Week 15 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings and Streamers feat. Baltimore Ravens, Washington Commanders, and more
The NFL is a week-to-week business with new matchups to exploit in fantasy football. Maximizing your point totals can be achieved with the popular strategy of streaming defenses each week. Let's review the best streaming options for Week 15 and give you an overview of how the top defenses rank for the first round of the fantasy playoffs.
For streamers, we consider all defenses under the 60% threshold in ESPN and Yahoo! Sports leagues.
Week 15 Fantasy Defense Rankings
Fantasy Football Defense Streamers for Week 15
1] Washington Commanders Defense vs. New Orleans Saints
Washington's defense had a tough start to its season. After six games, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson lit them up with two 300-plus-yard performances, and the Commanders would likely be a viable target during the rest of the fantasy season.
However, since Week 7, this Washington defense has been a strength for this surprising playoff contenders. The Commanders have allowed the second-fewest passing yards (1,269), the fourth-fewest passing yards per attempt (6.5), and zero 300-plus-yard games during that span.
The Commanders will have one of the best matchups to kick off the fantasy playoff slate this week. Even with Saints starter Derek Carr healthy, Washington would've been a decent streaming option in Week 15, albeit on the low end of the top 12 overall.
Now that we learned Carr fractured his hand in Week 14, we will target whoever starts in New Orleans, whether it's rookie Spencer Rattler or second-year quarterback Jake Haener.
In the three consecutive games without Carr this season, the Saints' pair of backup quarterbacks combined for the third-worst completion percentage (59.5%), the seventh-worst yards per attempt (6.1), and the second-fewest passing touchdowns (2).
Only the Ravens have a more obviously positive matchup this week against the NFL's worst-performing offense, the New York Giants. Baltimore was well above the streamer threshold (60%) we held all season, so if they were unavailable, Washington should be the next defense in your priority queue.
2] New York Jets Defense vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Unfortunately, the next streaming defense on our list has more volatility than we would like in this New York Jets defensive unit. In the last three weeks, every opposing quarterback had at least 20 completions and the 10th-best completion percentage (67.9%).
That includes Indianapolis' Anthony Richardson, who has by far the worst completion percentage among all qualified quarterbacks, at 47.4% for the season.
Many factors go into making the best streaming decisions, but never solely due to its past performances. We prefer to anticipate the week ahead. If you have been following along all season, you know Jacksonville has been an offensive unit we have targeted all season. Even with franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence healthy, the Jaguars were a low-volume offense that was predictably viable for defensive streamers.
Whether it was Lawrence's turnover-plagued play or backup Mac Jones auditioning (and bombing) for a job next year. It's been a rough watch. Jacksonville's undynamic duo of quarterbacks own the fifth-fewest completion percentage (61.9%), the eighth-fewest passing yards (2,777), the second-fewest passing touchdowns (13), and the fourth-most interceptions (12).
3] Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers
I know. It's Thursday Night Football, and you must make an executive call that could make or break your playoff life today. The Rams are probably not on many fantasy managers' radar — especially considering Los Angeles was torched by the Buffalo Bills and star quarterback Josh Allen for six touchdowns and 424 total yards.
But the NFL is a week-to-week business, and the Rams get a much different matchup with a banged-up 49ers squad on a short week and should be considered a streaming option in Week 15.
San Francisco broke out of its slump last week against the Bears and ended its three-game losing streak. The 49ers still find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the bottom of the NFC West standings with four regular season games remaining.
They will have to do so without star running back Christian McCaffrey and early season breakout Jordan Mason on injured reserve. With Isaac Guerendo nursing an injured foot, San Francisco could be down to the fourth-string running back Patrick Taylor this week.
All-world offensive tackle Trent Williams has already been ruled out for San Francisco with an ankle injury. This is a significant blow since the Rams own the 8th-best pressure rate (31.8%) this season. We typically prefer to avoid playing in-divisional matchups on the road, but the Rams could surprise with some fantasy goodness on Thursday night.