Fantasy Football Week 4 Defense Rankings and Top Streamers feat. Dolphins and Titans
Streaming defenses is a popular strategy in fantasy football, but picking the wrong one can make or break your scoring week.
Listed below are our top-ranked defenses entering the Week 4 slate, followed by the best streamers available under the 70% threshold from ESPN and Yahoo! Sports leagues.
Fantasy Football Week 4 defense rankings
Fantasy Football Best Streamers for Week 4
Miami Dolphins vs Tennessee Titans
ESPN 51% | Yahoo! 47% | FAAB Range 1%
Will Levis. That's it. That's the play. Fantasy football is hard, but sometimes it's best to keep streaming defenses simple. Last week, we featured the Tennessee second-year starter as an ideal quarterback to target when deciding which team to stream. Ideally, we're looking for bad turnovers and a lack of mobility to maximize our potential for defensive points in fantasy football each week, and Levis fits the bill perfectly.
We recommended the Green Bay defense as our top streamer against Levis, and the defensive unit delivered two interceptions and eight sacks in a 30-14 road victory in Week 3. Levis is up to five interceptions through three games, and only Deshaun Watson (16) has been sacked more than Levis's 15 this season. Levis owns a -12.17 Expected Points Added (4th worst) and a -0.11 EPA per dropback among qualified quarterbacks. Yes, please.
A pivotal stat for potential streamers is the defensive pressure rate when deciding which unit to choose for your fantasy rosters. The Titans' offensive line struggled with this metric last Sunday with a 38.1 pressure rate and ten QB Hits against the Packers. Tennessee's season average is 36.7% through three games, the eighth-worst in the league and the third-worst rate in QB Hits at 23.9% of Levis's dropbacks.
With defenses getting to Levis frequently, you would assume defensive coordinators around the league would be blitzing the young quarterback early and often. But it may surprise you that Levis has faced a blitz on only 17.4% of his dropbacks — 30th in the league entering Week 4 action.
So, how does this offense stack up against the Dolphin's defense?
Miami is in the top 10 in pressure rate at 36.3% and ninth in the league in blitz rate at 33.8%. However, it still needs to get to the quarterback more, with a 7.5% Sack rate (17th) and 11.8% QB Hit rate (27th) through three games. Even with the uncertainty at quarterback, the Dolphins should be considered one of the best streamers of the week against a turnover-prone Levis-led offense.
Tennessee Titans at Miami Dolphins
ESPN 3% | Yahoo! 3% | FAAB Range 1%
We usually wouldn't recommend two defenses to stream in the same game, but Monday will be a rare exception. The Miami Dolphins are in trouble. When Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa couldn't get back off the Hard Rock Stadium turf in Week 2, you knew it would immediately change all projections of Miami's season. Tagovailoa suffered yet another concussion that had the NFL world calling for his retirement after his much-publicized history of brain injuries from the previous season.
With its star quarterback meeting with a neurologist last week, the Dolphins turned to third-year signal caller Skylar Thompson. Unfortunately for Thompson, his third career start last Sunday resulted much like the first one last year — on the sideline with an injury. The former seventh-round pick exited the third quarter with what the Dolphins have reported as a chest injury after being shoved to the ground.
We already knew Tennessee's defense was already lining up to be the best streaming option in Week 4 with Thompson on Monday Night Football this week, but what happens if he can't go? If Thompson's status remains murky this week, Miami must turn to veterans Tim Boyle or Tyrod Taylor. Boyle replaced Thompson last week and finished with seven completions and 79 yards to get the Dolphins across the finish line in Week 3. Boyle has had five career starts in his seven-year career with zero wins to his ledger. Taylor could play himself into a starting role at some point; however, he was signed to the Miami roster last Tuesday.
Even at full strength, the Miami offense would face a formidable opponent to conquer in the Titans' defense. First, Tennessee has been impressive up front against the run game by holding down fantasy stars Breece Hall and Josh Jacobs to 62 and 43 rushing yards, respectively, and D'Andre Swift to 30 rushing yards this season. Unsurprisingly, the Titans are sixth-best defense in avoid tackles rate (14.5%) and have a league-best 26.5 Stuff percentage through three games.
The secondary has been doing its part as well. Green Bay's Christian Watson has the highest receiving yards against the Titans' defense, with 67 yards on two catches last Sunday. Fantasy stud DJ Moore could only muster 36 receiving yards against them, and the Titans held down Garrett Wilson to 57 receiving yards in Week 2. The best tight end performance? That would be Tucker Kraft with his two catches and 24 yards last week. How are they doing it?
You can't say the Titans have gotten after the quarterback, as they are 30th in QB Hits (10) and only 23th in pressure rate (24.7%). Quarterbacks have had time to throw against Tennessee's secondary as it owns the second-worst time to pressure in the league (3.1 seconds) and a 73.1% clean pocket rate — 10th worst among all defenses.
How do they have the least receptions (45) with only a single recorded throwaway in 78 pass attempts this season? Could opposing pass-catchers have a league-worst 11.8 drop rate through three games, inflating its numbers? Only time will tell, but we may have to put that discussion on hold for another week and start Tennessee in what projects to be a favorable matchup with whoever the Dolphins decide to start at quarterback on Monday.