It wasn’t a total home run of a week for the Streamable Defenses of the Week in Week 15 but it wasn’t an awful one. Our top suggestion, however, was awful. The Los Angeles Chargers laid down against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday Night Football. The pain of that one was eased a bit by the 17 fantasy points put up by the Chicago Bears against the Cleveland Browns. The fantasy football playoffs are here and we’re in the semifinals week. Let’s hit more homeruns this week for Week 16!
I’m one to never invest a high draft stock into team defenses. I play the waiver wire every single week to find my D/ST for the upcoming week. Due to this, I find myself never drafting a defense and waiting for just before the start of Week 1 to grab my first defense of the season. This is where this series comes into play. Every week I will be suggesting my favorite three team defenses that are regularly available on waiver wires across most formats. I will also keep a running total of how my selections measure up across the season below.
The premise of this article is to bring forth three streamable defenses that fantasy football players should look to use for that respective week. To qualify for this series, defenses must be owned in less than 40-percent of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues. At least one of the suggested defenses will be owned in less than 10-percent of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues to cater to as many fantasy players as possible. You can find last week’s results below and previous week’s results at the bottom of this article.
The Los Angeles Chargers were our top suggestion for Week 15 and boy did they not show up. They allowed 51 points to the Aiden O’Connell led Raiders while recording just one sack enroute to negative-three fantasy points. The Cincinnati Bengals played host to the Minnesota Vikings as their defense posted seven fantasy points. They allowed 24 points while recording three sacks and two interceptions. The Chicago Bears’ defense was our top performer of the week as they scored 17 fantasy points while allowing 20 points. They recorded four sacks, three interceptions and a touchdown.
Week 14 Results
Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders - -3 Points
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Minnesota Vikings - 7 Points
Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns - 17 Points
Overall Results
Top Suggestion - 113 Points (D/ST13)
Middle Suggestion - 121 Points (D/ST8)
Under 10% Owned - 152 Points (D/ST2)
Week 16 Suggestions
Houston Texans vs. Cleveland Browns - Owned in 37% of Yahoo and 36% of ESPN Leagues
The Houston Texans are in the middle of a fight for a playoff spot. It’s a good spot to be in as they get the Cleveland Browns this week who have allowed the sixth most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season. Across their last two weeks, the Browns have scored 12 points against the Broncos and 19 against the Rams. Additionally, the Texans had a season high seven sacks last week against the Titans. They have recorded a combined 14 sacks over their last three weeks. They also have recorded five takeaways over those same three games.
Washington Commanders at New York Jets - Owned in 15% of Yahoo and 15.1% of ESPN Leagues
I don’t love this play but the matchup is too good to ignore. Simply put, the New York Jets have allowed the most fantasy points to opposing defenses on the season. The Jets didn’t score a single point last week. They had a random 30 point performance against the Texans two weeks ago but prior to that had a stretch of six games where the most points they scored was 13. Again, this isn’t a great Commanders’ defense but they did have a decent performance last week against a good offense in the Los Angeles Rams. I’m hanging my hat on the Jets being the Jets this week.
Arizona Cardinals at Chicago Bears - Owned in 1% of Yahoo and 0.9% of ESPN Leagues
This one is much like the previously mentioned Commanders-Jets matchup. The Cardinals’ defense is not great but the Bears’ offense is also not great. The Cardinals had a rough go of things last week against the San Francisco 49ers but let’s be fair, everyone has a tough go against them. They had a good showing in Week 13 against the Steelers and again in Week 11 against the Texans. The Bears have also allowed the sixth most sacks on the season. The Bears’ are a streaky team. They have the ability to put points up, but they haven’t been able to do it in consecutive weeks. They hung 26 points last week against the Lions so if the trend continues, they’ll lay down this week, or at least we can hope.
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