Fantasy Football Defense Streaming Week 14: Welcome To New York

Dec 05, 2023

Junfu Han/USA TODAY NETWORK

We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in your draft, and someone reaches for a defense way too early. Defenses are notoriously tricky to project year-over-year. Some of the best fantasy defenses of the last decade have turned in performances where they benefited from turnover luck one year and ran dry the next. When drafting, I treat the D/ST spot on my roster as a revolving door, and I’m specifically drafting for Week 1 or the first few weeks of the season.

More Week 14 Streaming: QB | TE | K

As we work our way through the season, this article will serve as a place to identify streaming options. The only criterion is that the teams we discuss are rostered in less than 40% of leagues on Yahoo or ESPN.

Week 13 Recap

Our top pick of the week finished tied for D/ST1 in Week 13. The Falcons filled up the stat sheet against the New York Jets. They finished the game with four sacks, one interception, and two fumble recoveries and only allowed six points. They were sub-20% rostered in ESPN leagues heading into the week, so there's a good chance you snagged them off waivers. If not, you wound up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That unit had a solid game as well, finishing in a tie for D/ST8. We'll take two sacks, a pick, and a safety from a sub-15%-rostered defensive unit. Both of those squads are now above our 40% cutoff and are playing one another in Week 14. There are likely better options left on the wire but Tampa Bay is still in play if our top options aren't available.

Top Week 14 D/ST Matchups

Green Bay Packers @ New York Giants

Rostered in 24.5% of ESPN Leagues

The Packers are the D/ST16 on the season but have been very boom or bust. In the last five weeks, they have had two 12-point performances. But the other three weeks in that span, they're only averaging 3.3 points. In the past three weeks, they've had at least one takeaway and multiple sacks. Now they get a matchup with the Giants.

Tyrod Taylor is designated for return, but I'm not sure that it matters who's under center for this play. Tommy DeVito has taken 26 sacks in the last four weeks. In Taylor's three starts, he was sacked nine times. The Packers are six-point favorites, and the Giants will likely be forced into passing situations, which can lead to turnovers. Green Bay is my favorite D/ST on the slate this week.