Welcome back to the We Know Fantasy Streamable Defenses of the Week article presented by Nate. This series is pretty straight forward; it’s exactly what it sounds like. Each Tuesday evening, this series will go live on weknowfantasy.com. 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.
Beyond this initial week, we will keep track of not only the previous week’s results, but also season long results. For now, let’s get to it!
Week 1 Suggestions
Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears - Owned in 6% of Yahoo and 5.9% of ESPN leagues
The Detroit defense quietly got better over this off-season. Yes they traded away star corner Darius Slay to the Philadelphia Eagles, but the moves Matt Patricia and company made beyond that are worth noting. Although the Lions are without Slay, they replaced him with the highest drafted cornerback in NFL history, Jeff Okudah. From there, they signed linebacker Jamie Collins from the Patriots and added Nick Williams and Danny Shelton to beef up their previously poor front seven. On top of that, they signed corner Desmond Trufant. I guess what I’m getting to is that the Lions have a very underrated defense that is filled with talent, and they get to host Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears week one. Trubisky without a training camp scares me, and that’s good news for Lions’ owners.
Tennessee Titans @ Denver Broncos - Owned in 39% of Yahoo and 17% of ESPN leagues Denver Broncos failed to improve their god-awful offensive line from a season ago. On top of that, they’ll open with the Titans, who recently signed Jadeveon Clowney, who alone drastically improves their pass rush from a season ago. On top of that, Drew Lock has just four starts to his NFL career. Expect some sacks, rushed passes and in result, some turnovers for the improved Tennessee Defense.
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts - Owned in 1% of Yahoo and 0.6% of ESPN leagues
Now, it’s obvious that pinpointing streamable defenses in Week 1 isn’t the easiest of tasks. I know the Jaguars have recently traded away or cut ties with a large chunk of their defensive talent. However, they get to open at home with a chip on their shoulder as most predict them to be the worst team of the 2020 season. Philip Rivers is fresh off another 20-interception season. On top of that, rookie runningback Jonathan Taylor is known to put the ball on the ground. I’m not saying the Jaguars limit the Colts to a few points, but the upside is there to record a few takeaways.