Top 12 Defensive Lineman
August 24th, 2002

2. Courtney Brown DE Cle
With a full offseason to recover from the nagging injuries that dragged him down, a healthy Brown will be a force to reckon with. The Browns have also added Kenard Lang. These two DL will play off each other and should result in a great season for both, especially Brown.

3. Mike Rucker DE Car
With Julius Peppers being added during the draft, Rucker will be the prime beneficiary of the attention the rookie will attract. The team is still bad on offense, so Rucker is primed to have another solid year.

4. Michael Strahan DE NYG
Strahan may have set the league sack record last year, but he'll come down to earth this year.10 sacks should be about right, but since I think the Giants will be bad on offense (even with Jeremy Shockey), he'll make most of his gravy for you in tackles.

5. La'Roi Glover DT Dal
Glover has been a playmaker for the Saints for years, and now he joins one of the up and coming defenses in the league. He should be able to hit at least 11 sacks. This should also help the INT total of Dallas' DBs.

6. Tony Brackens DE Jax
I originally had Brackens rated at number two, but his injury looks to be more serious than first thought. If he can recover and start the season at 100% he'll be a great DL for you. Unfortunately, that's looking more and more doubtful. Draft him as a risky proposition with great upside.

7. Hugh Douglas DE Phi
Douglas has been a steady sack and tackle producer for years. I see no reason for that not to continue.

8. Grant Wistrom DE STL
With almost all of the components of a great team returning, I see no reason to think that Wistrom won't produce as well this year as he did last season.

9. John Parella DT Oak
With the signing of Sam Adams, Oakland has some beef to their interior line. Parella has been a great DL for the Chargers, and he'll continue to be a terror for the Raiders as well.

10. John Abraham DE NYJ
I had Abraham as my #1 DL going into the season. He is a young player who I felt was going to build on his breakout year last season. But his recovery from his injury has been slow. If that continues, he'll drop even further.

11. Cornelius Griffin DT NYG
I like Griffin for the same reasons I like Strahan - I think they'll be on the field a lot. He won't get you many sacks, but he should have very nice tackle totals.

12. Shaun Rogers DT DET
Rogers has been recently reactivated off the teams' PUP list. He'll have the next few weeks to shake off the rust. I think he'll start the season just fine. And with no improvement on offense anywhere in sight for Detroit, Rogers should have a year very similar to what he had last year.

Tom Nadratowski
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