D/ST Wins Championships - Week 5

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 fourth week of our “D/ST Wins Championships” column, we hit on two of our three picks for the fourth consecutive week. During Week 4, the column advised picking up either the Dolphins, Lions or Raiders D/ST. In a standard 10 or 12 team league, the Dolphins would have been a great start while the Lions would also have been a reasonable start. The Dolphins and Lions’ D/STs ranked third and 10th, respectively, in the league in Week 4. Unfortunately, the Raiders didn’t fare as well. While the stars were aligned for Oakland to have a great day defensively, it’s tough to imagine anyone is terribly surprised that the Raiders were a letdown.

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