2. Houston Texans: Will Anderson Jr., edge rusher
The Houston Texans knew they had something special when they took Will Anderson Jr. with the 2nd pick of the 2023 NFL Draft right after Bryce Young. The term "generational" gets used way too loosely nowadays, but Anderson has the type of ability to be a constant threat to win Defensive Player of the Year.
Does that make him generational? Maybe not, but he is on pace to go down as one of the best to ever do it in a Texans uniform, and he's one of the most feared defenders in the league right now. PFF credited Anderson with a whopping 93 total QB pressures last season.
He has a whopping 30 sacks and 64 QB hits over the course of his first three NFL seasons, and just hit career-highs in sacks (12) and tackles for loss (20) this past season. The scary thing is, he's never played more than 67 percent of Houston's defensive snaps...
1. Denver Broncos: Pat Surtain II, cornerback
Although Pat Surtain doesn't impact every single snap quite like a pass rusher coming off the edge does, he's making the type of impact -- many times off the screen -- that can't be quantified by a specific statistic.
When the ball does come Surtain's direction, in the rare instances that seems to happen, he is always ready. And that might be one of his best qualities. Even though Surtain was targeted just 61 times this past season (and 62 the year before), he's always ready to make a play on the ball when it comes his way.
This past season, Surtain finished with a career-low 5.0 yards per target. When teams do test Surtain, they are trying to get the ball to their receivers quick with PS2 in off coverage. He is not worth testing deep down the field.
While Surtain definitely wants to create more takeaways, he is as dominant and consistent of a defensive player as you will ever see.
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