iDL Analysis

This position group refers to all players along the line in a 3-4 defensive front and to both of the interior positions in a 4-3 front. While there is considerable variation and movement at the time of the draft, any inconsistencies were resolved by consulting contract status and team rosters.

Interior defensive linemen are selected at every level of the draft, with 3-5 being drafted on average in each round every year. However, not all interior defenders are created equal. The median interior defender records fewer DVDs than the median edge rusher at each point in the draft, but those statistics do not tell the entire story. The top third of the first round stack sacks and TFLs at a high rate. Three-quarters (76%) of all Pro Bowlers are drafted in the first round. 

Those playmakers then give way to more conventional players quickly, as indicated by the fact that the median DVD rate is 52.5, but the mean is 58, pulled up by those top performers. Additionally, the average second-round iDL is not even a regular starter (mean or median), with the average number of starts in Round 1 (57) plummeting by Round 2 (32) and then leveling off in Round 3 (25).

Interior defensive linemen who are drafted to play steadily, though. Roughly 3/5 of the players selected in the first four rounds (59%) do appear in at least 60 games in their first five years. Defensive lines need steady rotations of snap eaters.