NFL

NFL Analytics: Positional Success Rates Allowed Through Week 2

As fantasy football players, we need to study matchups each and every week.

How exactly to determine the best matchups can be tricky, but rather than look just at yards per carry or passing yards per game allowed, I like to lean on numberFire's Net Expected Points (NEP) metric in various ways. NEP indicates expected points gained for a team's offense -- or denied by a team's defense.

Here's a good example of why it matters. A 15-yard catch looks great on paper, especially compared to a 5-yard catch. But if the 15-yarder comes on 3rd-and-20, it's not very impactful. If the shorter gain comes on 3rd-and-2, it's a significant play and boosts the offense's scoring expectation. It was a success.

Adding this context can show us which teams defend positions well and which teams may have their traditional stats inflated by plays that don't matter as much as others.

You can view our overall, opponent-adjusted passing and rushing defense numbers on our team rankings page, but here's a breakdown of Success Rates allowed to the various positions across the NFL through Week 2's games.

For defensive purposes, lower success rates and expected points numbers allowed are better. Tables are sorted as such.

Quarterback Pass Defense

Defense Passing NEP/
Drop Back
Rank Passing
Success Rate
Rank
Indianapolis Colts -0.06 5 39.6% 1
Arizona Cardinals -0.01 7 39.7% 2
San Francisco 49ers -0.04 6 41.3% 3
Washington Football Team -0.13 2 41.8% 4
Buffalo Bills 0.05 10 42.0% 5
Pittsburgh Steelers -0.09 3 42.2% 6
Los Angeles Chargers 0.06 11 43.7% 7
Baltimore Ravens -0.13 1 44.4% 8
Cincinnati Bengals 0.26 19 45.5% 9
Chicago Bears 0.04 9 46.0% 10
New York Giants 0.27 20 47.0% 11
Detroit Lions 0.29 21 47.1% 12
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0.02 8 47.4% 13
Los Angeles Rams -0.09 4 48.2% 14
Carolina Panthers 0.22 18 49.2% 15
Dallas Cowboys 0.38 29 49.3% 16
Cleveland Browns 0.35 26 50.0% 17
Philadelphia Eagles 0.33 24 50.0% 17
Seattle Seahawks 0.34 25 51.5% 19
Las Vegas Raiders 0.31 22 52.1% 20
Denver Broncos 0.20 17 52.3% 21
Green Bay Packers 0.10 14 53.1% 22
Minnesota Vikings 0.39 30 53.5% 23
New Orleans Saints 0.16 15 53.8% 24
Tennessee Titans 0.10 13 53.8% 24
New York Jets 0.32 23 54.4% 26
Kansas City Chiefs 0.18 16 54.9% 27
New England Patriots 0.08 12 57.4% 28
Atlanta Falcons 0.43 32 57.5% 29
Miami Dolphins 0.38 28 59.6% 30
Houston Texans 0.36 27 60.7% 31
Jacksonville Jaguars 0.40 31 61.1% 32
NFL Average 0.16 49.5%

Running Back Rushing

Defense Rushing NEP/
Carry
Rank Rushing
Success Rate
Rank
Seattle Seahawks -0.20 3 25.0% 1
Pittsburgh Steelers -0.27 1 26.3% 2
New York Jets -0.02 12 26.7% 3
New York Giants -0.01 13 29.8% 4
Baltimore Ravens -0.07 10 34.3% 5
Philadelphia Eagles 0.00 16 34.5% 6
Atlanta Falcons -0.10 8 35.0% 7
Jacksonville Jaguars -0.13 5 38.8% 8
Chicago Bears 0.07 19 39.5% 9
San Francisco 49ers -0.16 4 39.6% 10
Dallas Cowboys -0.04 11 40.0% 11
Denver Broncos -0.09 9 40.0% 11
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -0.13 6 40.4% 13
Washington Football Team -0.01 14 41.0% 14
Tennessee Titans 0.20 26 41.5% 15
New Orleans Saints 0.03 18 42.6% 16
Cleveland Browns -0.21 2 43.6% 17
Houston Texans 0.24 30 46.3% 18
Indianapolis Colts 0.02 17 47.1% 19
Los Angeles Chargers -0.13 7 47.1% 19
Buffalo Bills 0.22 27 48.5% 21
Arizona Cardinals 0.09 20 48.9% 22
Detroit Lions 0.31 32 49.0% 23
Cincinnati Bengals 0.16 25 50.8% 24
Kansas City Chiefs 0.11 23 50.9% 25
New England Patriots 0.00 15 51.1% 26
Miami Dolphins 0.10 22 52.3% 27
Minnesota Vikings 0.09 21 52.4% 28
Carolina Panthers 0.23 28 53.1% 29
Green Bay Packers 0.30 31 57.9% 30
Las Vegas Raiders 0.23 29 58.5% 31
Los Angeles Rams 0.16 24 62.5% 32
NFL Average 0.04 44.0%

Receiving Defense vs. Position

(This table is sorted by target success rate allowed to wide receivers.)

Defense RB Target
Success Rate
Rank WR Target
Success Rate
Rank TE Target
Success Rate
Rank
Buffalo Bills46.2%1643.5%155.0%18
Arizona Cardinals50.0%1843.8%241.2%7
Las Vegas Raiders61.1%2747.6%363.6%25
Washington Football Team50.0%1847.7%452.4%16
Baltimore Ravens36.4%848.7%568.4%27
Los Angeles Chargers29.4%348.8%660.0%22
Cincinnati Bengals60.0%2551.7%743.8%11
San Francisco 49ers18.2%152.0%837.5%5
Chicago Bears46.2%1652.1%956.3%19
Pittsburgh Steelers42.9%1252.2%1047.1%13
Kansas City Chiefs75.0%3252.6%1183.3%31
Cleveland Browns50.0%1854.2%1258.3%21
Green Bay Packers69.2%2954.3%1385.7%32
Tennessee Titans57.1%2354.8%1460.0%22
New York Giants45.5%1555.0%1542.9%9
Tampa Bay Buccaneers52.2%2156.8%1650.0%14
Denver Broncos60.0%2559.3%1741.2%7
Detroit Lions35.7%659.5%1835.7%3
Philadelphia Eagles30.0%460.6%1961.5%24
Indianapolis Colts37.5%960.7%2014.3%1
Los Angeles Rams41.2%1161.0%2145.0%12
Jacksonville Jaguars57.9%2461.1%2273.3%30
Carolina Panthers37.5%961.5%2353.8%17
Minnesota Vikings35.7%662.8%2466.7%26
Dallas Cowboys33.3%563.4%2535.7%3
New York Jets55.6%2264.3%2650.0%14
Atlanta Falcons43.8%1364.4%2770.0%28
New England Patriots72.7%3164.9%2842.9%9
Seattle Seahawks22.2%265.2%2937.5%5
Miami Dolphins71.4%3065.9%3033.3%2
New Orleans Saints63.6%2869.0%3157.1%20
Houston Texans44.4%1472.2%3270.0%28
NFL Average47.2% 57.1% 54.1%