Who has the best defense in the NFL? I am willing to accept three answers to this question. The Seattle Seahawks are one of them. The problem is, according to many league experts, there are four possible answers. There are not. There are three.
Take Gary Davenport’s recent ranking of the best defenses for Bleacher Report. In the first place, Davenport has the Houston Texans. I have no issue with that. The Los Angeles Rams are in second place. This takes into account the recent acquisition of Myles Garrett. Again, no problem.
In third place, one spot ahead of Seattle, are the Denver Broncos. Problem. To show you just how pervasive this Bronco love is, you should be aware that Davenport appears to be apologizing for ranking them as low as third.  He seems to be suggesting that in most minds, they should be even higher. I’m here to tell you that it is incorrect.
Contrary to what you may have heard, the Seattle Seahawks has a top-three defense
Since arguments like this are always subjective – and since they always require at least a little bit of trashing a worthy opponent – let me declare for the record: the Denver Broncos have an excellent defense. Put them fourth in the league if you want. I won’t complain.
Just don’t put them ahead of Seattle.
Denver has an outsized reputation based on one pretty staggering number. 68 sacks in 2025. 68. Nine more than the second-place team, Atlanta. Seven other teams, including Seattle, were within nine points of Atlanta. That’s how big the gap between Denver and everyone else in the league was last year.
At least in that one showy statistic.
But we need to add some context here. I’m going to present you with a bunch of reasons why Seattle’s defense is better than Denver’s. You don’t have to agree with any of them. But to me, they add up to an open-and-shut case.
Let’s deal with the elephant right off the bat. The sacks. Denver had the sixth-highest blitz rate in the league last year. 28.5%. Seattle had the 26th highest. 19.3%. That means to reach those sack totals, Denver has to blitz far more than Seattle.
Give Nik Bonitto and his crew credit. They get to the QB. A lot of teams blitz just as much or more and do not deliver. Denver is very good at blitzing. But check the pressure rate.
This is not an official stat, but if you consult pro-football-reference.com, you will see that Denver achieves a 30.5 pressure rate – good for second in the league in 2025.
Seattle was sixth at 26.1%. But because Denver blitzes so much, the difference between blitzing and pressure is plus-2. Seattle has a plus 6.8. That doesn’t prove Seattle has a better pass rush, but it does offer pretty good evidence that Seattle is more efficient. This allows Mike Macdonald to do a lot more behind the line.
Of course, pass rush is just one part of defense. Look at the overall stats. Denver did finish second in the league to Houston in yards allowed. Seattle was fifth. But Seattle was first in the league in points allowed. Denver was third.
When you consider that Seattle’s offense was a lot more potent than Denver’s, it suggests they were playing games in which a bend-but-don’t-break philosophy was more in effect.
In other words, if they had to shut teams down, Seattle could do it. They just didn’t have to as much because their offense was better than Denver’s.
Context matters here. When looking at those team defense stats – most of which are very close – keep in mind that Seattle’s NFC West opponents – The Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals – had offenses that finished first, seventh, and 19th in the NFL in total yards.
Denver’s AFC West opponents – the Chargers, Chiefs, and Raiders were 12th, 20th, and 32nd. Seattle played much better offenses and held them to fewer points than Denver.
They just didn’t have that impressive sack total.
Want more?
The average per-game point total in the NFL last season was 23. Seattle’s defense surrendered 23 or more in three regular-season games. Guess how many times Denver gave up that many?
Seven times. That’s more than 40 percent of their games. That includes 26 to Washington. OK, that game went into overtime. But it also includes 32 for the New York Giants. That is not a good look for a team that wants its defense to be considered among the best.
Finally, I’ll just toss this into the conversation. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades every play by every player in the NFL season. They are far from perfect. I certainly have differences of opinion. But let me repeat – they watch and grade every player on every play. I’m guessing that's a lot more than you or I do.
Amongst the defensive starters – and as a nod to modern defenses, I am using a 3-4-5 base and counting 12 starters – Seattle’s players score higher than Denver’s at eight out of twelve positions.
That includes third corner, where Seattle will be using a rookie this year. So I gave that one to Riley Moss and Denver, even though I feel pretty good about Seattle’s third corner out-grading Moss this year.
OK, maybe you still want to say Denver is better. It’s hard to look past that sack total. I get it. But it is very hard to make any kind of statistical case beyond sack totals to suggest Denver’s defense is somehow better than Seattle’s. Houston – OK. The Rams, with new corners and Myles Garrett? Probably. But that’s the list. Seattle is no lower than third.
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