Who are the Best Free Safeties in the NFL Currently?

The 2024 NFL season is just around the corners as the calendar rolls into mid-July and NFL training camps set to get started. One position of players that continues to see their roles expand and the requirements to grow to be an elite player in the NFL is at the free safety position. With the evolution of the offensive side of the football around the NFL from one NFL schedule to the next, the need for playmakers in the secondary including at the free safety position is key to allow any great defense to succeed. One of those free safeties who continues to be a playmaker is Antoine Winfield Jr. who lands atop the Top 10 Best NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings list.

It is difficult to look past Winfield Jr. as not only the best free safety in the NFL but possibly the best overall safety within the league. Winfield Jr. who is the son of former longtime NFL player Antoine Winfield Sr. has blossomed into a game changer at the position since being drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. This includes his best overall season since arriving, a season that included career highs in games played (17), tackles (122), sacks (6), passes defended (12), and interceptions (3). The strong play landed the Buccaneers young star his first First-Team All-Pro selection at the safety position.

Joining Winfield Jr. on the list of the best free safeties in the NFL includes Jessie Bates III of the Atlanta Falcons, Marcus Williams of the Baltimore Ravens, Tyrann Mathieu of the New Orleans Saints, Xavier McKinney of the Green Bay Packers, and Jevon Holland of the Miami Dolphins.

Here is a look at the Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings:

Honorable Mention

Alohi Gilman

Team: Los Angeles Chargers

Just missing the Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings list is the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Alohi Gilman. Gilman who has appeared in at least 14 games in three of his first four seasons put together his best overall season helping to land a new two-year deal with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Over 14 games last season, Gilman posted career highs in both interceptions (2) and passes defended while finishing fourth among all safeties in pass coverage with an 89.2 PFF grade. To go along with those numbers the four-year safety added 73 tackles, three forced fumbles, and 3.5 stuffs.

Gilman will enter season five looking to build on his strongest overall season in the NFL while looking to stay healthy on a Chargers team moving in a new direction with Jim Harbaugh as head coach.

Geno Stone

Team: Cincinnati Bengals

Another free safety that gets overlooked is the former Baltimore Ravens and newly acquired Cincinnati Bengals free safety Geno Stone. Stone has been one of the more reliable safeties in the league since arriving during the 2021 NFL Season appearing in 49 games over that stretch during the regular season.

Landing his first true shot at full time play last season, Stone delivered his best overall performance while finishing leading all safeties with seven interceptions.

The production did not stop they’re as the former Iowa Hawkeyes star added a career high 68 tackles to go along with nine passes defensed while emerging as one of the top NFL free agents entering the off-season.

The strong performance landed Stone a new contract with the Bengals while delivering himself a chance to continue his development into one of the top ranked safeties in the NFL.

Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings

10. Budda Baker

Team: Arizona Cardinals

Sliding in at number 10 on the Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings list is the Arizona Cardinals Budda Baker. Baker is looking to return to the level of free safety that landed him two First-Team All-Pro selections and one Second-Team All-Pro Selections after dealing with a hamstring injury that limited him to just 12 games last season.

Since arriving in the NFL during the 2017 NFL season, Baker has led the NFL in solo tackles, made six NFL Pro Bowl teams, and racked up 737 career tackles. Despite playing in just 12 games last season, Baker still managed to post 87 tackles while dealing with hamstring issues. 

9. Malik Hooker

Team: Dallas Cowboys

A sleeper among the free safety position, Malik Hooker of the Dallas Cowboys is a player who often goes under the radar at the position despite his overall strong play against both the pass and run.

Hooker, who is entering his fourth season with the Cowboys during the upcoming 2024 NFL schedule, has been a game changer with the team after struggling to see the field and stay healthy with the Indianapolis Colts over the first four years of his career.

The Cowboys free safety enters season number eight looking to continue improving and playing at a high level. Last season, Hooker finished the season with three passes defended, one forced fumble, one interception, and one fumble recovery while helping the Cowboys make a run to the NFL playoffs.

8. Kevin Byard

Team: Chicago Bears

Since entering the NFL during the 2016 NFL Draft, Kevin Byard of the Chicago Bears has built an NFL resume that ranks with the best safeties within the league.

Byard, who spent the 2023 NFL season with the Tennessee Titans/Philadelphia Eagles, joins the Bears in hopes of regaining the form of the 2017 and 2021 NFL seasons performances. In each of those two seasons Byard was selected as a First-Team All-Pro while also making his only two NFL Pro Bowl teams.

The newly acquired Byard enters 2024 coming off a career high 122 tackles to go along with one fumble recovery, three passes defended, and one interception over six games with the Tennessee Titans and 10 games with the Philadelphia Eagles. 

7. Jabrill Peppers

Team: New England Patriots

As versatile as any free safety or strong safety in the NFL, Jabrill Peppers of the New England Patriots can do a little bit of everything, providing stellar play against the run as well as strong play against the pass in coverage.

Since arriving with the Patriots before the start of the 2022 NFL Season, Peppers has reemerged as a playmaking safety that once made him a first-round draft pick during the 2017 NFL Draft.

The former Michigan Wolverines safety is coming off a season in which he posted 78 tackles to go with one sack, one forced fumble, on fumble recovery, eight passes defended, and two interceptions. 

6. Jevon Holland

Team: Miami Dolphins

One player making a strong case for the best free safety in the NFL is the Miami Dolphins Jevon Holland. Despite appearing in only 12 games last season, Holland still managed to turn in a strong season for the Dolphins, a performance that included posting a career high three forced fumbles to go along with 74 tackles, one interception, and four passes defended

Over the 12 games however his overall play was much higher than his overall stats while helping him land a 90.4 overall grade from PFF before missing time with injuries. The former Oregon Ducks safety enters his fourth season looking to take another big step forward in route to landing among the best safeties in the NFL

5. Xavier McKinney

Team: Green Bay Packers

Rounding out the top five on the Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings list is the Green Bay Packers off-season acquisition Xavier McKinney. McKinney, who signed a four-year deal with the Packers during the off-season is coming off his best season of his young NFL career posting a strong 91.2 pass coverage grade while leading all safeties against the pass while in coverage.

Only downside that has limited the talented playmaker has been two seasons with nine or fewer games which is a concern heading into the upcoming season. Nonetheless, McKinney is coming off a full 17 games played last season.

Over those games the former Alabama Crimson Tide safety posted a career high 11 passes defended to go along with three interceptions, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and a career high 116 tackles.

4. Tyrann Mathieu

Team: New Orleans Saints

The 11-year NFL veteran enters season 12 looking to build on a strong NFL resume that featured 33 career interceptions, 638 career tackles, 11 sacks, and 93 passes defended.

As Tyrann Mathieu gets set for another NFL season, the longtime NFL safety continues to play the game at a high level while finding himself all over the field which has earned him the nickname of the Honey Badger while playing with the LSU Tigers during college.

Despite being one of the older free safeties landing on the list of the best in the NFL, Mathieu continues to play at a high level while showing his high football IQ on each play he sees the football field.

The New Orleans Saints free safety is coming off another strong season posting 75 tackles to go along with four interceptions, nine passes defended, and one interception returned for a touchdown.

3. Marcus Williams

Team: Baltimore Ravens

Another talented free safety that is at the top of the group is the Baltimore Ravens Marcus Williams. Williams, who is coming off a second injury riddled season with the Ravens, is looking to return to the form he showed over his first 10 games of the 2022 NFL season as well as over the course of the 2023 NFL season.

Williams enters the upcoming season with three seasons with at least four interceptions, while also posting at least eight passes defended in four of his first seven seasons within the league.

Despite the overall drop off including posting just one interception, Williams is still arguably one of the top overall safeties while on the field as well as one of the best pass coverage defensive backs in the league who has a knack for finding the football in the air.

2. Jessie Bates III

Team: Atlanta Falcons

The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon enters the 2204 NFL season looking to build on the strong performance he posted during his first season with the Atlanta Falcons.

After spending his first five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, Jessie Bates III landed with the Falcons before the start of last season.

The move paid off for both the Falcons as well as Bates III who posted a career high 132 tackles to go along with a career high six interceptions. The strong play all season landed the Falcons safety an overall rating of 90.6 from PFF trailing only Antoine Winfield Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

To go along with those numbers Bates III also finished second in total interceptions among the safety positions while also posting his second season with at least double digit passes defended (11) helping him land his second Second-Team All-Pro selection. 

1. Antoine Winfield Jr.

Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In at number one on the Top 10 NFL Free Safeties 2024 Rankings list is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Antoine Winfield Jr. As you look at the Buccaneers talented safety, it is hard to find a hole in his game both against the run as well as against the pass.

After playing his first full 17 game NFL schedule last season, Winfield Jr. landed his first selection as a First-Team All-Pro while leading all safeties in the NFL with a 90.7 overall grade from PFF.

The former Minnesota Gophers defensive back capped off a 2023 NFL season tying for the NFL lead with six forced fumbles while also adding three interceptions, six sacks, 12 passes defended, and 122 total tackles.

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