Which NFL Teams Secretly Dominate Every Positional Group? Discover the Surprising No. 1 Units!

Ever wonder what really makes an NFL team tick? It’s not just about having a star quarterback or a flashy offense—football’s a chess match of depth and specialization, where some units shine brighter than others. No team’s perfect across the board; every franchise allocates its precious salary cap and draft picks like a high-stakes poker player, balancing pass catchers, defenders, rushers, protectors, and blockers to forge the best possible squad. Heading into the 2025 season, we dove deep into the expected depth charts and 2024 player ELO ratings to unearth which teams boast the most fearsome positional groups. Curious which squads have pieced together those irresistible, dominant units that could tip the scales this coming season? Let’s dig into the nitty-gritty that separates the good from the truly elite. LEARN MORE

We’ve built rankings based on each team’s expected depth charts and 2024 player ELO ratings to determine which positional groups are the NFL’s best units.

No NFL team is universally perfect.

Some teams are better at one position versus the other, or their overall collection of players in one area outweighs another area.

This is the product of how the NFL is constructed as a league with a finite salary cap and roster spot constraints, but it also shines a light on how each team prefers to organize and allocate resources – both monetary and draft capital.

So as we head into the 2025 season, we want to take a look at which teams have built the most formidable units in six categories: pass catching, pass defending, pass rushing, pass protecting, run blocking and run stopping.

To do this, we’ve built unit rankings based on each team’s expected depth charts and 2024 player ELO ratings. While injuries didn’t completely alter the rankings, we made sure to explain how they relate to the 2025 season. 

The Top Teams in Each Positional Group

Pass Catching: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ELO: 0.93)

• 2. San Francisco 49ers (0.91)
• 3. Baltimore Ravens (0.85)
• T-4. Jacksonville Jaguars/Philadelphia Eagles (0.84)

The Buccaneers don’t have the top player at any one skill position, but the team’s overall collection just outranks the San Francisco 49ers with a 0.93 ELO rating.

The reason? Tampa Bay has a trio of quality receivers in Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and rookie Emeka Egbuka, two solid running backs in Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, and a good tight end in Cade Otton.

That’s a six-pack of players at the three different pass-catching positions.

Only three teams have at least five starting-caliber players with a minimum catch rating of 92%: the Buccaneers, New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. But only the Bucs and Eagles have at least three players with that catch rating and a burn rate of at least 61%.

Tampa Bay will be without Godwin for a portion of the beginning of the season as he recovers from an ankle injury. The team also lost Jalen McMillan for some time with a neck injury, although his metrics wouldn’t have crossed the aforementioned threshold anymore.

A lot will ride on Egbuka’s ability to transpose his college production to the NFL. He’ll inherit Godwin’s role initially, though, and his preseason tape indicates ready to make his mark on the offense early.

Defending the Pass: Pittsburgh Steelers (1.01)

• 2. Jacksonville Jaguars (0.99)
• 3. Baltimore Ravens (0.96)
• 4. Denver Broncos (0.90)
• 5. Los Angeles Chargers (0.89)

Adding Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay really bolstered the Steelers’ pass defense, even if it also meant losing safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in the process.

Pittsburgh’s pass defense rating of 1.01 beat out the Jaguars (0.99), Ravens (0.96) and Broncos (0.90) for the top spot heading into 2025.

That’s a stark climb after Pittsburgh had one of the most mediocre units in the NFL this past season. The Steelers allowed the 13th-highest pass success rate in 2024 at 42.0% – tied with the Cincinnati Bengals and ranked middle of the pack in passing yards allowed per play (6.5), burn rate allowed (50.9%) and open rate allowed (77.1%).

While the pass defense as a whole is mostly the same, the Steelers replaced Donte Jackson and Beanie Bishop with Ramsey and Slay in the secondary. Joey Porter Jr. will remain the third cornerback in that rotation. This is the biggest upgrade for the entire Pittsburgh defense that will have to contend with Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson twice this year.

Pittsburgh’s 2024 Secondary (2024 Burn%/Open%)

• Joey Porter Jr. (56.4%/63.8%)
• Donte Jackson (53.1%/65.6%)
• Beanie Bishop Jr. (54.5%/72.7%)
• Minkah Fitzpatrick (42.3%/80.8%)

Pittsburgh’s 2025 Secondary

• Joey Porter Jr.
• Jalen Ramsey (50.0%/76.8%)
• Darius Slay (51.8%/66.7%)
• Juan Thornhill (35.0%/32.5%)

Additionally, the Steelers have fantastic coverage linebackers. Payton Wilson ranked third in burn rate allowed (30.0%) and second in burn yards allowed per target (6.12) among 63 linebackers with at least 150 pass coverage snaps in 2024. Patrick Queen ranked 34th and 42nd in those stats, respectively.

Pittsburgh will need a robust secondary if it wants to keep Mike Tomlin’s non-losing season streak alive. And while neither Ramsey nor Slay is elite anymore, their additions are substantial to building a top secondary unit heading into the season.

Pass Rushing: Cleveland Browns (1.15)

• 2. Detroit Lions (0.97)
• 3. Philadelphia Eagles (0.76)
• 4. Denver Broncos (0.75)
• 5. Pittsburgh Steelers/Seattle Seahawks (0.73)

It’s pretty easy to understand why the Browns have the top-ranked pass-rushing unit in the league: Myles Garrett. He’s tallied at least 14 sacks and 26 quarterback hits in each of the past four years, won Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and finished third in DPOY voting in 2024.

But there’s more to the team’s defensive front than one man. 

Cleveland was one of three teams with a combined pressure rate of at least 20.0% this past season (the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions were the other two). The Browns’ QB hurry rate and knockdown rate also rank in the top three. Oddly enough, the Browns didn’t rank well in sack rate (tied for 12th) and adjusted sack rate (eighth).

Now, the Browns added arguably the best interior pass rusher in the 2025 draft with No. 5 pick Mason Graham. The former Michigan edge rusher had the second-best pressure rate at 19.9% with the highest knockdown rate at 5.8% this past season among 36 draft-eligible FBS defensive tackles with at least 200 pass-rush snaps.

With Graham in tow, this is a formidable defensive front for opposing offensive lines. Garrett and Graham are joined by Mike Hall Jr., Shelby Harris, Isaiah McGuire and Maliek Collins – all of whom had a pressure rate of at least 16.9%.

Run Blocking: Las Vegas Raiders (0.83)

• 2. Indianapolis Colts (0.82)
• 3. Jacksonville Jaguars (0.76)
• 4. Los Angeles Rams (0.75)
• 5. Washington Commanders (0.70)

The Raiders needed this. Last year, Las Vegas ranked last in rushing yards (1,357), rushing yards per game (79.8) and rushing yards per attempt (3.6). They also finished 31st in rush success rate at 30.5%.

This change was 100% necessary for a Pete Carroll offense that just drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick. 

The Raiders head into the 2025 season with a 0.83 run block team rating, which just beat out the Colts at 0.82. Las Vegas accomplished this with some roster and positional shakeups.

The biggest one was replacing guard Cody Whitehair with Alex Cappa. Whitehair allowed the highest run disruption rate in 2024 among 249 offensive linemen with at least 50 run blocking snaps. Cappa wasn’t much better, allowing the 15th-highest rate, but his 19.8% rate is a significant upgrade from Whitehair’s 34.5%. 

Las Vegas has made a big move at right tackle after replacing Thayer Munford with either D.J. Glaze or Stone Forsythe. Munford’s 18.5% run disruption rate allowed was fifth-worst among 102 tackles with at least 50 run blocking snaps in 2024. Glaze (12.3%) and Forsythe (11.3%) ranked 69th and 54th, respectively.

The four other Raiders offensive linemen who will matter the most are Kolton Miller, Jackson Powers-Johnson, Dylan Parham and Jordan Meredith. Miller is entrenched at left tackle with a 12.0% run disruption rate allowed, while the other three will compete for the starting guard and center positions. 

Powers-Johnson is listed with Cappa as the team’s starting right guard on the first unofficial depth chart, while Meredith appears poised to be the starting center with Parham at left guard.

Meredith is the best of the bunch, as his 8.7% run disruption rate allowed ranked 42nd among those 249 linemen and would have ranked fourth among all centers with at least 50 run blocking snaps in 2024. 

Powers-Johnson (16.0%) and Parham (13.9%) were 103rd and 75th, respectively.

Individually, the run blocking unit doesn’t have a star. But as a collective, this group is much improved enough to give Jeanty a quality runway for his rookie season in Las Vegas.

Defending the Run: Denver Broncos (1.18)

• 2. Seattle Seahawks (1.1)
• 3. Los Angeles Chargers (0.97)
• 4. Indianapolis Colts (0.94)
• 5. Washington Commanders (0.93)

The Broncos have one of the best overall defenses in the NFL, but their ability to stop the run is unmatched. Denver’s ELO is .07 higher than second-ranked Seattle.

In 2024, Denver ranked eighth in run disruption rate (69.6%), tied for second in rushing yards per game (3.7%) and first in run success rate allowed (32%). What makes this even more impressive is that the Broncos did all that with a heavy box just 49.2% of the time, which was tied for 13th-most in the league. 

The only other defense with a smaller percentage of plays with a heavy box that also ranked top-five in run success rate and rushing yards allowed was the Ravens.

The Broncos have a deep collection of run stoppers, led by linemen John Franklin-Myers and D.J. Jones. Those two rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in run disruption rate among 127 interior defensive linemen with at least 100 run snaps in 2024. Zach Allen and backup Malcolm Roach rank 55th and 38th, respectively.

Even the edge rushers are solid against the run. The trio of Jonathon Cooper, Nik Bonitto and Jonah Elliss rank 56th, 89th and 35th, respectively, in run disruption rate among 104 edge rushers with at least 100 snaps against the run.

The only area of concern is inside linebacker, where starters Alex Singleton and free-agent acquisition Dre Greenlaw are both coming back from injury. Neither is a great run defender, but they’re quality veterans with enough experience to hold the defense together in the middle.

Pass Protecting: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0.81)

• 2. Chicago Bears (0.80)
• T-3. Philadelphia Eagles/Jacksonville Jaguars (0.77)
• 5. Denver Broncos (0.74)

We’re starting and ending with the Buccaneers here, and both have major caveats.

Tampa Bay’s 0.81 ELO pass protection ranking is 0.01 higher than the Chicago Bears, but the Buccaneers have arguably the most important player from their offensive line on the physically unable to perform list.

Tackle Tristan Wirfs is the anchor to this whole apparatus. He led all offensive tackles with a 2.9% pressure rate allowed, which was 1.6% higher than Laremy Tunsil’s second-place rate in 2024 among players with at least 200 pass protection snaps. Wirfs also led the NFL in knockdown rate allowed (0.2%) and QB hurry rate allowed (2.6%) and had a 0.5% adjusted sack allowed rate that was tied with Lane Johnson for fifth-best in the league.

The rest of the offensive line will be fine without Wirfs, but not as elite as it would have been with him to open the season. The guard duo of Cody Mauch and Ben Bredeson had a 7.0% and 8.9% pressure rate allowed in 2024 – which ranked in the middle of the pack among guards with at least 200 pass protection snaps this past season.

Graham Barton’s 6.5% pressure rate is in the bottom third among centers. Tackles Luke Goedeke and Wirfs’ replacement, Charlie Heck, had pressure rates of 9.0% and 9.3%, respectively, although Heck only had 94 plays worth in 2024.

None of these numbers is a dealbreaker for Tampa Bay’s offensive line, considering how it fared as a unit. The team’s 32.2% pressure rate allowed ranked first in the league and the unit also helped quarterback Baker Mayfield finish with the second-highest passing success rate at 48.5%.

Losing Wirfs is a major blow to the Buccaneers to open the season, but he will play at some point in 2025. That alone keeps them atop the list.

Data modeling from Opta Analyst’s Kyle Cunningham-Rhoads. For more coverage, follow along on social media on Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook and X.

The post The NFL’s Elite Units: Which Teams Are Ranked No. 1 in Each Positional Group? appeared first on Opta Analyst.