Knowing which defenses to start in fantasy football can be critical to winning your matchups. This position, arguably more so than any other, is matchup-dependent on a weekly basis, and the best results can be obtained by being flexible with a streaming strategy. Here’s a look at our Week 14 fantasy defense rankings and the top options to stream this week.
Top Fantasy Defense Streamers in Week 14
Week 13 was a difficult one from a streaming perspective due to a lack of high-quality options, but we wound up with the highest-scoring defense of the week as well as two other quality options.
The final week of the fantasy football regular season is extremely difficult, so we’re here to help you. Here are my top fantasy defense streamers, all of which are rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues.
Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. BAL)
I really don’t love any of these streaming options. The Steelers do not have a good defense. Fortunately, the Ravens have one of the worst offenses in football. That was the case even before Lamar Jackson went down with a knee sprain. I saw Justin Tucker’s extra points projection at 2.5 on Underdog Fantasy and couldn’t recommend it fast enough.
The Ravens entered Week 13 allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points to defenses. Their run-heavy approach makes it difficult for opposing defenses to generate sacks and turnovers.
While I don’t expect the Ravens’ game plan to change much, the Steelers will be at home facing Tyler Huntley. The bad news is Huntley doesn’t really turn it over. He threw just one interception in five starts in 2021. The good news is he takes a bunch of sacks. Huntley was sacked 18 times in those five 2021 starts.
At worst, streaming the Steelers’ defense shouldn’t result in disaster, as the Ravens are highly unlikely to be able to run up the score. Consider them a floor play in Week 14.
Las Vegas Raiders (at LAR)
We streamed the Seahawks’ defense against the Rams in Week 13, and it worked out decently well. The Rams were certainly more competent with John Wolford than I expected, but the Seahawks managed four sacks and two interceptions. We will take that. Let’s try it again with an admittedly far worse Raiders defense.
For as bad as the Raiders are defensively, they’ve forced exactly one turnover in all but three games this season. They have two defensive touchdowns. More recently, they’ve been able to get to the quarterback, too. The Raiders have 11 sacks in their past three games.
The Rams have packed it in for the 2022 season. Matthew Stafford is now on IR, along with Cooper Kupp and Allen Robinson. None are going to play again this year. Wolford is throwing to Van Jefferson and Ben Skowronek as his top two receivers. This offense isn’t as bad as the Broncos, but they’re not about to light up the scoreboard. Continue to stream defenses against the Rams.
Cincinnati Bengals (vs. CLE)
This is easily the weakest streamer I’ve recommended all season. I was desperately searching for a third option, and this is what I came up with. It’s tough out there this week.
The Bengals’ defense isn’t good. They only have 20 sacks on the season. They’ve forced just one turnover in their past three games. They’ve scored seven combined fantasy points in the past three weeks.
This is just a gamble that Deshaun Watson, who has now played one football game in the past 700+ days, continues to look like a man who has played one game in the past two years.
Watson didn’t look great against the Texans. He was inaccurate, tentative, and threw a Jameis Winston-esque interception in the end zone.
With a full game under his belt, he could very well be much better, so this could end in disaster. Watson has never been bad in his career. But maybe we get one more game of rust from Watson, and the Bengals provide a decent floor.
Week 14 Fantasy Defense Rankings
The rankings below are from Senior Fantasy Analyst Tommy Garrett. If you want to ask Tommy or any of our fantasy analysts about defense rankings or streamers for Week 14, then be sure to sign up for the PFN Discord server, where you will have unlimited access to the team throughout the season.
The table is best viewed in landscape on mobile devices and can be sorted using the filters above the table.