Defensive tackle: Danny Shelton, Cleveland Browns
In today’s NFL, it’s hard to find pure defensive tackles that are dominant at such a young age. We waffled between Shelton and Malcolm Brown of the New England Patriots. Another player we thought about using is DeForest Buckner of the San Francisco 49ers, but he’ll play a lot on the edge as a movable piece in Robert Saleh’s defense.
In the end, this scribe decided to go with Shelton, who showed big improvements last year from a pretty miserable rookie season. He improved in every aspect of the game, showing off the strength, quickness and agility that made him a first-round pick in 2015.
Shelton finished with 59 total tackles (very impressive for a 3-4 defensive tackle) and 1.5 sacks. He was stout against the run and was solid pushing the pocket in the passing game.
And he has reason to smile about the addition of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, whose 4-3 scheme should allow Shelton more opportunities to make impact plays.