Join the Footballguys Daily Update
Start your morning with our roundup of the most important stories in football - with the fantasy insight you need to make league-winning decisions. Delivered straight to your inbox, 100% free.
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 New England Patriots and Houston Texans have outstanding matchups this week and should be played over any rent-a-defense. They all had a top 10 ADP among defenses and are assumed to be unavailable.**
-
Indianapolis (vs Oakland)
The rent-a-defense strategy was invented to take advantage of matchups like this one. The Colts home crowd is going to be hyped as Andrew Luck’s second campaign leading the team gets underway, and the Raiders will be starting probably the worst passer of all 32 starting quarterbacks, who will be without the best player on the team, left tackle Jared Veldheer. Garbage time stats for Terrelle Pryor can also equal garbage time stats for the Colts defense.
A Look Ahead: MIA @SF @JAX
If the Colts really eviscerate the Raiders and Dolphins stumble against the Browns, you might want to stick with Indy at home, but chances are that there will be a better option on the wire next week.
-
Tampa Bay (at New York Jets)
It looks like Geno Smith will be the starter for the Jets, but does that even matter. I feel compelled to warn y’all that this play backfired in week 1 last year when the Jets destroyed the Bills 48-28 after one of the worst offensive performances in the preseason that the league has ever seen. This Bucs team is better than that Bills team, and they have the added motivation of Darrelle Revis’s debut being at his old house against his old team.
A Look Ahead: NO @NE ARI
The Saints and Patriots are maybe the two worst teams to start a D/ST against. The Bucs are a one-and-down play this week
-
Washington (vs Philadelphia)
The elements are there for Monday Night domination by the Redskins. It’s the first full speed implementation of the Chip Kelly offense with a turnover prone quarterback leading the way. The Eagles defense is very weak and could give up a lot of clock-eating drives to put even more pressure on Michael Vick to move the offense when he does get the ball back. Brian Orakpo is back and the Redskins should be primed to begin the defense of their NFC East title. Of course, Kelly’s offense could pull a big surprise, but that’s why Washington is listed third, not first or second.
A Look Ahead: @GB DET @OAK
For those of you that like to hold two defenses to get the benefit of another upcoming matchup, keeping the Redskins for the trip out to the Black Hole in week 4 might be a good idea.
-
Pittsburgh (vs Tennessee)
The Steelers remained a good defense when it came to limiting yards and points last year, but the big plays did not come in bunches the way that they had in the past. This year’s home opener vs. the Titans will be a good test to see if the big play abilities come back without James Harrison (who hadn’t been able to stay healthy as of late anyway) on the field. The Titans will be content to play a 13-10 type game with PIttsburgh, but the home crowd will be hungry to see Jake Locker under pressure. The Steelers will get drafted in a lot of leagues on name recognition, but this is a better measure of where they are right now.
A Look Ahead: @CIN CHI @MIN
It’s best to throw Pittsburgh back, as they have no creampuffs on the upcoming schedule.
-
Kansas City (at Jacksonville)
The idea of a banged-up Blaine Gabbert seems attractive on first glance, but protecting the ball and limiting turnovers was actually one of the few things that he was effective at doing during the first two years of his career. The Chiefs do have a lot of talent on defense, and the Jaguars don’t have the same kind of home field advantage as teams that have been more successful in recent years.
A Look Ahead: DAL @PHI NYG
Dallas isn’t the most attractive opponent for a rent-a-defense, but Tony Romo was tied for the league lead in interceptions last year, so if the Chiefs defense comes out of the gate hot, they might be worth holding for week 2.
Week 2 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:
Jacksonville (at Oakland)
Carolina (at Buffalo)
Oakland (vs Jacksonville)
Philadelphia (vs San Diego)