Ranking the NFC South position groups rolls on, this time diving into the defensive tackle rankings around the division. There is a lot of parity among the interior defensive line groups in the South, and every team could make a case for the top spot. I split the hairs and offered my ranking of the least talent unit to the most talented unit in the division.

Here’s the other rankings of the divisional position groups that have been completed so far:

Quarterbacks
Wide Receivers
Running Backs
Offensive Lines
Edge Defenders

4. New Orleans Saints

Sheldon Rankins
David Onyemata
Malcom Brown
Margus Hunt
Shy Tuttle
Taylor Stallworth

It feels weird to have the Saints in fourth place in a division positional ranking, especially considering they still have a pretty solid interior defensive line. Rankins has been good when healthy, but he’s had some injury concerns and has only eclipsed 650 snaps in a season one time over four years. He totaled just two sacks and 10 tackles last year in 10 games after posting eight sacks and 41 tackles in 16 games in 2018.

Saints DT David Onyemata – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

The rest of the Saints defensive line are all solid with very little hope of ever being more. Onyemata was a draft crush of mine who has become a really solid rotational piece for the Saints. He might be set for more playing time in 2020 after notching three sacks last year. Brown is a nice run stuffer to have on board, while Tuttle flashed some as a rookie in 2019. Those are probably the Saints top four heading into the season.

It’s a good enough group to win with, especially when you consider everything else around them, but unless Rankins bounces back, the Saints are probably the only team in the division without an individual difference-maker on their interior defensive line.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Vita Vea
Ndamukong Suh
William Gholston
Rakeem Nunez-Roches
Khalil Davis
Jeremiah Ledbetter

The Bucs have a fine starting duo at defensive tackle, but depth is a massive concern. I’m not sure any of their interior defensive line talent after Vea, Suh or Gholston, who plays defensive end in Tampa Bay’s 3-4 scheme, would be a lock to make the final roster of any other team in the division, and that’s a massive problem that must be rectified before the 2020 season begins. Davis, a sixth-round draft pick, is extremely raw, and Nunez-Roches has spent his career as an average depth piece without much upside – although he flashed some pass rush ability in the preseason against non-starting-caliber foes.

Bucs NT Vita Vea – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

Gholston is a decent player who is coming off one of his best seasons of his now seven-year career in Tampa Bay. His fit in Todd Bowles’ defense seems like a good one, but Gholston has never been very useful as a pass rusher. It’s very unlikely that changes in 2020.

Vea is an ascending player who has shown some dominant flashes, but will that continue if he can’t come off the field in 2020? Suh’s age (33) has been showing for a few seasons now, and while he remains a good player against the run, his pass rush juice is definitely depleted. The Bucs’ group looks good enough on paper, but their pass rush ability could be so much more effective if they added more talent up front – and depth is a real concern without veteran nose tackle Beau Allen, who wasn’t re-signed.

2. Carolina Panthers

Kawann Short
Derrick Brown
Zach Kerr
Chris Smith
Woodrow Hamilton
Bravvion Roy

Short is an aging stud, who was underrated at his very best, but those days may be behind him at 31 years old. Still, he’s a strong starter who will align next to the highest-drafted defensive tackle in the 2020 class in Brown. Will Short be able to return to dominance after a torn rotator cuff ended his 2019 season after two weeks? Can Brown make the same impact as a pass rusher that he does in the run game?

Kerr has been a long-time good rotational defender, capable of playing the run and the pass. The rest of the group didn’t play a snap in the NFL last year, although Smith could be helpful as an interior pass rusher as he returns to the league.

The Panthers don’t have many strengths as a roster, but they really need defensive tackle to be one of them. On paper the talent is there at the top, but how quickly Brown acclimates a heavy NFL workload, and how Short recovers from a major injury at 31 remains to be seen.

1. Atlanta Falcons

Grady Jarrett
Deadrin Senat
Marlon Davidson
Tyeler Davison

The Falcons earn the No. 1 spot in my rankings despite still having some question marks. Jarrett is in the Top 5 defensive tackles in the entire NFL, dominating as a one-gap penetrating, pass-rushing defensive tackle, who has taken his game from good to elite the past couple seasons. No defensive tackle in the division is close to being as good as Jarrett is right now.

Falcons DL Marlon Davidson – Photo courtesy of Auburn

The rest of Atlanta’s rotation is solid as well, with Davison continuing his career as an underrated run-stuffer, while Davidson gets ready to make a versatile impact early in his career as a rookie. Davidson played on the edge at Auburn, but the 300-pounder will take his non-stop motor and impressive flexibility to the interior defensive line in the NFL.

That’s a solid Top 3 that is still pretty reliant on Jarrett for high-end impact unless Davidson takes off earlier than expected. The X-factor is Senat, a USF product who excited in over 350 snaps as a rookie, but then was inactive for all but two games last season for reasons no one seems to know. If the 2018 third-round pick can bounce back, he has the ability to make the Falcons defensive line much deeper, especially against the run.