Starting the same D/ST every week is one of the worst moves a fantasy owner can make. It’s much safer to bet against a bad offense than it is to bet on a good defense. The notion of a ‘great’ D/ST is flawed; you can get top-level production by streaming defenses based on matchups. Check out this column every week to find out which D/STs you can and should pick up off of the waiver wire.
The Rules: Each week, I’ll highlight three easily-acquired D/ST’s that are worthy of a start in 12-team formats. The D/STs that I pick must be owned in less than 40 percent of leagues so that each unit is likely available in your own league. To establish credibility over the course of the season, I’ll review how my picks from last week did.
Last Week’s Picks: In the second week of our “D/ST Wins Championships” column, we again nailed two of our three picks. During Week 2, the column advised picking up either the Redskins, Jaguars or Bills D/ST. In any league, both the Bills and the Redskins D/STs would have been elite starting options. The Bills and the Redskins’ D/STs ranked second and third, respectively, in the league in Week 2. Unfortunately, the Jaguars didn’t fare as well. We recommended Jacksonville because the prevailing thought was that Gus Bradley could slow down Robert Griffin III, but the signal caller got injured in the early-going, and the Jaguars D/ST had to face a player, Kirk Cousins, we’d likely never have picked against. Still, two out of three elite-caliber defenses is solid for a plan designed predominantly to save your resources.
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