As usual, streaming defense remains the best way to handle the position in fantasy football. For the uninitiated, that means adding a new one almost every week based on what team has the best matchups, rather than relying on an every-week starter.
Consider that our Week 11 streaming options all finished top-12 at the position in scoring, with the top pick being available in over 90% of leagues at the time of writing and finishing 6th.
This week brings plenty of solid options as well, so let's get right into it. Here are the top streaming defense options, which are available in at least 50% of ESPN public leagues, for fantasy football Week 12.
Fantasy Football Streaming Defense/DST Week 12
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@ NYG) — 90.8% Available
Let me preface this by saying that this is one of the worst weeks from streaming defenses I can ever remember. To start with, thanks to a heavy slate of bye weeks, there are only 14 teams even playing this week that are available in 50-plus percent of leagues. Two of them are underdogs in games with over/unders above 50 points. Another four of them are underdogs of at least 7 points.
So essentially, before we even get to the specifics, there are only nine teams who could even possibly be on the radar.
So do I love that the best option of the week ranks bottom-10 in fantasy points per game? Not really, but here we are.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense is a pretty atrocious real-world unit, but they check a couple of key boxes for fantasy production. Their biggest strength is their pass rush, ranking 19th in both pressure rate and PFF's pass-rush grade, and they also rank No. 16 in turnover rate.
Tommy DeVito will be starting for the Giants, so they'll take a more conservative approach than usual if last year was any indication, but as 5.5-point underdogs they'll likely be forced to at least get aggressive at some point, opening the door for sacks and turnovers to pile up late.
2. Cleveland Browns (vs. PIT) — 73.1% Available
It's not often I'll target an underdog defense, but that becomes a lot more tenable in a Thursday Night Football game with an over/under of just 35.5 points. This week's Browns-Steelers matchup is shaping up to be a bit of a dud, which is good for fantasy defenses.
The Steelers have given up 6 or 7 fantasy points to defenses in each of their last three games (making it three of four in Russell Wilson's starts), and all three of those defenses rank behind the Browns in PFF's overall team defense grade.
Cleveland doesn't have the elite defense they did last year, but this is still firmly a top-10 unit in the league, and that should give them a pretty high floor for fantasy production in what promises to be a low-scoring matchup.
3. Las Vegas Raiders (vs. DEN) — 96.5% Available
I don't really want to choose a third defense here. If the Bucs and Browns aren't available, maybe just don't roster a defense and instead stash a running back handcuff in hopes you're a week early on a hot waiver wire add or something.
I'm just kidding, I think.
The Denver Broncos aren't the juicy matchup for fantasy defenses they looked like earlier in the season thanks to the emergence of Bo NIx, but his much-improved play certainly hasn't made them a terrible matchup. Before last week's terrible performance from Atlanta, defenses had still scored 5, 10 and 5 fantasy points against him in the previous three weeks.
Playing at home, the Raiders are "only" 4.5-point underdogs this week, and a 41.5-point over/under projects a relatively low-scoring affair.
The Raiders are genuinely quite a strong defense against the run, which does make things kind of interesting in fantasy. If the Broncos hope to do real damage, the path of least resistance is going to be through the air. That creates plenty of opportunities to torch the NFL's worst secondary, for sure, but it also means more opportunities for potential turnovers and the happy variance of a fluky defensive touchdown.
The Raiders' floor is terrible this week, but if you're scraping the bottom of the barrel then they have the most upside that you'll find.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fantasy Football Streaming Defense/DST to Target in Week 12.
