For me personally Id rather have a top 5 offense, you can always try to out slug the opponent but if your offense cant score points you cant win. The league is geared towards offense too, give me points!
I much prefer watching a good offense than a good defense. But there's a limit. I find a 52-45 game as boring as a 12-6 game. In the case of the first, it's pretty much a question of who has the ball last is the team that will win. In the latter, it's simply a matter of who scores....at all.
Overall, I suspect a team could have a top 5 Offense and a top 15 Defense and probably have a good chance of at least making the playoffs. Same is probably true of a top 5 O and top 15 D.
I don't believe a top 5 D with a bottom tier O is likely to do much of anything. And likely the same is true in reverse.
But as much as I like watching a good O, if I was a Coach/GM, I'd opt to build the D first. Why......
Because an offense has one job...score points. By contrast, while a Defense's
primary job is to prevent the opposition from scoring points, it can score points as well. It can supplement whatever the O is able to provide.
So, as much as it goes against my personal preferences for enjoyment, I'd always opt for the top 5 D with a top 15 O as the preferred formula for building a winning program if I were a Coach/GM.
