NFL All-Rookie team 2023/24:

Defense:

All-Rookie defense 2023/24

EDGE Will Anderson Jr.

IDL Jalen Carter

IDL Kobie Turner

EDGE Byron Young

LB Ivan Pace Jr.

LB Jack Campbell

FLEX Tuli Tuipulotu

CB Devon Witherspoon

CB Joey Porter Jr.

NB Christian Izien

SAF Brian Branch

SAF Ji'Ayir Brown

This rookie defensive line is as strong as I can remember in several years. While we may not quite have a statistical outlier like Micah Parsons or one of the Bosa brothers, the collection is outstanding and when you dive into the advanced metrics, it looks like we have some long-time impact players.

First up, we’ve got the third overall pick Will Anderson Jr., who based on his seven sacks may not seem like he’s yet lived up to the status of what they traded to move up for him, but he also racked up ten tackles for loss as a chase player, he set firm edges from those wide alignments and according to ESPN’s metrics, only the aforementioned Parsons and Myles Garrett put up a better pass-rush win rate (26%) across the league.

The other highly-regarded top-ten pick on this front was Jalen Carter, who ended up only playing 51% of defensive snaps due to the talent Philadelphia has up front, but his disruptive ability was on display all season long. Along with his six sacks and eight TFLs, he put up the sixth-highest pass-rush win rate (16%) among interior D-linemen and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

And then we’ve got two Rams rookies, who have established themselves as difference-makers alongside Aaron Donald. Despite “only” weighing in at 290 pounds, Kobie Turner has been effective at the nose, as L.A. ranks just outside the top-ten in rushing success rate defensively (37.5%).

individually has collected eight TFLs, nine sacks and 16 more QB hits, thanks to his quickness to cause problems along the interior. Meanwhile, Byron Young came up one sack short of his teammate’s total, but he matched him in TFLs and had three more hits on the QB.

His explosion off the ball and ability to win the corner stood out right away, he’s improved his ability to set the edge in the run game compared to his Tennessee tape and he’s forced a couple of fumbles. The only name I hated leaving off altogether was the Saints’ Bryan Bresee.

This was a very underwhelming rookie linebacker group, to where I settled on the only first-round pick at the position and an undrafted free agent, who I predicted back in May already would be a significant contributor in the perfect defensive system for him. I actually voted for Pace to make the Pro Bowl a little less than a month ago, because of how beautifully he fit with Brian Flores in Minnesota.

In particular, he was an elite blitzer in college and it translated to the pros, collecting 2.5 sacks and nine more QB hits on 72 rush opportunities. He also cracked triple-digit tackles and was surprisingly effective in coverage, holding opponents to a passer rating of 75.9 when targeting him and being involved in three takeaways.

Meanwhile, there were more up-and-downs throughout the season for Campbell with the division-rival Lions, but he also was stressed a lot by their opponents attacking that second level. He did however only miss 6.9% of his attempted tackles and created seven negative plays, including a big sack in week 18.

I’ll throw in my “FLEX” choice Tuli Tuipulotu here, who came out of USC as an oversized EDGE prospect, who moved inside and was also utilized as an off-ball rusher at times – and that’s very much how the Chargers deployed him, particularly until being pressed into starting action for the injured Joey Bosa following week six. His production sort of came in bunches and when the Chargers were mostly trailing during their five-week losing streak to close out the season, it certainly stagnated, but he did manage to put up 16.5 combined sacks and QB hits, eight TFLs and a couple of strips.

For the two outside corner spots, I went with guys from fairly similar defensive systems, when you look at coverage deployment. While we saw a lot more quarters from the Seahawks compared to heavy one-man for the Steelers on early downs, there was a lot of stress put on Witherspoon and Porter. Spoon ended up as one of three first-round defenders with a PFF grade above 80 (at 84.1), outshining teammate and last year’s Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Tariq Woolen.

Unfortunately, we saw him in the slot for less than the half season, because I thought that’s where he could really impact games, indicated by three sacks and eight TFLs to his name, and opponents were able to attack this Seattle defense in different ways. Yet, across 78 targets, he allowed only 430 yards, had a pick and 16 more pass break-ups, while setting the tone with some big hits out in the flats.

On the other side, Porter Jr. was able to make an impact on the Steelers even quicker than his dad, who ended up as a four-time All-Pro. The young corner allowed just under half of targets his way to be completed (30 of 61) for 449 yards and only one touchdown compared to his one INT and ten PBUs, for a passer rating of 72.4. He also only missed three of his 46 attempted tackles all year.

I might’ve cheated a little bit with safety, since both Christian Izien and Brian Branch basically were slot defenders exclusively in their first seasons, but the latter did play safety – along with basically every other responsibility in Nick Saban’s secondary – early on during his time at Alabama.

Izien was one of the names I discussed as an impact undrafted free agent shortly after the draft, since I really enjoyed his brand of football and I saw an opening for the starting nickel spot in Tampa Bay. He ended up snatching that job and playing 64% of the Bucs’ defensive snaps. While he may not have massive ball-production (two INTs and PBUs each), he was never charged with more than 50 receiving yards in a game and missed less than 10% of his attempted tackles.

Branch excelled in a single-high safety-heavy Lions defense right off the bat, coming up with what turned out to be the game-winning pick-six at Kansas City off the hands of a receiver in the season-opener. He added two more interceptions and 13 PBUs, surrendering a solid 6.6 yards per target.

Whether it was in the run or screen game, his aggressiveness to create negative plays turned into seven TFLs, while he secured several key tackles short of the sticks when Detroit was in zone coverage or he fell off his initial assignment, only missing six of 80 attempted stops. Ji’Ayir Brown is the one “traditional” safety of the bunch, jumping in for the injured Talanoa Hufanga.

He had only played 30 defensive snaps coming into San Francisco’s tenth game – along with a lot of special teams work – but then was on the field for 100% of those in five of the next six weeks. While he allowed two explosive plays in coverage across those 5.5 starts, he defended six passes, including breaking up a fourth-down ball into the end-zone for Mike Evans in man before coming up with a pick on a deflected pass to close out the Bucs game, along with securing another INT on a semi-jump ball against Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf.

Key backups: EDGE B.J. Ojulari (Cardinals), IDL Keeanu Benton (Steelers), LB Marte Mapu (Patriots), CB Deonte Banks (Giants), SAF Sydney Brown (Eagles) & DB Jordan Battle (Bengals)