Fantasy Football Defense Rankings and Streamers for Week 14 feat. New Orleans, Tampa Bay, 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 14 and give you an overview of how the top defenses rank. For streamers, we consider all defenses under the 60% threshold in ESPN and Yahoo! Sports leagues.
Week 14 Fantasy Defense Rankings
Fantasy Football Defense Streamers for Week 14
1] New Orleans Defense vs. New York Giants
The Giants are a mess. MVP candidates from each side of the ball, Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney, were let go last offseason. That is terrible enough, but New York would eventually release its opening-day starting quarterback, Daniel Jones, before Thanksgiving. Nobody will feel sorry for this franchise—especially in fantasy football. Instead, we target them for streaming targets. That's why we're elevating a normally mid-level New Orleans defense into a premier streaming option in Week 14.
Who starts as the starting quarterback for New York will remain the same. Tommy DeVito or Drew Lock will still be playing behind a struggling offensive line that has allowed the most pressure rate (40.5%) during Weeks 10-13, the third-highest quarterback hit rate (22.3%), and the fourth-highest sack rate (9.9%) during that span.
It's not surprising that the offensive has suffered from struggles up front. New York has zero passing touchdowns in the previous four weeks, the fourth fewest passing yards per game (186.7), and only five attempts of 20-plus yards (zero completions). The Saints are not an ideal defense to start every week, with just eight sacks and one interception in the last four weeks. But for the final start before the playoffs, New Orleans should be in starting lineups across all formats.
2] Tampa Bay Defense vs. Las Vegas Raiders
Aiden O'Connell turned in the best performance of the season by a Raiders quarterback last week with 340 passing yards and two touchdowns. He may have breathed some new life in Las Vegas, but we're still targeting this offensive unit for streaming defensive options. Since Week 10, the Raiders have the 11th-highest sack rate (7.5%) and the 12th-highest pressure rate (30.1%).
Unsurprisingly, Las Vegas has the worst average depth of target (5.5) and the fifth-fewest attempts of 20-plus yards (5) during that span. The Raiders running game has been a disaster since moving on from Josh Jacobs in the offseason. Las Vegas tried to find some in-house options, starting with Zamir White and veteran Alexander Mattison. The Raiders have had the least red-zone rushing attempts (5) and zero rushing touchdowns in the last four weeks.
With the favorable matchups, the Tampa Bay defense has been a popular streaming option since coming out of its Week 11 bye. The Buccaneers dominated a poor Giants offense and were surprisingly tested last week against a suddenly resurging Panthers team. Tampa Bay has generated the fifth-most pressure rate (36.7%) in the previous two weeks, with five sacks to show for it. The Buccaneers blitzed on half of its defensive snaps (51.1%) and will look to cause havoc on Sunday. We just better ensure they are in our starting lineups when they do.
3] Tennessee Titans Defense vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
If you struck out on New Orleans and Tampa Bay was unavailable, you might have a chance to salvage your streaming strategy with Tennessee this weekend. The Jaguars are in the midst of a lost year, with a coach unlikely to survive the offseason. It didn't help it brought back its oft-injured franchise quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, for a meaningless game, only to see him — literally — knocked out against Houston last week.
Picking streaming defenses, you have to match them up with low-volume offenses, and there hasn't been a better target than Jacksonville this season. Since Week 10, the Jaguars have the second-fewest completion percentage (60.9%), the third-fewest yards per pass attempt (5.6), and the second-fewest passing yards per game (175). How will Jacksonville's offense look now Lawrence is likely out for the season? Backup quarterback Mac Jones will have an opportunity to lead this Jaguars offense and will be a multi-week streaming target down the stretch starting with the Titans this Sunday.