NFL

NFL Analytics: Positional Success Rates Allowed Through Week 8

Which teams grade out as the best units against each offensive skill position through Week 8?

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 8'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
Chicago Bears0.02842.6%1
Pittsburgh Steelers0.00742.9%2
Kansas City Chiefs-0.09244.0%3
Indianapolis Colts-0.01644.3%4
Tampa Bay Buccaneers-0.02444.3%5
Washington Football Team0.04944.5%6
San Francisco 49ers0.081344.9%7
Baltimore Ravens-0.01545.1%8
Los Angeles Rams-0.06345.2%9
Los Angeles Chargers0.141545.3%10
Dallas Cowboys0.161745.5%11
Arizona Cardinals0.081246.0%12
Philadelphia Eagles0.061146.1%13
Miami Dolphins-0.10147.1%14
Denver Broncos0.041047.7%15
Las Vegas Raiders0.302749.6%16
Detroit Lions0.252550.2%17
Cincinnati Bengals0.222250.3%18
Minnesota Vikings0.332950.6%19
New Orleans Saints0.222150.6%20
Cleveland Browns0.191950.6%21
Buffalo Bills0.161651.3%22
Seattle Seahawks0.252451.9%23
Carolina Panthers0.171852.2%24
Atlanta Falcons0.343052.5%25
New England Patriots0.081453.1%26
New York Giants0.212053.4%27
Green Bay Packers0.232353.9%28
Houston Texans0.363154.9%29
Tennessee Titans0.262655.2%30
Jacksonville Jaguars0.373255.4%31
New York Jets0.322857.3%32
NFL Average0.14 49.0%

Running Back Rush Defense

Defense Rushing NEP/
Carry
Rank Rushing
Success Rate
Rank
Tampa Bay Buccaneers-0.18130.6%1
Pittsburgh Steelers-0.09531.4%2
Baltimore Ravens-0.10431.8%3
New York Jets-0.011134.6%4
Philadelphia Eagles-0.08635.3%5
Indianapolis Colts-0.05736.8%6
New York Giants0.001437.5%7
New Orleans Saints-0.011237.7%8
Chicago Bears0.041837.8%9
Denver Broncos-0.05838.3%10
Jacksonville Jaguars0.011639.4%11
San Francisco 49ers-0.11339.7%12
Seattle Seahawks0.001540.9%13
Washington Football Team-0.03941.6%14
Atlanta Falcons-0.14242.1%15
Arizona Cardinals0.021742.5%16
Los Angeles Rams0.001342.9%17
Los Angeles Chargers-0.011043.1%18
Green Bay Packers0.153044.0%19
Dallas Cowboys0.122744.8%20
Tennessee Titans0.102345.3%21
Carolina Panthers0.082245.7%22
Detroit Lions0.142845.8%23
Houston Texans0.203247.1%24
Cincinnati Bengals0.152947.3%25
Kansas City Chiefs0.072147.4%26
Las Vegas Raiders0.173147.8%27
Buffalo Bills0.112647.9%28
Minnesota Vikings0.051948.6%29
Cleveland Browns0.062050.6%30
New England Patriots0.102552.3%31
Miami Dolphins0.102454.1%32
NFL Average0.03 42.5%

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
Kansas City Chiefs52.0%2446.1%153.7%13
Washington Football Team46.7%1747.7%263.8%28
Chicago Bears32.2%149.7%352.3%9
Arizona Cardinals47.2%1851.3%451.9%8
Indianapolis Colts52.5%2851.8%540.4%2
Miami Dolphins60.4%3051.8%645.7%4
San Francisco 49ers40.4%852.3%750.0%6
Baltimore Ravens35.1%352.4%865.4%31
Los Angeles Rams41.9%1052.6%956.5%19
Tampa Bay Buccaneers45.3%1353.2%1049.2%5
Philadelphia Eagles40.0%754.1%1160.7%25
Denver Broncos46.3%1655.0%1256.5%19
Dallas Cowboys37.1%455.2%1360.9%26
Las Vegas Raiders45.5%1455.6%1455.3%17
Atlanta Falcons50.8%2255.7%1563.9%29
Pittsburgh Steelers38.7%555.8%1638.9%1
Green Bay Packers66.7%3255.9%1763.3%27
Los Angeles Chargers32.4%255.9%1852.9%12
Detroit Lions43.8%1156.0%1955.0%15
Carolina Panthers54.4%2956.7%2052.5%11
Minnesota Vikings44.0%1256.9%2173.2%32
Buffalo Bills52.3%2557.3%2258.5%21
Cleveland Browns47.9%1957.5%2355.1%16
Cincinnati Bengals50.0%2057.6%2454.3%14
New York Giants52.5%2760.0%2559.6%23
Seattle Seahawks45.5%1460.8%2643.9%3
Tennessee Titans41.5%960.9%2759.6%23
New England Patriots51.6%2361.2%2850.0%6
Jacksonville Jaguars50.0%2061.7%2955.6%18
New Orleans Saints52.3%2561.7%3052.4%10
New York Jets61.7%3162.0%3159.3%22
Houston Texans39.5%665.2%3264.2%30
NFL Average46.8% 55.9% 55.4%