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We hear the adage "defense wins championships" every year. It's used to remind people that touchdowns look great, but the 11 guys trying to ruin offensive highlights can tilt a game's balance when they're in lockstep.

How do we measure defenses?

It's important that a defensive play-caller makes the right decisions. Effective situational football matters. In addition, we're looking at whether a front line is susceptible to endless four- to five-yard runs up the middle and if the secondary can kill a drive with an interception.

Points allowed also holds tremendous weight. If a team surrenders scores in bunches, forget about a comeback.

Further down the list, it's fair to discuss yards given up and how coaching affects talent development. Great defensive minds can flip average personnel into a top-10 unit with a few tweaks.

With that in mind, we ranked each defense following the 2018 NFL draft.