Selecting a defense is never the most glamorous part of fantasy football. It often goes overlooked for the more fun positions that people want to watch and root for during the game. The good news is that if our opponents aren’t putting too much thought into their defense, we can gain an advantage with some research. So let’s dig in and try to identify some defenses that could be in a good position to score fantasy points this week.
Week 11's main slate has a lot of games with low totals, so defense could play a big factor in deciding tournaments this week.
Philadelphia Eagles
FanDuel Salary: $4,800
The Philadelphia Eagles suffered their first loss of the season on Monday. The defense wasn't the problem, and they still finished with seven fantasy points. This week, they'll face an offense that has been very easy to pick on this season.
The Philadelphia D/ST has been great all season long. From a fantasy perspective, they have just two games below 7.0 FanDuel points. They have multiple takeaways in every game except one, but they've tallied only one defensive touchdown to boost up their fantasy scores. In terms of getting after the quarterback, Philly is fifth in adjusted sack rate and tied for fourth in overall sacks. They have struggled a bit against the run of late with Jordan Davis injured, but the Eagles just added Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph to help clog the middle of the field.
Philly is on the road this week against the Indianapolis Colts. Indy turned back to Matt Ryan at quarterback last week and won, but they will have a much tougher test against this defense. The Colts' offensive line has allowed the fourth-highest adjusted sack rate this season. Ryan is second in the league in interceptions despite being benched for two games.
The Eagles' defense can feast in this matchup, and they are a superb play if you have the salary.
New Orleans Saints
FanDuel Salary: $4,100
The New Orleans Saints have had to deal with a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball. It's led to them struggling to a 3-7 record in a division that could be there for the taking. With the Saints back at home this week against a struggling offense, at least their defense can play well.
The New Orleans D/ST has not been getting good results this season despite having talent. They are 22nd in total defense, according to numberFire's metrics. They do rank seventh in adjusted sack rate this season and have turned up the pressure recently, with 13 sacks in their last three games.
New Orleans is at home this week against the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams' offense has scored more than 20 points only twice this season, including just once since Week 2. LA's offense is 27th overall by our numbers and 32nd in yards per play. They should get Matthew Stafford back, but they will definitely be without Cooper Kupp. It's difficult to see how the Rams will move the ball well without their star receiver.
Stafford has thrown eight interceptions and fumbled five times in eight starts this year. If the Saints can put pressure on him, mistakes are likely coming. New Orleans is projected for the third-most points at the position and comes in at a modest salary.
Las Vegas Raiders
FanDuel Salary: $3,200
Figuring out which low-salary defense can give you a decent output is always a viable strategy. Sometimes it takes just one data point to justify playing a D/ST, and since the position has a lot of randomness, it can work out. In this case for the Las Vegas D/ST, it's mainly opponent driven.
It's tough to get excited about assing the Vegas D/ST to your lineup. There are a lot of metrics that tell you this defense is one of the worst in the league. By our metrics, they rank 31st in overall D and 32nd against the pass. Their adjusted sack rate is 30th in the NFL. They've had some success in fantasy, though, including the first time they took on this week's opponent.
The Las Vegas Raiders will play the Denver Broncos in the second meeting of the season between these two. In the first game, the Raiders had three sacks and a fumble recovery that went for a touchdown. Denver's offense has been dreadful all season long, ranking 30th overall and 24th in adjusted sack rate. It's hard to see the Broncos doing a ton of damage to the Raiders in this game given how Denver's season has gone so far.
Playing the Raiders' D/ST is totally acceptable and can help you get who you want at other positions.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.