2024 NFL free agency: Best defensive ends, tackles, edge rushers - ESPN

We end our look at the various tiers of the upcoming NFL free agent market with defensive linemen.

Since prominent quarterbacks don't typically hit the open market, the defensive line often produces the most significant deals. If you look at the contracts for the top 20 players at each respective position, edge rusher is the second-most-lucrative spot, while defensive tackle is fourth. If you can't be a quarterback, you can still make a good living by taking one down.

Linebacker has a higher franchise tag value than defensive line, but that's because some edge rushers are considered to be linebackers by virtue of how they're defined within a particular team's scheme. In a league where the nickel sub-package with four down linemen has become a base defense, that's an antiquated distinction.

Subscribe: «The Bill Barnwell Show»

Here, I'll be including edge rushers — outside linebackers and ends who primarily rush the passer from outside the tackle spot — and interior linemen — tackles and ends who primarily rush the passer from inside the tackles. I'll start on the edge, where the top two players got franchise-tagged on Tuesday:

Jump to a position:
Edge rushers | Defensive tackles

More position tiers:
QB, TE, OL | RB, LB | WR, DB

Free agents: None

Josh Allen (Jaguars) and Brian Burns (Panthers) would have landed here if they hadn't been tagged. As it stands, there could be a trade market for their services, with Burns as the more likely player to be dealt given the impasse between the Panthers and their star edge rusher over the past two offseasons.

I'm not sure the Panthers can count on landing the same sort of haul they would have received when they reportedly turned down an offer of two first-round picks and more from