3 Fantasy Football Defensive Streaming Options for Week 14
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.
Green Bay Packers
vs. Chicago Bears
Spread: Packers -12.5
Roster Percentage: 34%
The Green Bay Packers are the first of three significant favorites we're going to look at. In fact, the Pack are just a few line movements away from being favored by two touchdowns.
The Packers sit at a middle-of-the-road 0.07 Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) allowed per play, but that's just fine when you're 12.5-point home favorites and facing a team with a 15.75-point implied total. The Cheeseheads are a great option regardless of who's under center for the Chicago Bears, but if I'm trotting out the Green Bay D/ST, I would prefer Justin Fields and his 13.5% sack rate to be the signal-caller.
Green Bay hits every box we look for in a streaming defense, especially if Fields is back this week. Our model projects them as this week's top D/ST.
Los Angeles Chargers
vs. New York Giants
Spread: Chargers -10.5
Roster Percentage: 26%
The Los Angeles Chargers are likewise double-digit favorites in Week 14. The New York Giants, meanwhile, will likely be without Daniel Jones and possibly Mike Glennon. Jake Fromm, who's yet to throw an NFL pass, would be next in line to start.
Either Fromm or Glennon will do just fine for our purposes, and the Giants' 17.5-point implied total suggests we shouldn't expect much from either quarterback.
The Chargers have been a little below average overall on D, but playing at home and with an offense that should put the G-Men into pass mode, the Los Angeles Chargers D/ST is a great streamer.
Tennessee Titans
at Jacksonville Jaguars
Spread: Titans -8.5
Roster Percentage: 24%
The Tennessee Titans would be the top streamer most weeks -- and a relatively strong one at that. They fall a little below the double-digit favorites, but any defense favored by more than a touchdown is in great shape.
Trevor Lawrence hasn't displayed the sack-proneness we'd ideally like to see when targeting a quarterback to stream against, with just a 4.4% rate. However, the Jacksonville Jaguars also have just a 17.5-point implied total.
We project the Tennessee D/ST as the number-four defense for the week. They're a great fall-back waiver add if you can't get the Chargers or Packers.
