At this point in the season, most fantasy teams have seen at least one matchup decided by five points or less. The margins are tiny and the regular season is shorter than it feels. If you have a good roster and are worried that a few unlucky breaks may cost you making the playoffs, you’re in the right place. Let’s look at which D/STs could…...

In Week 6 the elite matchups belonged to the elite defenses, and streaming was a difficult proposition. In Week 7 the best matchups are spread out across a wide range of D/STs, most of which are available in the majority of fantasy leagues. Buoying this strategy further, Week 6 was terrible for QB injuries. Justin Fields, Ryan Tannehill, Deshaun Watson, Anthony Richardson, Trevor Lawrence, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Baker Mayfield are…...

The best D/ST matchups of Week 6 belong to the elite defenses, with games like the Bills-Giants, 49ers-Browns, Saints-Texans, and Dolphins-Panthers. That makes things tricky for D/ST streamers this week, and may mean taking a swing on some big upside plays. The three players with the most turnovers in the NFL since 2022 may surprise some people: Josh Allen, Kirk Cousins, and Trevor Lawrence. It’s not just the Zach…...

Matchups matter, and roster space is precious. To all the fantasy footballers who drafted the Jets D/ST in round 12 of their home leagues ahead of Sam LaPorta, Romeo Doubs, Nico Collins, or Marvin Mims, only to drop them in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs: we feel your pain. As injuries pile up, finding room on your roster to hold those elite D/STs through…...

The Dallas Cowboys, D/ST1 over the first two weeks, finally met its match facing Josh Dobbs and the Arizona Cardinals. The Denver Broncos, one of the best defenses of 2022, had a 70-point nuclear bomb dropped on them courtesy of the Miami Dolphins. The Jets’ elite real-world defense has another hum drum fantasy day against a mediocre Patriots offense. There’s just no counting on anyone…...

The elite defenses have been elite for fantasy over the first two weeks. Only Tyreek Hill has outscored the Dallas D/ST in PPR leagues. Last week, no running back outscored the Pittsburgh D/ST. For this series, I focus on D/STs available in at least 30% of leagues, but in every league elite defenses make it onto the waiver wire from time to time. Two of the…...

The Week 1 avalanche of information is here. Some things we learned this week: Every Giants player can be safely dropped. Cooper Kupp has lost his starting job to Puka Nacua. Josh Allen is a lost cause and Jordan Love should go ahead and send his jacket size to the boys in Canton. Okay, maybe not. Pulling signal from the noise is a difficult task after just…...

It’s never too early to start streaming. Last year in this series I attempted to show why streaming defenses in fantasy football is the superior strategy. First, it requires almost no draft capital to take a D/ST outside the top 12 by ADP with a good Week 1 matchup. Second, it’s the highest-scoring method. As I pointed out last year, starting the Cowboys (D/ST1 overall…...

It’s been a long road, but if you’re still reading this series then you’re among the happy few of us competing for a fantasy championship this week. Whether you’re looking for a starting D/ST for multiple FFPC Main Events, some high-stakes teams, or a single home league with friends and family, victory will taste just as sweet. If you haven’t planned ahead for your Week…...

Week 16, the fantasy semi-finals for a lucky few of us, is hardly the time to start planning your starting roster. If you’ve read this series at all, hopefully you’re locked and loaded with D/STs for the next two weeks, but maybe you’re in a shallow league and couldn’t spare the roster space. Maybe you have a battered dynasty roster and refuse to drop Justyn…...

If you’re streaming defenses in Week 15, in most formats that means you’ve made it to your fantasy playoffs. Congratulations! Unfortunately that also probably means you’ve failed to secure a bye. I’m sorry. Regardless, we’re well into must-win territory in Week 15. Hopefully you’ve followed previous installments of this series and rostered at least one good D/ST option for the fantasy playoffs. Before we jump in to the best…...

As the Cleveland Browns D/ST (then 32nd-ranked) demonstrated in Week 13 with their three-touchdown outing, finding the right matchups for the final weeks of the fantasy season is more important than ever. As fantasy squads lock in their rosters for the playoffs, the teams who are last to the table streaming D/ST options will be at a significant disadvantage versus the teams who grabbed the…...

The quarterback landscape is pure chaos in Week 13. With Week 12 signal-caller turnover for the Jets, Bears, Panthers, Rams, and Texans (and question marks for several others), 10 NFL teams are now starting quarterbacks different than the ones they started in Week 1. Some of these situations are very exploitable, but with this much uncertainty there is always risk. With the fantasy playoffs just…...

If you took my advice last week and rostered the Ravens D/ST, you may not have to spend another dime of free agent money on the defensive side of the ball this year. They held the Panthers to just three points and don’t have a bad fantasy matchup on the books. For most of us though, streaming defenses will continue all the way through the final…...

The fantasy playoffs are approaching fast, and trade deadlines even faster. This is the time of year for tough decisions when we have to decide how aggressive to be in shoring up our rosters’ weak spots through trades and the waiver wire. Part of planning for the playoff push is being the first to roster the D/STs you want to start in weeks 15-17 (or…...