For this analysis, I combed through the data from 1970 to present and calculated the average annual number of Pro Bowlers, first-team AP All-Pros, and Hall of Famers by franchise and by positional group to help determine which teams were the best at each position. The data was used to help guide some of my choices here (chart at the end). This ranking spans 50+ years, so although there might be some all-time great units over a smaller window, that will get diluted if a team wasn't consistently good for long periods of time.

This is a piece of a much longer post I made for a site I wrote for in 2022, but I'm breaking it up by positional group to make it more consumable and focus on one position at a time.

Notes:

Sack totals before 1982 are the unofficial sack numbers recently added to Pro Football Reference
All references to All-Pro are first-team Associated Press All-Pro only
HOF seasons for each team are tabulated only from the season the player played for each team (example: Washington gets 5 Champ Bailey seasons, Denver gets 10)
All data on charts and information considered was through the 2021 season, as I wrote the original piece in mid-2022

Ravens

While the per-year honors for the Ravens stand out, their top tier ranking comes with the caveat that it’s primarily the result of having arguably the greatest linebacker in history for 17 of their short tenure of 26 years in the league. Ray Lewis, the Ravens only current HOF linebacker is tied for the most first-team All-Pro selections for a linebacker since the merger (Junior Seau is the other LB with 12 All-Pros). He is a two-time AP Defensive Player of the year, a Super Bowl MVP and his 2,059 career combined tackles is the most in the NFL dating back to 1994, the earliest date for this statistic per Pro Football Reference. In his 2000 season, on their way to winning the Super Bowl, the Ravens set the record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season (165), and fewest rushing yards against (970) while opponents averaged only 2.7 yards per carry. Terrell Suggs, a hybrid DE/OLB who has a chance of joining Lewis in the HOF someday, started his 16-year career by winning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2003, and eight years later winning AP Defensive Player of the Year. Suggs’ and Lewis’ careers would overlap for ten years (2003-2012) and during that time the Ravens would be a top five defense in yards allowed six times and top ten, nine times. Their final season together in 2012, would culminate with a Super Bowl win. The Raven’s linebacking corps was also peppered with other quality linebackers like Adalius Thomas (1 AP-All-Pro), DE/LB hybrid Elvis Dumervil (1 AP All-Pro), C.J. Mosley, and Peter Boulware, but it is Ray Lewis, arguably the best Linebacker ever, who is synonymous with the Ravens rich legacy at the linebacker position.

Steelers

When you hear the words “Steelers” and “Linebacker,” the most likely image in your mind is #58, Jack Lambert and his toothless scowl. Lambert’s greatness was quickly apparent in his rookie year when he started all 14 games and won the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Two years later he would be a first-team All-Pro, recover a league-leading eight fumbles and win Defensive Player of the Year. A few seasons before Jack Lambert was drafted by the Steelers, Jack Ham began his career. By Ham’s third year, he would make his first of eight Pro Bowls and by his fourth season he was an AP All-Pro, his first of six. It was when the Jacks were together on the field where the Steelers reached their defensive heights. Lambert and Ham played together from 1974 to 1982 and during those nine years the Steelers won four Super Bowls. They had the number one scoring defense twice and a top five scoring defense six times. Ham and Lambert would each end up with six career first-team All-Pros, the fourth most for a linebacker since the merger. The Steelers dominance doesn’t end with 4-time Super Bowl Champions from the ‘70s. The legacy just started in the ‘70s and continued into the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s with perennial Pro Bowlers Greg Lloyd and two-time Super Bowl champion James Harrison. Now, T.J. Watt takes the mantle. Watt is on a trajectory which may end up with him being the best of the group. Going into his sixth season he has already won a Defensive Player of the Year, made four Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pros. Watt has led the NFL in sacks and tackles for loss in each of the last two seasons, and has tied Michael Strahan for the official single-season sack record of 22.5 (0.5 sacks behind Al “Bubba” Baker’s unofficial record of 23.0). In 12% of the Steelers seasons since the merger, they have been the number one scoring defense and top five 38% of the time. The storied linebacker group has been a large part of the Steelers defensive success and winning tradition.