I know many believe defenses should not be part of fantasy football. Many say it’s not a skill to find the right play. But here at the Streamable Defenses of the Week, we take pride in finding the best defensive play of the week out of options owned in less than 40-percent of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues. This week, we did just that. We went out and suggested the DST2 of the week in the Chicago Bears who finished with 19 points; three points behind the Bills’ defense that had 22 (owned in 80% of Yahoo and 93.9% of ESPN leagues.) It would be nice to own the Bills’ defense, but more likely than not, someone invested some decent draft capital in them. Our goal here is to play, accumulatively, a top five DST for the season without any draft capital. We still have some work to do with our middle and under 10-percent owned suggestions but currently, our top suggestion is the DST1. Let’s go onto Week 3.
If you’re anything like me, you don’t draft a defense, or wait until your very last pick. I always find it more important to use earlier selections on position players as you can find great value on the waiver wire each week for defenses. I will also keep a running total of my top, second and below 10-percent results and provide a ranking of where my results rank according to other defenses throughout the season.
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 every fantasy player. You can find last week’s results below and previous week’s results at the bottom of this article.
Week 2 Results
Chicago Bears vs. Cincinnati Bengals - 19 points
New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers - 6 points
Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings - 1 point
Overall Results
Top Suggestion - 28 points (DST1)
Middle Suggestion - 11 points (DST18)
Under 10% Owned - -2 points (DST32)
Week 3 Suggestions
Carolina Panthers at Houston Texans - Owned in 22% of Yahoo and 16.5% of ESPN leagues
To everyone’s surprise, the anticipated worst team in the NFL, the Houston Texans, have actually allowed the least amount of fantasy points to opposing defenses thus far this season. However, third round selection, Davis Mills, will start for the Texans on Thursday Night Football. If you’ve been a follower of this website, podcast, social media, etc. brand, you know I (Nate) don’t like to play players on Thursday nights as those games are often underwhelming as teams play on a short week. However, with that being the case, I do like to play defenses, because if the positional and traditional fantasy player’s values are down, that means the defensive value will be up. On top of this, the Panthers’ defense has only allowed 21 points through its first two games and have a combined 10 sacks and three interceptions. Look for the Panthers to get to Mills early and often, recording sacks and forcing turnovers.
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Miami Dolphins - Owned in 3% of Yahoo and 1.4% of ESPN leagues
Since there are a ton of 10-percent or less owned defenses I’m considering playing this week, I’m going to take the gamble and use one as my “middle” suggestion. The Dolphins have already allowed the third most fantasy points to opposing defenses and the Dolphins could be without Tua Tagovailoa this week who suffered a rib injury in Week 2. If Tua is to go, he won’t be playing at 100-percent either. This would have Jacoby Brissett as the team’s signal caller, which has my salivating over this Raiders’ defense play. This Raiders’ defense isn’t anything to write home about, but it did hold Big Ben and that high flying Steelers’ offense to just 17 in Week 2. With a Tua-less Dolphins coming to town, I can see a similar result this week.
Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts - Owned in 3% of Yahoo and 3.5% of ESPN leagues
Week 2 was the week of quarterback injuries. After already talking about Tua, Colts’ starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, suffered two sprained ankles in a loss to the Rams. This would allow Jacob Eason to make his first NFL start. Last week in relief of Wentz, he threw the ball five times, completing two of them and throwing an interception. This Titans’ defense is actually somewhat decent. They have five sacks over their first two games. If they can get to Eason, he’s destined to turn the ball over a time or two. Roll with the Titans if the Panthers or Raiders are off the board, or if you’re looking for a cheap DFS play. Here it is.
Week 1 Results
Carolina Panthers vs. New York Jets - 9 points
Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati Bengals - 5 points
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans - -3 points