Picking a fantasy defense/special teams isn’t nearly as exciting as a running back or wide receiver, but it’s just as important for winning the week – and the league. While switching up defenses from week-to-week can be a sound strategy, it might be more sensible to invest in a top defense that can be counted on to consistently produce fantasy points for the entire season.
With that said, here are our projected top 10 fantasy defense/special teams units for the upcoming NFL season. You might also be interested in checking out our fantasy sleeper picks for the running back, wide receiver and tight end positions.
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Top 10 NFL Fantasy Defenses for 2015-16
10. Baltimore Ravens
[sc:NFL240banner ]The Golden Age of the Baltimore defense with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata is long gone, but the Ravens are still consistently one of the top defenses around. It certainly helps that they’ve got one of the best pass-rushing duos in the league with Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, who recorded 29 of the team’s 49.0 sacks last season (tied for second in the NFL).
The Ravens’ defense finished sixth in fantasy points last season but they could’ve finished higher if their secondary wasn’t an issue all year. The good news is that top cornerback Jimmy Smith will be back healthy after an injury-plagued season, which should greatly improve their pass defense for the upcoming campaign.
9. New England Patriots
Any team that loses key pieces like Darrelle Revis and Vince Wilfork would suffer a huge drop off defensively, but the Pats aren’t most teams. They’ve got a terrific young core led by Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower and Devin McCourty, which has all the makings of a very solid unit. Jones, in particular, will look to have a bounce-back year after missing six games last season. He had 11.5 sacks in 16 games in 2013.
Without Revis, the Pats could struggle to top last year’s output which saw them finish tied for sixth with the Ravens in fantasy points. But any Bill Belichick-led defense should be in the running for the top 10 at the very least.
8. Denver Broncos
The Denver defense is moving to a new 3-4 scheme this year under new defensive coordinator Wade Philips, and there’s every reason to believe it can still improve upon its No. 11 finish in fantasy points last season.
The Broncos will have a terrifying pass rushing trio of Von Miller (14.0 sacks), DeMarcus Ware (10.0 sacks) and rookie Shane Ray (13.0 sacks, fifth-most in college football in 2014) ready to be unleashed in the 3-4. Meanwhile, they still possess a very strong secondary, a unit which allowed the fewest pass plays of 40 or more yards last year (four).
7. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins paid a pretty penny to get Ndamukong Suh, and his arrival should pay off in terms of immediate improvement on defense. Suh, who was a major reason the Detroit Lions were No. 1 in run defense last season, should stabilize a porous Dolphins run defense that gave up over 121 rushing yards per game last season (ninth-worst in the NFL).
Suh’s presence as a pass rusher should also help free up Miami’s excellent edge rushers, Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon, who had 18 of the team’s 39 sacks last season.
6. Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles’ defense/special teams came out of nowhere last season to swoop into second-place in total fantasy points. Philly scored 11 non-offensive touchdowns (first in the league) with 49.0 sacks (tied for second) and 28 takeaways (tied for sixth).
It’s safe to assume that a bit of regression to the mean will likely affect that unit’s production, but Philly certainly has the talent – especially after the additions of Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell in the offseason – to remain comfortably in the top 10 for the upcoming season.
5. St. Louis Rams
The Rams’ D was supposed to be one of the best units in football last year, but a horrific start which saw it record a measly sack in its first five games ruined those plans. Nevertheless, it eventually came to life and racked up 39 sacks in the last 11 games to finish No. 9 in fantasy points overall.
That defensive line remains stacked with talent – Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald, Nick Fairley, Chris Long – and should finally live up to its immense potential this time around.
4. New York Jets
The New York Jets defense finished tied for dead last in takeaways last season (13) and 27th in fantasy points. But after the offseason they had, it’ll take an implosion of epic proportions for the Jets D to be that bad again.
Todd Bowles takes over a defense that figures to be one of, if not the most talent-rich in the entire league, from the defensive line (Muhammad Wilkerson, Shelden Richardson and rookie Leonard Williams) all the way to the much-improved secondary (Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Buster Skrine).
3. Houston Texans
If fantasy allowed for individual defensive players, JJ Watt would be the undisputed No. 1 pick. Watt has been the single-most dominant force on defense for the past three seasons, with 51 sacks and 53 tackles for loss. The Texans’ defense as a whole wasn’t too bad either, as it produced an NFL-leading 34 takeaways.
With free agent acquisitions Vince Wilfork and Raheem Moore set to come in – not to mention 2014 No. 1 pick Jadeveon Clowney looking “spectacular” in rehab – the Texans D has a chance to reach even higher fantasy levels than its fourth-place finish in 2014.
The Bills defense was absolutely outstanding last season. Buffalo led the entire NFL with 54 sacks, was third in takeaways (30), and fourth in points allowed per game (18.1) to finish first overall in fantasy points by a signficant margin.
It’s hard to get much better than that, but with defensive mastermind Rex Ryan set to take charge of a relatively unchanged unit, the Bills should definitely be at least one of the first two defenses off the board in this year’s fantasy drafts.
1. Seattle Seahawks
It’s getting a bit boring to pick the Seahawks as the best fantasy defense, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Through the last 11 weeks of last season, the Seahawks D gave up a miniscule 11 points per game, including just three touchdowns allowed in the last six regular season games.
They finished allowing the fewest yards per game (267.1) and points per game (15.9) in the NFL, and were the No. 3 fantasy defense overall.
The core group of Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor is still very much in its prime, which means the Seattle D remains the safest bet to pile up those points.
