If you're reading a streaming defense column with the fantasy football playoffs approaching so quickly, you probably don't need me to sell you on the virtue of the strategy. You especially don't need that if you added the cover defense from last week's streaming column and had the No. 6 scoring defense for Week 13 (which was available in 80% of leagues to start the week).
This week doesn't bring quite as juicy an array of streamers (easy-to-target matchups like the Browns, Raiders and Jaguars all go to heavily-rostered defenses in Week 14), but there are still plenty of great choices.
Here are the top fantasy football streaming defense options, which are all available in at least 50% of ESPN public leagues, for Week 14.
Fantasy Football Streaming Defenses Week 14
1. New Orleans Saints (@ NYG) — 70.4% Available
The New York Giants have been one of the best matchups for fantasy defenses all season, and now Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock have pushed that way over the top.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are tied for No. 25 in fantasy scoring on the season and finished as the No. 7 defense in Week 12. The Dallas Cowboys rank No. 17 on the season and were the No. 2 defense in Week 13. So I'm not too concerned with how a struggling New Orleans Saints unit will fare here.
The turnover-happy Drew Lock would be the higher upside matchup, but even if DeVito returns this is still a great spot. Tommy Cutlets has been sacked 5 times or more in five of eight games in which he's played at least 55% of the available snaps. He's been sacked on a ridiculous 16.4% of his career dropbacks.
Even on the road, the Saints are 4.5-point favorites in a game with a 40.5-point over/under. New Orleans should be playing with a lead for much of this game, and that means lots of opportunities to either capitalize on Lock's sloppiness or get to DeVito for some sacks.
2. Tennessee Titans (vs. JAX) — 86.6% Available
You're never going to feel great about starting a defense that just dropped negative fantasy points in the previous week, but you're also generally going to feel okay about starting literally any unit against the Jacksonville Jaguars — especially with Mac Jones at the helm.
The Jags gave up 13 fantasy points to Minnesota in Week 10 and another 10 in Week 11 (Jones' two starts). Those are both much better defenses than the Titans, but those games also both felt like the potential was there for significantly more fantasy output. The Jags scored a combined 13 real-world points while turning the ball over 4 times.
The Titans are favored by 3.5, and with a run defense that has looked surprisingly capable all year, Jacksonville will have to go with a heavy dose of Mac Jones slinging the ball this week. Maybe he has a repeat of his surprisingly solid Week 13 showing, but the best bet is that he continues to play at the level we've come to know and love when starting defenses against Jones (and the Jaguars in general) in fantasy.
3. Cincinnati Bengals (vs DAL) — 75.7% Available
Here's more of a boom-or-bust option. The Monday Night Football matchup between the Bengals and Cowboys projects to be a bit of a shootout, with a sizeable 49.5-point over/under.
A shootout would force Dallas to get aggressive with their playcalling though, and considering the Bengals are favored by almost a touchdown, that would mean aggressive playcalling with the ball in Cooper Rush's hands. Doing that behind PFF's No. 25 ranked pass-blocking offensive line is a recipe for disaster.
As is apparently the trend with streaming defenses this week, the Bengals are not a good real-world defense and generally aren't a good fantasy defense. But this is a situation we see pretty often with streaming defenses — if an offense can get you enough of a lead, even a bad defense has potential upside with sacks, turnovers and even touchdowns to be worth a look.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fantasy Football Streaming Defense/DST to Target in Week 14.
