One school of thought when selecting a fantasy defense is to follow the sacks. There's some consistency with the best pass rushes: the best defenses in terms of sacks one year often rank among the sack leaders the following season, as well.
The NFL average for team sacks in a season is about 36, and it's remained fairly consistent over the years. When a team gets up to 40-plus sacks, it's doing something right. There have been a total of 96 seasons with 40-plus sacks over the last 10 years, and the Giants and Dolphins each have seven of them. Not many surprises in the other top pass rushes over that span: the Steelers, Patriots and Cowboys have all put up 40 or more sacks five times.
40-sacks seasons, 2003-2012
7 New York Giants
7 Miami
5 Pittsburgh
5 New England
5 Dallas
4 Tennessee
4 St. Louis
4 Seattle
4 San Diego
4 Minnesota
4 Green Bay
4 Chicago
4 Baltimore
3 Washington
3 Seattle
3 Carolina
2 New York Jets
2 Indianapolis
2 Houston
2 Detroit
2 Denver
2 Cincinnati
2 Buffalo
2 Arizona
1 Tampa Bay
1 Kansas City
1 Jacksonville
1 Cleveland
1 Atlanta
0 Oakland
0 San Francisco
0 New Orleans
--Andy Richardson