Unless most of the teams in your league carry a backup defense, more than half of the league should be available to you every week. Perhaps instead of playing one above average defense every week, regardless of matchup, we should instead target the widely available waiver wire defenses with the best matchups in any particular week? You can always make exceptions if your rent-a-defense gets hot - heck, you might find a team worth starting all year by accident. Even if you don't, good matchups will continue to get greater in number as more QBs get injured or yanked as the season goes on. You can steal some points from bad weather come December. Each week I'll list the startable fantasy defenses on most waiver wires and rank them.
**Note: The Denver Broncos have an outstanding matchup this week and should be played over any rent-a-defense. Carolina and San Francisco are also at home and could have good weeks against occasionally turnover prone QBs. Arizona has a potentially profitable road matchup against the Giants, and the Texans could come through on the road at Oakland. They all had a top 10 ADP among defenses and are assumed to be unavailable.**
Week 1 Results
Detroit (vs New York Giants) - 2 sacks, 2 INT
The meager stat line doesn’t tell the story of bullying dominance by the Lions defensive line and frustration from Eli Manning and company. The Giants will remain a plus matchup for team defenses, and the Lions still appear to have the personnel upfront to wreak havoc.
A Look Ahead: @CAR, GB, @NYJ - Even with Derek Anderson at QB, Riverboat Ron’s offense is not one to target with your Team D play.
Pittsburgh (vs Cleveland) - 3 sacks
This one was beautiful heading into the half with the Steelers up 27-3 and likely to face Brian Hoyer desperately flailing to get his team back in the game. Instead, the Steelers didn’t show up for 25+ minutes of the second half and the Browns ran all over them.
A Look Ahead: @BAL, @CAR, TB - Short week and Joe Flacco, but the Steelers are still outside of the circle of trust.
New York Jets (vs Oakland) - 2 sacks
Give Derek Carr credit for hanging in. We’ll see if he can continue to limit negative plays against the Clowney-less Texans defense at home this week. The Jets were stifling, but they didn’t create turnovers.
A Look Ahead: @GB CHI DET - Aaron Rodgers will fare a wee bit better than Derek Carr did against the Jets
Philadelphia (vs Jacksonville) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
It isn’t often that a team that falls behind 17-0 ends up being one of the best D/ST plays of the week, but that was the Eagles in Week 1. Chad Henne obliged with a fumble that was returned for a score once the Eagles took the lead, and as long as Henne is the QB, we’ll have to consider “who is playing Jacksonville” every week as a candidate.
A Look Ahead: @IND WAS @SF - The Eagles defense wasn’t impressive enough to consider playing them on the road against Andrew Luck
Week 2 Candidates
Tennessee (vs Dallas) - The Titans went into Arrowhead and had a top 5 D/ST week against Alex Smith (albeit Smith without Dwayne Bowe and an underutilized Jamaal Charles). Against Tony Romo suffering more lapses in judgment than usual, the Titans should be at or close to the top of your list this week.
A Look Ahead: @CIN @IND CLE - maybe we’ll come back to Tennessee when Cleveland comes to town Week 5
Minnesota (vs New England) - Mike Zimmer has this defense playing well, although they don’t draw Shaun Hill and Austin Davis this week. The Patriots still surrendered a good D/ST week to the Dolphins (4 sacks, 2 takeaways), and you always have the chance of a Cordarrelle Patterson kick return TD.
A Look Ahead: @NO ATL @GB - The QB quality just gets better after this week
Oakland (vs Houston) - The Black Hole has always been kind to folks who take a chance on a D/ST, and Ryan Fitzpatrick can do us some favors too. The Raiders actually had two sacks and two takeaways against the Jets on the road, although Houston may play it close to the vest.
A Look Ahead: @NE MIA SD - No Thanks.
Washington (vs Jacksonville) - While only one sack and takeaway came from the road matchup against the Texans, Washington returns home this week and draws Chad Henne, who was still generous to the Eagles defense despite helping his team build a 17-0 lead early.
A Look Ahead: @PHI NYG SEA - If Giants are as bad this week as they were in Week 1, we might target them in Week 4.
Week 3 Pre-emptive Pickups
If you like to devote two roster spots to a D/ST, or you suspect other teams are going to stream defenses this year, you might want to grab a top option for the following week to stash away. Here are the best ones to target:
St. Louis (vs Dallas) *if dropped
Miami (vs Kansas City)
New England (vs Oakland) *if dropped