Defense/special teams is a tricky and fickle fantasy football starting position. But it's still a valuable component in your weekly lineup to help decide some head-to-head matchups.
The big question is, how much should you invest in a D/ST in a given season in a redraft league? Before answering that, there are some other key questions to consider.
First, what's your league scoring format for defenses? How much do points and yardage allowed matter? Or are sacks and takeaways the most important difference-makers? And what's the reward for return touchdowns? Beyond that, is there a popular twist, such as crediting three-and-outs and fourth-down stops?
2024 POSITION TIERS & DRAFT STRATEGY
QB | RB | WR | TE
Once you know how your league scores defensive efforts, then you can start to focus on the teams best tailored to produce with their personnel and scheme.
Second, are you looking for a D/ST that you can start most weeks when that team doesn't have a bye. Or do you prefer streaming several defenses over the course of a season based on upcoming matchups against weaker, mistake-prone offenses?
Whatever scoring format and strategy are coming into play for you, here's help to address the position well in 2024.
2024 PPR Rankings
Top 250 Overall | QB | RB | WR | TE | DEF/ST | K
Fantasy Defense Tiers 2024: Who are the best fantasy football defenses?
TIER 1
1 New York Jets
2 Baltimore Ravens
3 San Francisco 49ers
4 Cleveland Browns
5 Pittsburgh Steelers
6 Dallas Cowboys
The Jets and Ravens are set up to make a lot of plays. New York will get help complementing a better offense to slide up a few notches to the top, a little ahead of Baltimore. The 49ers and Browns also are familiar premium options from last season that will be helped by better health.
The Steelers' pass rush is a given, and now they have a shot to be more active in the secondary. Patrick Queen was a huge get from the Ravens. The Cowboys are downgraded in relation to those top Ds with some personnel losses and no longer having the play-calling influence of Dan Quinn.
There will be someone who still wants to draft one of these teams too high ahead of the mid double-digit rounds. There's not much value in that. But if you're in a savvy-drafting league in say, Round 13, don't ignore an available choice here as it can be a lot more valuable that some shaky offensive skill-position veteran.
2024 FANTASY AUCTION VALUES (PPR & STANDARD)
Overall | QB | RB | WR | TE | DEF/ST | K
Fantasy D/ST Draft Strategy 2024: When should you draft a defense?
TIER 2
7 Buffalo Bills
8 Kansas City Chiefs
9 Houston Texans
10 Minnesota Vikings
11 New Orleans Saints
12 Indianapolis Colts
You probably are playing set it and forget it for most weeks if you jump on a first-tier defense. But there's plenty of good value here. The Bills and Chiefs maintain high floors, while the Texans and Vikings have higher ceilings because of upgrades and leaders such as DeMeco Ryans and Brian Flores. The Saints and Colts aren't exciting, and they often get overlooked, but there's enough steady all-around to provide decent output.
If that top tier can be deployed in lineups more than 75 percent of the time with fair-to-good results, you can feel good about playing these six defenses in about 60 percent of their schedules with fair results. That's why they're all units Sporting News considers the rest of the starter units in 12-team leagues.
2024 FANTASY SLEEPERS
QB | RB | WR | TE | Each Team
Fantasy Defense Rankings Tiers: Sleepers & breakouts
TIER 3
13 Chicago Bears
14 Detroit Lions
15 Las Vegas Raiders
16 Cincinnati Bengals
17 Philadelphia Eagles
18 Jacksonville Jaguars
19 Miami Dolphins
20 New York Giants
21 Green Bay Packers
22 Los Angeles Chargers
Welcome to where the sleepers and breakouts lie. This also is your best place to stash appealing streamers to play short-term in favorable matchups.
The Lions and Eagles were disappointing last season but have reinforcements and youth serving better on every level. The Bears, Raiders and Bengals are coached well and have scary front seven disruptors to support rising secondaries.
The Dolphins took some big personnel hits including the loss of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to the Eagles. The Giants and Packers have promise should a few new pieces come together. The Chargers can be quickly turned around with their talent in the transition from Brandon Staley to Jim Harbaugh and Jesse Minter.
TIER 4
23 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
24 New England Patriots
25 Los Angeles Rams
26 Denver Broncos
27 Seattle Seahawks
28 Tennessee Titans
29 Washington Commanders
30 Carolina Panthers
31 Atlanta Falcons
32 Arizona Cardinals
There's a lot of transition with many of these teams, either in coaching changes, philosophy, or taking some lumps with personnel. The nature of D/ST and the NFL in general is that any of these teams can develop into a nice surprise.
The Rams could come together faster than expected minus Aaron Donald should more of their youthful playmakers come through again. Then take the Titans tapping into the Ravens' scheme or the Commanders getting Quinn and some of his key Cowboys.
However you approach D/ST, whether it's jumping into the top tier or waiting as late as possible, there are multiple paths toward success at the position. Once you draft a defense or two, you still need to keep looking ahead to know when you're OK with a play and when you should find an alternate matchup-based one.
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