2017 NFL Mock Draft: Deep in Defensive Players

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Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A&M Aggies defensive lineman Myles Garrett (15) and defensive lineman Reggie Chevis (13) celebrate a defensive stop against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second quarter at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

Kansas City Chiefs

For NFL teams trying to build on defense, this is the year!

Defense wins championships, it doesn’t matter how many rules they NFL tries to change. All-time QB great Peyton Manning won Super Bowl 50 with just one arm and it wasn’t his throwing arm. That’s because the Broncos had a historically great defense in 2015.

This year, the Broncos defense is still great but they are no longer on that historical level. After a couple of free agent losses, they can no longer stop the run. And they might not get in the playoffs this year because of it despite having a QB with a live arm.

So what might the Broncos do about that?

But the Broncos are far from the only team in the NFL that need a defensive star to change things. And fortunately for those teams, there are a lot of future stars in the 2017 NFL Draft. This draft is deepest at CB but there is something at every defensive position.

There are plenty of EDGEs, interior D-lineman and ILBs that have 1st-round and Top-10 grades. I can’t really say the same thing for the quarterback position because overall, they stink. The spread offense is ruining the position in college football.

This RB class is deep too so this is the draft if you want to run the ball and play defense. But Leonard Fournette drops out of the first round in this one because I’m hearing he’ll have chronic ankle problems. So I wanted to see what a draft like that would look like.

Turn the page for a look.

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