Fantasy Football Defense Rankings, Streamers & Strategy (2026)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
27 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 29, 2026
Published
Sat, August 29, 2026
4
Player insights
4
Players mentioned
Topics
Daniel JonesDeshaun WatsonJacoby BrissettKirk Cousins
Player analysis
Player insights
Daniel Jones
NegativeInjury22:59
Daniel Jones' performance and health status are in question following an Achilles injury; the source notes he had a strong start last year but must prove his readiness in his first game back against the Baltimore defense.
Insight pageDeshaun Watson
PositiveMatchup12:20
The source identifies Deshaun Watson as a primary target for defensive streaming in Week 1, noting that he has not started an NFL game in a long time and leads an offense with a low implied team total of 16.5 points.
Insight pageJacoby Brissett
NegativeMatchup19:34
The source targets Jacoby Brissett as a favorable matchup for streaming defenses, citing his 1-11 record as a starter last season.
Insight pageKirk Cousins
PositiveMatchup19:55
Kirk Cousins is identified as a quarterback to target for streaming defenses in the first two weeks of the season.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00fantasy football defensive strategy, rankings, and how we're going to execute it in our drafts. If you play in a league that doesn't have defenses, you
0:09can turn this one off. But for most of us, we still have defenses. And it's sort of a position that a lot of us like
0:16to ignore, and you end up sort of scrambling during the season, hitting the waiver wire, sort of like playing catchup. But having the correct defense
0:26can be an edge for us in fantasy football. Anybody who says that it isn't sort of hasn't played enough fantasy or
0:33hasn't really played in a competitive league. You know what it means when your defense can put up 15 points or more on
0:40a given week. And you know how much it hurts when you go up against an opponent whose defense puts up a massive score
0:46line and you end up losing the week. So, we have to lock in. A lot of us are drafting over the next couple days and
0:52we need to have a strategy that we can execute. The good thing about defenses is if you mess it up during your draft,
0:59we can recover during the year. We're also going to talk about that a little bit. So, a couple of rules before we
1:05even dive into it, let's talk about defensive scoring. But before you even watch this or even like execute your draft plan, we really need to lock in
1:14and understand what our league scoring is. So, for defense, it can vary. It's it's kind of like PPR versus half point
1:22PPR versus tight end premium. When it comes to defensive scoring, there's a bunch of things that we need to pay attention to. We need to know, do
1:31defenses get penalized if they give up a bunch of points? How important is yardage in certain leagues have like yardage kick-ins? Um, there's obviously
1:40going to be certain leagues where turnovers count more than others, force turnovers, I should say. So, you really want to lock in and understand your
1:49scoring first and foremost and and like make that a a big part of your plan. But let's go over sort of like bird's eye
1:57view how we're going to treat it this year in drafts. And there's there's multiple ways you can do this. So, if
2:02you are an early defensive drafter, that's not necessarily the wrong move this year. We're going to talk about that. There's a couple rules here that I
2:09think we can apply for defenses.
2:11drafting an elite defense is viable for us this year. Uh this is a a year where there's a few very standout defenses.
2:21And I think that you can look at it this way. If you play in lots of leagues like I do, then having a set it and forget it
2:29defense is a great option. First of all, you can potentially fall into a defense that makes a significant impact for you
2:37in fantasy on a weekly basis. you ignore the matchups and you sort of roll with the punches. An example last year would
2:45have been like the Seattle Seahawks, the Houston Texans, the Denver Broncos, New England was an excellent defense last year. Uh sort of just go with it. You
2:56plug them in and you just leave them in there. Occasionally, if they face a bad matchup, you can consider taking them
3:03out, but a lot of times in the NFL, these defenses can become almost matchup proof. If we look at like Houston last
3:10year, how they were much more likely to affect an opposing team than the opposing team was to affect them and sort of make them into a shootout team.
3:19Then you look at sort of uh last year with Denver. Denver had 68 sacks. I mean, an absolutely ridiculous number of
3:27sacks. They had 11 more sacks than any other team. So, if you would have benched them, you potentially could have missed out on a high-scoring game just
3:35by them simply getting to the quarterback. And again, know your league scoring because it's not just as simple as get those defensive uh sacks in a
3:44league where you're you're penalized for giving up a big number. We got to put that into play. But neither here nor
3:49there. So, we talk about elite defense is viable. Know your scoring format.
3:53Those are two rules. Here's the third rule for this year. You do not have to be the first team to draft a defense.
4:01Even if you want an elite defense, we need to understand the tiers. And I I have four defenses that I'm going to
4:07talk about a little bit later, but understanding the tiers for defense. So, if you want an elite defense, you can pay attention to when the first defense
4:17is selected. It's time for you to sort of perk up, look at your board, and understand that I might have to act
4:23soon, but I don't have to be the first one off the board. I might have a round difference in draft delta by going with
4:31defense number two than defense number one. A lot of times there's a a manager who tries to time it correctly but
4:38doesn't necessarily start the defensive run. So you might be able to get a top-notch defense that is a challenger for defense one overall, but get them a
4:47few picks, if not a round difference than defense one overall, maybe two rounds different. So you don't have to be the first one to draft a D. Like we
4:56talked about, if I play in a lot of leagues, a set it and forget it defense is a great option. But if I play in very
5:04few leagues or if I play in only one league, then having defensive streaming as my number one option is optimal. And
5:14if I'm streaming defenses, I sort of want to look one month out. There's going to be people that sort of talk
5:20about in this sort of content, and there's not a lot of this content out there because again, we want to ignore
5:25defense because it's it's not fun. I could talk all day about wide receivers and tight ends and running backs and quarterbacks. I I I don't need to
5:33prepare for it even uh like sort of how the sausage is made. We just talk about it every day. But when it comes to
5:38defense, I actually have to like really prepare for this sort of content. So, and I'm sure it's the same way for you
5:44guys. You want to pay attention to all these different positions, my flex, but the defense is something where maybe it's a little bit in the back of your
5:51mind. So, if I play in in very few leagues, though, if I'm in like one league or two leagues, then oftent times
5:59the best option for me is streaming defenses.
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7:01Streaming defenses can be a edge for us where we're able to exploit good matchups and we're able to find home favorites. We're able to find bad
7:12offenses to target. were able to use some of the the odds, the the Vegas odds or or wherever you get your odds uh to
7:19try to exploit these bad matchups. Like for example, week one, the Jacksonville Jaguars are not only a viable defense for you to draft this year, but they are
7:29a ridiculously good uh streaming defensive option where they're eight and a half point favorites in a game with a total of 40 and a half points. And their
7:40opponent, the Cleveland Browns, are rolling out Deshun Watson, who hasn't started an NFL game in forever. And there's an implied team total of 16 and
7:49a half there. And you can sort of go down the list. There's other going to be other streaming options, but that's
7:53basically sort of where we're at.
7:56Negatives for streaming defense. You're going to use FAB on this. So, if I'm streaming defenses, that's part of my FAB allocation. Now, if you're in a in a
8:05Rolling List waiverwire ad league, you can sort of ignore this one. But, if I'm in a FAB league, you start looking back
8:12over the years on how much FAB you spent on that perfect defensive matchup. Let's say you spend 3 or 4% to get that
8:20perfect defense. Let's say you spend 7% to really lock it in. That's 7% that you're not able to use on a running
8:28back, a wide receiver, a quarterback streamer, a position that can score a lot more points than that oneweek defense. So, if I'm streaming, it
8:37becomes very important for me to start playing the waiverwire two to three weeks ahead. If I see a fantastic matchup on the horizon, I want to h add
8:47that defense two weeks before and I might save like 3% of FAB. It's a very underrated part of this. But if I'm
8:55streaming defenses, understand it's a viable strategy, but you need to be better prepared than your defense who just rolls up in your draft and drafts
9:04like than your opponent who just rolls up to the draft and is like, "All right, I'll take the Houston Texans." You have
9:10to be more prepared than that opponent.
9:12If you're prepared for it, understand your season, you have to break it up into little clumps here. You're you're working one month ahead all the time and
9:21you're keeping your eye on the horizon and your waiverwire action is to add that defense one week ahead so you don't
9:28waste fab. Uh, and then basically one other rule is I don't like drafting the fifth defense in drafts this year. And I
9:38feel like that feels a little bit weird to say. I'm very comfortable drafting my fourth ranked defense, but when it comes
9:45to the fifth ranked defense, for me, it's another tier. So, I'm okay drafting the top four defenses.
9:53I don't feel the pressure to take defense one overall. Um, but if they fall, it's certainly viable. But then if I miss out on the top four defenses, I'm
10:02going to let it go a little bit. Okay, so basically hopefully that made sense.
10:06I've been talking for 9 minutes, so it's time to actually talk about executing this plan. My top ranked defense is the
10:11Houston Texans. Houston allowed 17.4 points per game last year. They are an absolute unit loaded with talent. We don't need to go through all of the best
10:22defensive players, but if you are an NFL fan, you know the names. Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson combined for like 26
10:29sacks last year. So, they have elite players on the edges uh able to get to the quarterback, really affect the game,
10:36and then behind them, they probably have the best pair of quarterbacks in Stingley and Lacier. So, you have the best pair of defensive ends, you have
10:44the best pair of quarterbacks, you average 17.4 points per game. They're my number one defense this year. Houston is an absolute machine. One negative could
10:52be uh the offense has some question marks. So, could you run into game flow situations where the offense uh gives up
11:00some sacks or uh turns the ball over and the defense faces some bad situations?
11:06Potentially, but that's still my number one defense. My number two defense, the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle a allowed 17 points per game last year. That was the
11:16lowest number in the NFL. And I'll pull up the exact number. They allowed 17.2 for everybody out there sort of like
11:23like picking on me for for my stat here.
11:2617.2 points per game allowed last year.
11:28That's the lowest number in the NFL.
11:30They have monsters on the interior. I mean, Byron Murphy, anybody who sort of watched this the playoff run understands what Seattle is there. Guys like Leonard
11:39Williams and then in the back you've got Devon Witherspoon. Uh Nick Emanuri who's going into year two. I mean loaded with
11:46talent. Not a whole lot we need to talk about with Seattle. They're my number two defense. Number three is Denver. And
11:53Denver had 68 sacks last year. They got Nick Bonito. Uh you got Zack Allen. And then the the defensive player that we're
12:00always talking about in fantasy football that even if you don't pay attention to anything on the defensive side of the ball, even if you never watch a game and
12:07your game is is simply watching red zone, then you still know the name Pat Certain because Pat Certain ruins your fantasy week. That's how good a
12:16quarterback he is. And they have depth in the secondary too in Denver. Like Denver's loaded. Denver does have a tricky tricky schedule to start out the
12:25year. So that's one defense where we we know they play Kansas City in that first game. Is that a game where Denver is
12:31just going to bully them? Uh that to me that's a that's a sort of a flip the coin type opener. So Denver, it's a kind
12:37of at least a set it and forget it defense. We know what they are. And then my number four defense, and if you want
12:44to rank them higher, go ahead. Again, this is a tier for me. We're not nit nitpicking my defensive rankings here, but the LA Rams. And the LA Rams,
12:53biggest splash team of the offseason.
12:56They go and get Miles Garrett, who had 23 sacks last year. Uh they go and get Trent McDuffy, the quarterback from the
13:02Chiefs. They have Byron Young, who had 12 sacks on his own last year. This is a very feared defense. This is going to be
13:10probably the best defense we've seen under Shawn McVey. A potentially dominant unit that can get to the cornerback that can first force
13:17turnovers. And we have the added bonus of we like it when we have an offense that's scoring points and we think LA
13:26can do that again. Last year, Stafford was completely locked in. I don't need to tell you about Shawn McVey offenses.
13:32So, you get a situation where you're putting pressure on the opposing team to play catch-up. it's going to create more opportunities for sacks, more for
13:40interceptions, potentially forced turnovers. Uh, so LA definitely right up there in that tier. So, that's my top four. So, if you can get the fourth
13:48ranked team or really any of those four, I think those sort of are the set it and forget it defenses for me. Then, I have
13:55a couple of other teams that are near that level. So, I don't like necessarily drafting the fifth defense off the board. I like usually letting it wait a
14:03little bit and kind of grabbing one of these defenses. But if your league is sort of asleep at the wheel, maybe you
14:09have drafters that all love to stream defenses. I think the New England Patriots very very viable. We know Christian Gonzalez shut down corner. Uh
14:17we know that Mike Vrabel is able to really like affect games wherever he's been as sort of a defensive-minded minded coach. Um there's a bunch of
14:27players on on New England that I think are are really potentially impactful guys. You know, Harold Landry and all these guys. So, New England's still
14:35going to be up there. We know last year they were a only allowing like 18 points a game. I'll pull up the exact number
14:41for people that want to hold my feet to the fire. They they allowed 18.8 points per game last year. So, they allowed the
14:47fourth fewest amount of points per game last year of any team. Uh the schedule gets harder this year. Like everybody's talked about that with New England sort
14:54of as a positive for their offense, potential for more shootouts, but defense uh definitely it's one we want to keep an eye on. Then the next ranked
15:03team for me would be Philly. Uh I have them pretty much neck andneck with with Pittsburgh. I think Philly and Pittsburgh, they both have high-end
15:12talent. Uh they both sort of are set up to have very good defensive years. Uh if we're sort of uh pulling at straws here,
15:19then Pittsburgh is going to face Baltimore twice. They're going to face Cincinnati twice. always tricky matchups there, but Pittsburgh historically has
15:28been a team that Lamar Jackson has struggled against uh for really a lot of the Mike Tomlin era. Uh and I'm sure
15:34this year, you know, obviously Tomlin is not there, but it's still a a defense that I think has given Lamar Jackson
15:41fits. And you still have a lot of the same players there, the TJ Watts, the Cam Haywards, uh Joey Porter. Uh so we
15:47got Pittsburgh and Philly right behind New England for me. The NFL season is right around the corner and it's time for Survivor contests. Rotoire is
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16:51trust the coordinator here. Minnesota for me comes in as my defense number nine. Uh really really trusting what they're able to do there under Brian
17:01Flores. They add Caleb Banks this off seasonason who's an absolute monster who uh injury concerns sort of pushed him down in the draft, but he could be an
17:08interior disruptor. But Minnesota continually with Flores uh is pressuring the quarterback at an extremely high rate. They don't give up a high rate of
17:17touchdowns. They're just like a really solid defense continually. So, we're sort of trust the process when it comes to Brian Flores defenses. Baltimore
17:26right behind them. Um Baltimore for me, I think they're going to get that boost that we saw last year where last year we
17:34saw sort of what Jesse Mter was able to accomplish with the the Chargers defense. You get a defensive head coach like Jesse Mter uh who has experience on
17:43the defensive side of the ball. I think that's one of the reasons he was hired in Baltimore. We're sort of trusting him
17:49there. There's the high-end talent, Kyle Hamilton, Trey Hendrickson, they acquired this past off season. Then we'll go down to the Chargers. And the
17:56Chargers, um, they've got a couple of awesome players, and we'll talk about them as a streaming option coming up. I think they're a defense you can draft.
18:03Really, we boost them because their early season schedule is awesome, but they've also drafted Aake Meador, who's an older defensive end. I think I'll
18:10have a good year. Derwin James is an absolute monster in the secondary and I think the Chargers are sort of primed to
18:17be your early streaming defense. Then we've got the Jaguars who forced a lot of turnovers last year. Uh this is this
18:24is sort of year two for this regime. And then of course they get that opening game against Cleveland. And then we'll
18:30also uh mention the Green Bay Packers who have some elite high-end talent. But Micah Parsons, we don't know when he's going to be ready. Um, but you know,
18:38Xavier McKini, a couple guys like that in Green Bay, they're just a good defense. I think they're sort of an underrated one if you're picking like
18:44the 12th defense off the board. So, we'll talk about some teams with good early season matchups. And we'll start right out of the top. Seattle's my
18:52number two ranked defense. And they get the Arizona Cardinals in week two. They get the Washington Commanders in week three. And that's with Laramie Tonsel.
19:01Uh, now out. Uh there's been a lot of sort of anti- negative talk from beat reporters about how bad Washington's offensive line looks recently. So the
19:10threat of Jaden Daniels certainly there, but Seattle can get to pretty much anyone. And then that opener against New England, that's a sort of a coin flip
19:19game, but we know how Seattle sort of manhandled them in the Super Bowl. Do we see a repeat? We talk about the the
19:25Chargers, the Chargers with the Cardinals and the Raiders as like the opening two games. Chargers are massive favorites against the the Cardinals in
19:34in week one. Jacobe Brassette, we know last year uh he was like 1 and 11 as a starter. That feels like a game that the
19:41Chargers can get off to a really red-hot start. We know we talk about the offense being able to put pressure on on the
19:48opposing team where we it's I feel like it's going to be hard to shut down the LA Chargers this year. Uh, so we're
19:54looking at them getting off to a red-hot start where they're going to go up against Jacobe Brassette and Kirk Cousins in the first two weeks of the
20:00year. Then we talk about the Minnesota Vikings where you're going to get early season matchups, get that opener against Green Bay, but then you've got the Jets,
20:10you've got the Falcons early on. Um, Kansas City has a nice early season schedule uh where they're going to play against the Dolphins and the Raiders
20:18early on in the year. And then the the defense that nobody wants to draft this year, but if you're playing FFPC or NFC
20:24like I do, you've been drafting them because of the free look. Well, San Francisco, you get the benefit of the free look um against the Rams, a really
20:33hard matchup for them in week one. But then you've got the Miami Dolphins and you've got the Arizona Cardinals in the
20:40upcoming week. So, if you picked up San Francisco as like the last defense on the board cuz you wanted to get a look
20:46at them uh for that first week of the year, see if you get off to a red-hot start in formats like that, be be
20:51careful about cutting them because you might be cutting the best streaming defensive option for like early on in the season with again Miami. I like
20:59Malik Willis. I love Devon Achan, but that's a team with an incredibly low implied team win total and some uh the I
21:06think the offense could struggle at times. They're also breaking in a couple new offensive linemen. And I mean, San Francisco, nobody wants to draft them
21:13this year, but they still have like Nick Bosa. Um they they still can get to the quarterback. We'll mention the Bears.
21:19The Bears week one have the Carolina Panthers. Uh they have the Jets in the first month of the year. And then when
21:25we're looking at specifically week one streamers, okay, you got through like we talked about the the teams with multiple matchups. Let's just look at week one.
21:34So week one, we've got the Jacksonville Jaguars. talked about them. They're like 8 and a half point uh favorites. Team total is or the the uh overunder is like
21:4440 and then you're going to get sort of the implied total for the Browns is like about as low as it gets in an NFL game.
21:50It's like 16 and a half. About as low as it gets unless you have weather factored in. So Jacksonville should tee off on
21:57Cleveland. So if you want just a really good week one matchup, it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. another uh like I didn't draft anybody. Um and I'm looking
22:06to grab a streaming defensive option.
22:08You can play Tennessee or the New York Jets in week one. A lot of people are gravitating towards the Tennessee Titans
22:16in this one because they're the home favorite. Um but I have major concerns about Tennessee's offensive line as well. This is a really really tilting
22:24game for for both teams because you have Robert Salah against Aaron Glenn. You got former team narrative. You got two teams that would love the start that I
22:35mean one of these teams is going to win the opener unless they tie. Um and both of these teams are are are like this
22:41would be like a great get off to the start of the year right for both of these teams. Um so keep an eye on that
22:47Tennessee New York Jets game. And then let's also talk about the Ravens. The Ravens play the Colts in week one. I
22:55think the Ravens are going to get off to a good start. Just a gut feel. And if you're also sort of saying like, okay,
22:59Daniel Jones, what do you have coming off of that Achilles? Like, what do you have right here? Are you going to be
23:04able to te tee off against this defense?
23:06The threat of Jonathan Taylor is there anytime you play against Jonathan Taylor, but let's see how that quarterback looks. Let's test him. Cuz
23:12last year, Daniel Jones got off to a red-hot start. Now, you have no Alec Pierce there. You have no Michael Pitman. We know that Josh DS, Tyler
23:20Warren should be there. They're really good. Indianapolis has a really good offensive line, but let's test that that quarterback. So, if you're risking it a
23:27little bit, I think Baltimore week one has a a fun matchup. We'll keep an eye on that. But again, week one,
23:33Jacksonville week one, uh the Tennessee Jets game. We're going to chase that one. And then the Ravens against the Colts. Let's see what Daniel Jones looks
23:42like in his first game back. Just a quick reminder, if you're streaming defenses, again, your general rule, I want to look at the season a little
23:51differently than the rest of my league.
23:53I want to look at what the next month looks like and I want to see is there a play a defense that I can pick up for a
24:00dollar or in leagues that are have zero dollar bids. Can I pick up that $1 defense and park them on my bench and
24:07I'm able to save myself a bunch of fab.
24:09If you're streaming, you want to target those home favorites. You want to look at big point spread advantages and you want to I love looking at defenses that
24:18can still get to the quarterback. I don't like starting necessarily a bad defense against a bad offense, but that's still doable when you're
24:25streaming. And I want to exploit bad offenses. We think we know what the bad offenses are going to be right now. I
24:33mean, I think when we look at the oddsmakers, they're sort of telling you there's certain offenses that are going to struggle to score this year, but
24:40we'll know more once the season starts.
24:43There'll be some bad offenses that sort of reveal themselves. So, a lot of this looking at strength of schedule and looking like at the season as a whole,
24:51we'll have much more information after the first couple of weeks of the uh season than we do right now. So, I want
24:57to really exploit those bad offenses. I hope this one was helpful. If you hate these defensive sort of uh shows tough,
25:04we got to win our leagues and we need every little edge we can find in fantasy football and defense is something we
25:11cannot ignore. I'll do a little bit more defensive content throughout the year.
25:14We want to help you with some of these streamers. Make sure you're also checking out my Waverwire article at RotoWire. You can get access to it with
25:22the code Theo35. That's going to be a deep league waiverwire article. So, you should read a lot of Waverwire articles out there. And there's some good stuff
25:29out there, but I'm not going to talk to you about players that I know you can't get in your leagues because I'm going to
25:34talk about players that I'm going to be able to get in my deep formats. So, I'm talking to the deeper managers out
25:39there. I'm talking to the very competitive league managers out there.
25:43I'm talking to the managers who want to be one week ahead on the waiver wire.
25:46And I'm talking to managers that play in formats like FFPC, NFC, FFWC, high stakes waivers where I know I can't grab
25:54those guys or even dynasty managers in deeper formats. I want to try to uncover some deep ads in my waiver article and
26:01I'll also talk about streamers in that article. So, use code Theo35, get 35% off. We're right around the corner. The season is right around the corner.
26:09You've been listening to my content all offseason long. Big big shout out to everybody who's listening on the pod and watched on the YouTube. Uh really
26:16appreciate the Roto Wire audience embracing me this summer. Uh and if you were watching me on my previous channel, appreciate you coming over as well. But
26:24now is not the time to sort of reflect and say, "What a fun summer." Now is the time to go and draft your team very
26:31well. If you're drafting over the next couple days, execute your plan and lock in. It's time to win some games. The
26:38season's right around the corner and Rotoire is going to help you crush your leagues this
