For eight straight years, Footballguys.com has promoted the defensive team by committee (DTBC) strategy to help fantasy players dominate their leagues. Fantasy defenses are inconsistent from year to year, so predicting which defenses and special teams (D/STs) will do well is difficult. Even still, of course, the teams available at the ends of your drafts usually provide fewer rewards. So how do you get great production while saving your most important draft picks?

We spend countless hours analyzing team offenses, and relatively few thinking about team defenses. But an average defense against a bad offense will do just as well as a great defense against an average offense. The key to the DTBC system is to find two teams available late in your draft whose combined schedule features predominantly weak offenses. Since you start your defense based on matchups, and your D/ST will usually oppose a weak offense, your D/ST position will score lots of fantasy points. At least, that's the plan.

In 2006, the recommended DTBC pairing ranked 3rd in fantasy points per game, while in 2007 the DTBC was off the charts good, outscoring even the top individual D/ST on a FP/G basis. Two seasons ago the DTBC was not very good, as both the Bills and Saints struggled, but last year was a bounce-back year once again for the committee approach with a solid Arizona Cardinals combined with an outstanding Green Bay Packer defense. Hopefully, you'll follow our advice again and you can ride your DTBC to your fantasy playoffs.

When picking a D/ST committee, you should look for four factors:

A very easy combined schedule

Two teams with late average draft positions (ADPs)

Big play ability - think pass rushers and defensive backs with good hands

Reason to expect improvement in 2010

The first step in creating the DTBC system is to grade the offenses. I've used the Footballguys.com projections to rank the offenses, scoring them the following way: (0.3 x Points scored) + (0.03 x Total Yards) - (2 x Turnovers). Each team's projection is shown in the first column in the table, along with their projected rank, and how they ranked under the scoring system in 2009. While most leagues award significant points for sacks, I don't factor into the team offensive projections sacks allowed data, as those numbers are particularly difficult to predict. But don't worry: we'll absolutely keep pass rushers in mind when we select the DTBC.

Not surprisingly, the Minnesota Viking were a question mark until Brett Favre un-retired for the 10th time, and the loss of Brandon Marshall in Denver knocks the Broncos down a few spots. On the other side, Dallas gets a boost thanks to Dez Bryant and Chicago's addition of Mike Martz as the offensive coordinator increases the value of Jay Cutler and all of his targets.

After grading the offenses, I went through the NFL schedule and assigned the corresponding projection for each opponent that every team played. For example, when the Jets host the Ravens in Week 1, New York's D/ST receives 231 points. However, for road games, an additional five points are added, so when the Browns travel to Baltimore in Week 3, Cleveland's D/ST gets 236 points. Obviously, you want your committee to have the lowest possible number of combined points. Bye weeks are valued at 400 points to avoid combining D/STs that share the same bye week. After doing this for every game in every week, we can now rank each team's schedule and pair up the defenses to form the best possible committee. One note: I'm ranking the committees through sixteen weeks, as most fantasy leagues don't play in Week 17.

2010 Defensive Team By Committee

San Diego Chargers (ADP: D/ST 11)

DE Luis Castillo, DE Jacques Cesaire, DT Ogemdi Nwagbuo

SLB Shawne Merriman, WLB Shaun Phillips, ILB Stephen Cooper, ILB Kevin Burnett

CB Quentin Jammer, Antoine Cason

S: Eric Weddle (FS) (inj), Steve Gregory (FS/SS), Darrell Stuckey (SS)

Let's be honest here - there are no IDP studs on the Chargers right now. ILB Stephen Cooper is a solid contributor, but the front seven are not going to lead the league in too many categories, if any. Only the defensive backs have true playmaking abilities, with Quentin Jammer and Eric Weddle leading the way. With all of that said, it does not matter too much as to who the names are as long as they perform. Last season the Chargers did just fine with 34 sacks and 26 takeaways. The 3-4 base alignment should provide solid foundations on defense as San Diego takes advantage of a meager AFC West and a timid rest of the schedule.

The added value to the Chargers comes on special teams as their kick return specialist (backup RB Darren Sproles) is very fast and elusive. Sproles could certainly add a few returns for touchdowns that would only make the Chargers more valuable from a fantasy perspective this season.

Kansas City Chiefs (ADP: D/ST >#21)

DE: Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey, NT: Ron Edwards

ILB: Demorrio Williams, Corey Mays

OLB: Tamba Hali, Mike Vrabel

CB: Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr

S: Eric Berry (FS), Jon McGraw (SS), Kendrick Lewis (SS)

The Chiefs added an all-around talent with big play upside early in the first round in safety Eric Berry. He is going to be an IDP stud right out of the gate and he will champion this defensive unit even as a first year player. Both of the corners will step up their play this year and challenge passers to beat them underneath. Another rookie, second round pick Javier Arenas, may see playing time in nickel coverage but his bigger contributions will come on special teams. Both Arenas and WR/RB Dexter McCluster will make plays all year and threaten to take kicks to the house every week.

The Combined Schedule

Week 1 - San Diego at Kansas City (190)

Week 2 - Kansas City at Cleveland (171)

Week 3 - Kansas City vs. San Francisco (196)

Week 4 - San Diego vs. Arizona (196)

Week 5 - San Diego at Oakland (172)

Week 6 - San Diego at St. Louis (158)

Week 7 - Kansas City vs. Jacksonville (219)

Week 8 - Kansas City vs. Buffalo (177)

Week 9 - Kansas City at Oakland (172)

Week 10 - Kansas City at Denver (217)

Week 11 - Kansas City vs. Arizona (196)

Week 12 - Kansas City at Seattle (202)

Week 13 - San Diego vs. Oakland (167)

Week 14 - San Diego vs. Kansas City (185)

Week 15 - Kansas City at St. Louis (158)

Week 16 - San Diego at Cincinnati (214)

This committee runs tends to favor the warm climates (or even a few domed stadiums) with only a trip to Cincinnati in December that might have some rough weather. More importantly, you get five games against bottom three offenses and one more against Buffalo (fifth worst). The toughest three games are when the Chiefs host Jacksonville in Week 7, a matchup that brings David Garrard out on the road where he struggled last year. Next toughest is Kansas City on the road at Denver, a team that could be trying out a new quarterback and several new wide receivers by that point in early November. Week 16 against Cincinnati, a team that could be solid or one that could fall apart under Carson Palmer. If the Bengals are solid, the Chiefs do play Tennessee that week, another team that is a good matchup for the defense. While this defensive committee option looks nice, you might want to consider...

Grabbing Just One?

In some leagues, it's just too costly to spend two rosters spots on defenses. In larger leagues, it may not be feasible to grab two defenses that you like. If you're only drafting one defense, it still pays to know the ability level of its opponents. However, this year, it really pays to know. The San Diego Chargers - a team that barely makes the Top 12 in Team Defense ADP - happens to have the easiest schedule in the league. San Diego plays seven (of 15) games against Bottom 10 offenses this year. The full list is presented below: Note that both the bye week (which was considered a 400 point week earlier in the article) and Week 17 have been removed.

Finally, here are all 496 combinations, presented in the table below. If you've still got any questions after all that, please shoot us an e-mail at stuart@footballguys.com or pasquino@footballguys.com.