3 Fantasy Football Defensive Streaming Options for Week 9

I'm one of the 10 or so weirdos on the planet who has a passion for D/STs. In truth, it's a difficult passion to explain to people. Fantasy football is already a niche within a niche, and defensive streaming adds a couple of layers of obscure on top of that. Indeed, even a certain chunk of the fantasy football community is vehemently opposed to defensive streaming.

Whether you share my passion for the D/ST position, or you're gritting your teeth and bearing with your league's decision to keep the spot in spite of your repeated requests to the contrary, I'm here to help.

A few housekeeping matters: lines are courtesy of NFL odds, and roster percentages and scores are from the Yahoo! fantasy platform. Assume that the listed order is the preferred order. I'll try for defenses on 40% or fewer of Yahoo rosters.

Miami Dolphins

vs. Houston Texans
Spread: Dolphins -7.0
Roster Percentage: 13%

To be honest, this is a particularly bleak week in terms of D/ST streaming. In all honesty, the decision came down to finding three defenses that were under 40% rostered and were actual favorites.

There is a decent chance that Tyrod Taylor will be back this week for the Houston Texans and his 0.55 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per dropback would certainly be a significant upgrade over Davis Mills, but the Miami Dolphins are still a promising defense to play based purely on the amount that they're favored by.

I wish I had a "the Dolphins are surprisingly good" tidbit or something along those lines, but I don't. They're 28th in Offensive NEP allowed per play. Not good.

In spite of that, we project the 'Phins to be the ninth-best D/ST in Week 9.

Las Vegas Raiders

vs. New York Giants
Spread: Panthers -3.0
Roster Percentage: 8%

In a down week, we'll have to resort to picking Daniel Jones and his career 2.3% interception rate and a 7.8% sack rate even if those are somewhat lower on the season.

The Las Vegas Raiders are an above-average defensive unit at 0.07 Offensive NEP allowed per play and the Carolina Panthers have an implied point total of just 19 points.

We take this to mean the Raiders are forecasted to be the 11th best D/ST on the week.

Los Angeles Chargers

at Philadelphia Eagles
Spread: Chargers -2.5
Roster Percentage: 30%

As promising as Jalen Hurts was in Week 1, that seems well in the rearview mirror. He's still roughly average at 0.10 Passing NEP per dropback, but that's nothing to truly fear either.

To be completely frank, I'm not crazy about the Los Angeles Chargers, but at least they're about an average defensive unit at 0.09 Offensive NEP allowed per play.

They're also projected as the 12th best D/ST for Week 9.