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.
**Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Los Angeles Rams have great matchups but assumed to be rostered**
Week 5 Results
Kansas City (vs Las Vegas) - 1 sack, 1 INT
Welcome to the return of the Raiders vertical AFL passing attack! Kolton Miller was a good pick? He thwarted Frank Clark all day. The AFC bracket is looking wide open and that’s a good thing.
A Look Ahead: @BUF @DEN NYJ - It’s probably worth it to stick with the Chiefs this week to have them for the Denver and Jets matchups, but it could hurt in points/yards allowed leagues like it did this past week.
Seattle (vs Minnesota) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT
It wasn’t a smash hit as the Seahawks trailed for most of the game, but the defense still did enough to be a top 10 play in Week 5
A Look Ahead: BYE @ARI SF - We won’t hold them through the bye, but the Seahawks are a good what the heck D/ST play in any given week because of the possibility of the opponent falling behind Russ’s cooking and getting desperate on offense.
Arizona (at New York Jets) - 3 sacks
An easy win, but no big mistakes from Joe Flacco in a big Week 5 D/ST disappointment.
A Look Ahead: SEA BYE MIA - Not in consideration again for a while
Dallas (vs New York Giants) - 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD
The Cowboys D/ST hit in a tragic game for their team. They still have great edge rush talent and it only takes one play to make your week
A Look Ahead: ARI @WAS @PHI - The Cowboys defense has flaws, but if you don’t get dinged for points/yards allowed, they could be a good play going forward.
Cleveland (vs Indianapolis) - 1 safety, 1 sack, 2 INT, 1 DEF TD
The best rent-a-defense of the week! Philip Rivers unforced errors created a big game for the Browns
A Look Ahead: @PIT @CIN LV - The Browns D/ST is hot. If there’s nothing on the wire, play them against Pittsburgh so you can get the Bengals matchup in Week 7.
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda
Miami (at San Francisco) - 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT
The 49ers quarterback situation is deteriorating quickly. We’ll target them until they give us reason not to. The Dolphins defense is getting healthy at cornerback and has had two good weeks in the last three.
New York Giants (at Dallas) - 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT, 1 DEF TD
The Giants lost Lorenzo Carter to a torn achilles, but they also have Kyler Fackrell coming to help with a defensive score. The NFC East might not produce great football, but they will produce fantasy numbers on both sides of the ball if the sloppy play keeps up.
Week 6 Candidates
**Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Los Angeles Rams have great matchups but assumed to be rostered**
New England (vs Denver)
The Patriots shouldn’t be out there, but if they were released in your FF league in a bye week crunch, rectify that. Maybe even bid more than just a few units
A Look Ahead: SF @BUF @NYJ - The Patriots can be an everyweek D/ST going forward, pay accordingly
Miami (vs New York Jets)
We’ll happily start any D/ST facing the Jets going forward. The Dolphins are warming up with at least four sacks and two takeaways in two of the last three weeks
A Look Ahead: BYE LAR @ARI - We won’t hold the Dolphins through the bye, but will likely come back to them later in the season.
Green Bay (at Tampa Bay)
Targeting Tom Brady with a D/ST has paid off a few times in fantasy leagues already this year, and the Packers have the pass rush and ballhawks to make it pay again this week. Aaron Rodgers is playing lights out and should get Davante Adams back this week, which could make for a favorable game script despite playing on the road.
A Look Ahead: @HOU MIN @SF - The Packers look like a D/ST you can keep plugging in for a while, if not the rest of the season.
New York Giants (vs Washington)
The Giants have been a good play twice in five games already this year, and this week brings their easiest matchup to date. Even without Lorenzo Carter, they are a worthy play in Week 6.
A Look Ahead: @PHI TB @WAS - If the Giants come through this week, next week will be tempting despite playing on the road
Dallas (vs Arizona)
Can Andy Dalton keep the Cowboys in this game so the pass rushers have ample opportunity to affect the outcome and notch some D/ST points? That’s the key to deciding whether to go back to them after they scored in Week 5.
A Look Ahead: @WAS @PHI PIT - If you do go with the Cowboys D/ST and they come through, you’ll stick with them in Week 7.
Carolina (vs Chicago)
Watch Brian Burns status coming off of a concussion as he’s the best playmaker in this defense. The division leading Panthers will get to go after Nick Foles and this D/ST had a great day against Justin Herbert already this year.
A Look Ahead: @NO ATL @KC - We’ll throw the Panthers back after this week, but they’ll return to our candidate list when the matchup dictates.
Minnesota (vs Atlanta)
The Vikings defense is jelling with a sacks going from 0-2-2-3-4 and a takeaway in the last four games. We’ll see how the Falcons respond after Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff were sacked and how the Vikings respond to a crushing loss, but they are worth a look if the waiver wire is thin.
A Look Ahead: BYE @GB DET - If the Vikings defense continues its upward trend this week, we’ll be more open to them in good matchup after the bye.
Week 7 Preemptive Pickups
Kansas City (at Denver)
Philadelphia (vs New York Giants)
Cleveland (at Cincinnati)
New York Giants (at Philadelphia)
Dallas (at Washington)