One of the most polarizing elements of fantasy football is defense and whether it should be valued or included at all. Over the years, scoring defenses in fantasy have been developed and utilized in many different ways.
What that means is that depending on where you play fantasy football will largely dictate how the defense scores points.
It is also worth remembering that while the slot is sometimes referred to as defense or “DEF,” it often includes special teams points as well. You may see the defense position listed as “DST” on some sites to account for that.
ESPN Fantasy Standard Scoring for Defense
ESPN’s standard scoring for defense is perhaps the simplest that we have because instead of giving points based on yardage or points allowed, scoring is accumulated with on-field plays. The plays that score points in ESPN’s standard scoring are defensive or special teams touchdowns, interceptions, fumble recoveries, blocked kicks, safeties, and sacks.
Six points are the most that can be scored on any single play, and that would take a sack, fumble recovery, and touchdown.
Here is the full breakdown of scoring for defense on ESPN:
- Defensive or Special Teams TD: 3 points
- Interception: 2 points
- Fumble Recovery: 2 points
- Blocked Punt, PAT, or FG: 2 points
- Safety: 2 points
- Sack: 1 point
Yahoo and NFL.com Fantasy Standard Scoring for DEF
Things get a little more complicated when we start looking at defensive scoring on Yahoo and NFL.com because, in addition to all the elements that ESPN includes, they also give fantasy points based on the number of points scored on the field.
Though ESPN’s fantasy defensive scoring starts at 0 from kickoff, Yahoo’s defenses are at 10 points from kickoff, and then their score fluctuates from there.
Here is the full breakdown of scoring for defense on Yahoo:
- Defense or Special Teams Touchdown: 6 points
- Blocked Kick: 2 points
- Safety: 2 points
- Fumble Recovery: 2 points
- Interceptions: 2 points
- Sacks: 1 point
- Points Allowed Scoring
- Shutout: 10 points
- 1-6 Points Allowed: 7 points
- 7-13 Points Allowed: 4 points
- 14-20 Points Allowed: 1 point
- 21-27 Points Allowed: 0 points
- 28-34 Points Allowed: -1 points
- 35+ Points Allowed: -4 points
The way that Yahoo’s scoring is set up allows for a greater range of results than ESPN’s, including the potential for negative scores if a defense gives up 28 or more points and does not make any plays on defense. The highest score on a single play can be nine with a sack, a fumble recovery, and a defensive touchdown.
Other DEF Scoring Systems in Fantasy Football
Every year, it feels like there are more options for defensive scoring, and the standard on sites such as Sleeper can be changed so easily that there is almost no standard for managers to think about.
However, you may also find that the scoring settings for the sites listed above are different if you play in a custom league.
Some of the other customizations that are allowed include:
- Yards Allowed (in a similar way to points allowed on Yahoo and NFL.com)
- 3-and-Outs
- 4th Down Stops
- Sack Yards
- Interception Return Yards
- Fumble Return Yards
- Tackle for Loss
- Forced Punt
- Missed FG Return Yards
- Blocked Kick Return Yards
