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.
**Philadelphia is assumed to be rostered**
Week 9 Results
Kansas City (vs Tennessee) - 3 sacks
Well this game took on a different path than we expected. The Titans defense hung tough and played bend but don’t break against Patrick Mahomes II and Derrick Henry plus a few effective passes from Malik Willis kept the Titans in the game.
A Look Ahead: JAX @LAC LAR - The Chiefs D/ST against the Jaguars still looks good
Minnesota (at Washington) - 3 sacks, 1 INT
Taylor Heinicke will remain a quarterback we target with our rent-a-defense (not this week because it’s Philadelphia, and they are assumed to be rostered), but the Commanders actually led this game for a while and Heinicke’s mistakes didn’t define the game.
A Look Ahead: @BUF DAL NE - If Josh Allen can’t start, we might have something here, and the Vikings may be a D/ST we use in Week 13 against New England.
Seattle (at Arizona) - 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery
Arizona (vs Seattle) - 2 sacks, 1 INT, 1 DEF TD
The Cardinals did it again! Zaven Collins housed an interception, and even though the Cardinals were soundly beaten and didn’t really do much to slow down the Seahawks offense, they hit as a D/ST play. The Seahawks D/ST was also a solid play chasing around Kyler Murray and even sacking him a non-trivial number of times.
Seattle A Look Ahead: @TB BYE LV - The Seahawks will be in Germany, so anything is possible, but it’s probably better to avoid them with a bye coming up.
Arizona A Look Ahead: @LAR SF LAC - The Cardinals continue to come through, and the Rams offense is lackluster. Why not?
Baltimore (at New Orleans) - 4 sacks, 1 INT
New Orleans (vs Baltimore) - 3 sacks
Andy Dalton didn’t implode (again) on national television, but the Ravens controlled the game, and the Ravens D/ST was the better play, and a good play among Week 9 D/ST's
Baltimore A Look Ahead: BYE CAR @JAX - We’ll come back to them after the bye and if you can afford the spot, they might be worth holding.
New Orleans A Look Ahead: @PIT LAR @SF - Kenny Pickett is always a potential rent-a-defense target
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
NY Jets (vs Buffalo) - 5 sacks, 2 INT
The Jets D/ST has arrived, and in some formats, they are worth carrying through the bye.
Week 10 Candidates
Dallas (at Green Bay)
The Cowboys D/ST has been good enough to justify carrying through their bye and playing regardless of opponent or setting. Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau isn’t usually a matchup and place we target, but Rodgers threw three picks against the Lions on the road last week.
A Look Ahead: @MIN NYG IND - The Cowboys still have the whole AFC South left on their schedule. You’ll want to hold and play them going forward.