Fantasy Football Week 11 Defense Rankings and Streamers feat. Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, and more.
By Michael Chasco
Streaming defenses is a popular strategy in fantasy football, but your pick can make or break your scoring week. The NFL is a week-to-week business with new matchups to exploit and avoid to maximize our weekly point total.
Let's go through the best weekly defensive streaming options, plus give you an overview of how the top defenses rank heading into the new fantasy week. For streamers, we consider all defenses under the 60% threshold in ESPN and Yahoo! Sports leagues.
Fantasy Football Defense Rankings for Week 11
Fantasy Football Defense Streamers for Week 11
1] Miami Dolphins vs Las Vegas Raiders
Streaming defenses can be complicated. The nature of NFL offenses can be unpredictable from week to week, and you can pick the right defense but at the wrong team time. However, once the Raiders fired its offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello, and offensive line coach James Cregg going into the bye, Las Vegas instantly became a top priority for fantasy managers. You should expect this offense to be featured here for the rest of the fantasy season. It wasn't pleasant with Getsy's gameplans as the Raiders had more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9) and zero 300-yard-plus games this season. The running game was the worst in the league regarding rushing yards (692), 3.5 yards per carry, and EPA per attempt at -0.27. Simply this Raiders team is one of the worst offensive units in the league and a perfect target for Week 11.
The Miami defense showcased on Monday Night Football why it should be considered an every-week defense. The Dolphins disrupted and frustrated a hot Los Angeles offense and kept the Rams out of the endzone for the first time all season. Miami have allowed the third fewest passing touchdowns (8), the seventh fewest passing yards per game (202.7), and the eighth-best completion percentage (63.5%). With its secondary doing its part the defensive front has turned in the 10th fewest rushing yards (1,030) and the ninth worst matchup for running backs at -6.77 EPA this season. At 57% ownership in Yahoo! Sports leagues, Miami should be a top three defense this week and viable for fantasy teams using the streaming strategy to their advantage.
2] New Orleans Saints vs. Cleveland Browns
The NFL is a week-to-week business and there's no better example than the New Orleans Saints defense from Week 10 to 11. We were targeting this same unit last week as it was enduring a seven-game losing streak, traded away its best player in the secondary in Marshon Lattimore, and fired its head coach Dennis Allen during its bye week. But it was the Saints who shocked in the fantasy community with a fiery performance against divisional rival Atlanta and a win in interim coach Darren Rizzi's debut. Now New Orleans is up for streaming consideration? This game is wild.
Despite the down year, the Saints defense has been a bright spot in the Big Easy. Coming into Week 11, the Saints are second in the league with 12 interceptions and 22 sacks on the season. New Orleans is ninth in completion percentage allowed (63.6%) and the third fewest passing touchdowns this season (8). The Saints will try to keep it going against one of the most-fantasy friendly offense in the league in Cleveland. Up front, the Browns have allowed the worst QB hits percentage (22.9%), third highest pressure percentage (33.7%) and fourth worst time to pressure average (2.2 seconds). Its no mystery why Cleveland's passing game has struggled with the fifth fewest passing touchdowns (10), the worst yards per attempt (5.6), and third worst completion percentage (61.1%). We loved starting our streaming defenses against Deshaun Watson this season but he's gone for the season. Jamies Winston has stepped in and picked up right where he left off with three interceptions and six sacks to the Chargers in Week 10.
3] Los Angeles Rams at New England Patriots
After having a nightmarish start to its season, the Los Angeles Rams have turned it around in recent weeks and will be in streaming consideration for the first time all season. The Rams turned in one of its best performances of the season with three interceptions, a pressure percentage of 39.5%, and seven sacks against Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins. Los Angeles is now seventh in the league in sack percentage (8%) and 10th in pressure percentage with 31.8 despite being in the bottom half in the league in blitz percentage (26.4%). Los Angeles is led by rookie first rounder Jared Verse with his 4.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery in his first nine games as a pro.
Yes, rookie quarterback Drake Maye has given this Pariots offense some life. However, this unit remains one of the lowest volume offenses in the league and has had it fair share of struggles up front. New England has allowed the sixth-highest pressure rate (33.2%), and the second-most QB hits percentage in the league (19.8%). With so little time to throw its unsurprising the Patriots will come into this matchup with the fewest passing yards (1,387), worst passing yards per attempt (5.6) and fewest passing touchdowns (5). The Patroits remain one of the best targets to stream against and the Rams should be in play in Week 11.