	DB	-2.8%	Not in HOF
162	Randall Godfrey	72	LB	-2.8%	Not in HOF
163	Michael Dean Perry	87	DT-DE	-2.7%	Not in HOF
164	Greg Kragen	76	NT-DT	-2.6%	Not in HOF
165	Bruce Smith	148	DE	-2.6%	Hall of Fame
166	London Fletcher	97	LB	-2.5%	Not in HOF
167	Geno Atkins	69	DT	-2.5%	Not in HOF
168	Emmitt Thomas	70	DB	-2.4%	Hall of Fame
169	Troy Vincent	89	DB	-2.4%	Not in HOF
170	Deron Cherry	75	DB	-2.4%	Not in HOF
171	Kevin Carter	90	DE-DT	-2.4%	Not in HOF
172	Keith Bulluck	73	LB	-2.4%	Not in HOF
173	Ted Washington	93	NT-DT	-2.3%	Not in HOF
174	Doug Atkins	71	DE	-2.3%	Hall of Fame
175	Ty Law	87	DB	-2.3%	Not in HOF
176	Pat Fischer	84	DB	-2.2%	Not in HOF
177	Jim Marshall	98	DE	-2.1%	Not in HOF
178	Joey Browner	72	DB	-2.1%	Not in HOF
179	Ken Norton	83	LB	-2%	Not in HOF
180	Lem Barney	99	DB	-2%	Hall of Fame
181	Ted Hendricks	107	LB	-1.9%	Hall of Fame
182	Simeon Rice	88	DE	-1.9%	Not in HOF
183	Michael Strahan	121	DE	-1.8%	Hall of Fame
184	Jessie Armstead	81	LB	-1.8%	Not in HOF
185	Sherrill Headrick	71	LB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
186	Marco Coleman	72	DE-LB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
187	Steve Atwater	79	DB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
188	Dennis Smith	73	DB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
189	Charles Woodson	110	DB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
190	Daryl Smith	72	LB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
191	Eugene Robinson	87	DB	-1.7%	Not in HOF
192	Mark Carrier	69	DB	-1.6%	Not in HOF
193	Everson Walls	84	DB	-1.6%	Not in HOF
194	Pepper Johnson	76	LB	-1.5%	Not in HOF
195	Ray Childress	90	DT-DE	-1.5%	Not in HOF
196	Fred Dean	73	DE	-1.5%	Hall of Fame
197	Terry McDaniel	69	DB	-1.5%	Not in HOF
198	Mo Lewis	91	LB	-1.5%	Not in HOF
199	Leslie O'Neal	88	DE-LB	-1.4%	Not in HOF
200	Dick Butkus	78	LB	-1.4%	Hall of Fame
201	Art Still	73	DE	-1.4%	Not in HOF
202	Champ Bailey	112	DB	-1.4%	Not in HOF
203	Lemar Parrish	87	DB	-1.3%	Not in HOF
204	Aaron Glenn	72	DB	-1.3%	Not in HOF
205	Mike Stratton	79	LB	-1.2%	Not in HOF
206	Bob Golic	73	NT-DT-LB-DE	-1.2%	Not in HOF
207	Chris Hanburger	96	LB	-1.2%	Hall of Fame
208	Vince Wilfork	91	NT-DT	-1.1%	Not in HOF
209	Erich Barnes	73	DB	-1.1%	Not in HOF
210	Darnell Dockett	72	DT	-1.1%	Not in HOF
211	Dave Butz	80	DT-DE	-1%	Not in HOF
212	Richard Seymour	90	DE-DT	-1%	Not in HOF
213	Karl Mecklenburg	92	LB-DE	-0.8%	Not in HOF
214	Shaun Ellis	75	DE	-0.8%	Not in HOF
215	Raymond Clayborn	76	DB	-0.8%	Not in HOF
216	Cortez Kennedy	101	DT	-0.8%	Hall of Fame
217	Willie McGinest	77	DE-LB	-0.8%	Not in HOF
218	Joe Nash	76	NT-DT	-0.7%	Not in HOF
219	Nick Buoniconti	103	LB	-0.7%	Hall of Fame
220	Justin Smith	98	DE	-0.7%	Not in HOF
221	John Abraham	91	DE	-0.7%	Not in HOF
222	Mike Peterson	72	LB	-0.6%	Not in HOF
223	LeRoy Irvin	69	DB	-0.6%	Not in HOF
224	Keith Hamilton	73	DT-DE	-0.6%	Not in HOF
225	Brad Van Pelt	70	LB	-0.5%	Not in HOF
226	Miller Farr	72	DB	-0.5%	Not in HOF
227	Karlos Dansby	79	LB	-0.4%	Not in HOF
228	Scott Studwell	70	LB	-0.3%	Not in HOF
229	Larry Wilson	85	DB	-0.2%	Hall of Fame
230	James Hasty	81	DB	-0.2%	Not in HOF
231	Ndamukong Suh	74	DT	-0.2%	Not in HOF
232	Tim McDonald	71	DB	-0.1%	Not in HOF
233	Rick Volk	71	DB	-0.1%	Not in HOF
234	Deion Sanders	117	DB-WR	0%	Hall of Fame
235	Greg Ellis	70	DE	0%	Not in HOF
236	Darrell Green	101	DB	0%	Hall of Fame
237	Cameron Wake	70	LB	0%	Not in HOF
238	Bryan Cox	72	LB	0.1%	Not in HOF
239	Dave Wilcox	73	LB	0.2%	Hall of Fame
240	Jacob Green	81	DE	0.4%	Not in HOF
241	Cornelius Bennett	90	LB	0.4%	Not in HOF
242	Bill Bergey	84	LB	0.4%	Not in HOF
243	Chester McGlockton	79	DT-DE	0.4%	Not in HOF
244	John Randle	107	DT-DE	0.5%	Hall of Fame
245	Cris Dishman	75	DB	0.5%	Not in HOF
246	Lawyer Milloy	79	DB	0.6%	Not in HOF
247	Jared Allen	104	DE	0.7%	Not in HOF
248	Derrick Johnson	80	LB	0.8%	Not in HOF
249	Donnie Edwards	84	LB	0.8%	Not in HOF
250	Ken Riley	92	DB	0.9%	Not in HOF
251	Andre Tippett	90	LB	1%	Hall of Fame
252	Fred Smerlas	81	NT-DT	1%	Not in HOF
253	Mike Curtis	78	LB-FB	1%	Not in HOF
254	Tamba Hali	77	DE	1.2%	Not in HOF
255	Bob Baumhower	82	NT	1.2%	Not in HOF
256	Dwight Freeney	79	DE	1.5%	Not in HOF
257	Takeo Spikes	84	LB	1.6%	Not in HOF
258	Lee Roy Selmon	73	DE-DT	1.6%	Hall of Fame
259	Darryl Talley	72	LB	1.9%	Not in HOF
260	Chip Banks	72	LB	1.9%	Not in HOF
261	Jimmy Johnson	100	DB-HB	2.1%	Hall of Fame
262	Chris Spielman	74	LB	2.1%	Not in HOF
263	Mark Gastineau	79	DE	2.2%	Not in HOF
264	Kevin Williams	99	DT-DE	2.3%	Not in HOF
265	La'Roi Glover	91	DT-NT	2.3%	Not in HOF
266	Reggie Williams	72	LB	2.4%	Not in HOF
267	Robert Brazile	74	LB	2.6%	Not in HOF
268	Bryant Young	89	DT-DE	2.7%	Not in HOF
269	Clay Matthews	94	LB	2.8%	Not in HOF
270	Jerry Ball	72	NT-DT	2.8%	Not in HOF
271	Keith Brooking	81	LB	2.9%	Not in HOF
272	Houston Antwine	70	DT-DE	3.1%	Not in HOF
273	Larry Grantham	85	LB	3.1%	Not in HOF
274	Matt Blair	72	LB	3.5%	Not in HOF
275	Aeneas Williams	104	DB	4%	Hall of Fame
276	Joe Klecko	72	DT-NT-DE	4.1%	Not in HOF
277	Mario Williams	76	DE	4.4%	Not in HOF
278	Dave Brown	73	DB	4.5%	Not in HOF
279	Julian Peterson	75	LB	7.1%	Not in HOF
280	Roger Wehrli	82	DB	7.1%	Hall of Fame
281	Jessie Tuggle	72	LB	8.7%	Not in HOF

What stands out to you? One fun thing to do is sort by career AV and then take a look at the outliers. Bruce Smith and especially Deion Sanders stand out as surprises to me in that regard. What do you think?

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