NFL

NFL Analytics: Positional Success Rates Allowed Through Week 15

Which teams grade out as the best units against each offensive skill position through Week 15?

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 15'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
Pittsburgh Steelers-0.07240.9%1
Los Angeles Rams-0.09142.8%2
Washington Football Team-0.04444.5%3
Los Angeles Chargers0.141944.7%4
New Orleans Saints0.07845.2%5
Chicago Bears0.121545.9%6
San Francisco 49ers0.101145.9%7
Baltimore Ravens0.05546.5%8
Kansas City Chiefs0.07646.7%9
Miami Dolphins-0.05346.8%10
Denver Broncos0.101347.0%11
Tampa Bay Buccaneers0.08947.2%12
Dallas Cowboys0.162047.2%13
Philadelphia Eagles0.131848.1%14
Green Bay Packers0.121648.2%15
Arizona Cardinals0.101248.3%16
Indianapolis Colts0.081048.4%17
Cleveland Browns0.182248.9%18
Seattle Seahawks0.172149.1%19
Cincinnati Bengals0.182449.3%20
Buffalo Bills0.111449.7%21
New England Patriots0.07749.9%22
Atlanta Falcons0.222650.4%23
Las Vegas Raiders0.272850.7%24
Carolina Panthers0.182350.8%25
Minnesota Vikings0.222551.3%26
New York Giants0.121752.4%27
Tennessee Titans0.232753.0%28
New York Jets0.282953.1%29
Jacksonville Jaguars0.293053.2%30
Detroit Lions0.333254.3%31
Houston Texans0.303155.3%32
NFL Average0.13 48.6%

Running Back Rush Defense

Defense Rushing NEP/
Carry
Rank Rushing
Success Rate
Rank
Pittsburgh Steelers-0.07333.6%1
Baltimore Ravens-0.07434.8%2
New York Jets-0.05535.6%3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers-0.12135.9%4
Philadelphia Eagles-0.05635.9%5
Chicago Bears0.011437.6%6
New York Giants0.031938.7%7
Denver Broncos0.032039.0%8
New Orleans Saints-0.04839.2%9
San Francisco 49ers-0.031039.6%10
Seattle Seahawks-0.011240.6%11
Tennessee Titans0.021640.9%12
Arizona Cardinals0.021741.1%13
Atlanta Falcons-0.12241.9%14
Indianapolis Colts0.001342.2%15
Miami Dolphins-0.031142.4%16
Los Angeles Rams-0.05742.6%17
Jacksonville Jaguars0.052143.5%18
Washington Football Team-0.04943.7%19
Cincinnati Bengals0.052243.7%20
Carolina Panthers0.072544.2%21
Kansas City Chiefs0.052444.5%22
Green Bay Packers0.122944.6%23
Los Angeles Chargers0.011545.3%24
Las Vegas Raiders0.173245.5%25
Buffalo Bills0.052346.0%26
Dallas Cowboys0.082746.6%27
Houston Texans0.153146.9%28
Minnesota Vikings0.072648.3%29
Cleveland Browns0.031848.8%30
New England Patriots0.102849.4%31
Detroit Lions0.133049.6%32
NFL Average0.02 42.4%

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
Pittsburgh Steelers43.5%1148.1%140.2%1
Washington Football Team46.2%1548.4%255.7%15
Kansas City Chiefs52.6%2848.7%359.0%22
Miami Dolphins59.8%3249.7%451.8%6
Los Angeles Rams37.9%250.8%553.9%10
Los Angeles Chargers38.3%352.0%653.8%9
Buffalo Bills50.0%2453.1%760.2%24
Green Bay Packers58.2%3153.1%852.4%8
San Francisco 49ers42.2%853.2%950.7%5
New Orleans Saints42.9%953.2%1048.6%2
Cincinnati Bengals52.6%2953.3%1152.3%7
Baltimore Ravens39.0%453.4%1261.5%29
Cleveland Browns47.9%1854.5%1358.3%20
Dallas Cowboys40.5%654.6%1463.5%30
Carolina Panthers48.5%1954.9%1560.4%25
Denver Broncos42.1%755.0%1655.4%14
Chicago Bears34.6%155.1%1754.7%12
Atlanta Falcons45.7%1455.6%1860.8%27
Tampa Bay Buccaneers40.4%555.9%1957.9%19
New England Patriots43.4%1056.1%2056.4%17
Tennessee Titans54.8%3056.3%2160.4%26
Seattle Seahawks51.4%2756.8%2250.0%3
Arizona Cardinals46.3%1657.0%2353.9%10
Indianapolis Colts50.5%2657.3%2450.0%3
Minnesota Vikings47.3%1757.7%2563.6%31
Philadelphia Eagles43.6%1357.7%2656.3%16
Las Vegas Raiders43.5%1257.8%2756.9%18
Jacksonville Jaguars50.5%2559.1%2854.8%13
New York Giants49.1%2159.2%2963.8%32
New York Jets49.1%2059.3%3059.2%23
Detroit Lions49.5%2260.7%3158.8%21
Houston Texans49.5%2364.2%3261.4%28
NFL Average46.6% 55.1% 56.1%