Week Five Fantasy Football Streaming Defenses: Trust The Lions To Be The Lions

If you read my article on playing the waiver wire game, you know that it is an essential part of winning your fantasy football league. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? I just told you it’s an essential part of winning your fantasy football league! Why do you hate winning? One of the best ways to maximize your weekly scoring is to stream defenses. This strategy is simple – we aren’t as concerned about good defenses, so much as finding defenses that are playing terrible offenses. Bad offenses are more likely to keep playing bad because if they knew how to be good, they would already be good. Because of this flawless logic, I will be pointing out the best streaming options for week five

Streaming Defenses Option #1:
Arizona Cardinals (47% rostered) @ San Francisco 49ers

It’s a quarter of the way into the season and we have to acknowledge that the Cardinals might be the best team in football. But, at this point, we know that they are undeniably the second-best fantasy football defense. They have ten sacks, nine turnovers, and are ninth in points allowed. This week, they are playing a San Francisco team that has given up the seventh-most turnovers in the NFL. That was before they were starting a rookie quarterback that many experts thought needed time to sit before he was NFL ready. If that doesn’t convince you, just note that the Cardinals have been the number one fantasy defense in football twice this year, both in weeks one and three. By the transitive property, we can deduce that the Arizona Cardinals will be the best fantasy defense in odd-numbered weeks, which makes them a must-start in week five.

Streaming Defenses Option #2:
Dallas Cowboys (38% rostered) @ New York Giants

Through four weeks of the NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys are a top-five fantasy defense. I’m gonna let that sink it because those are words nobody thought would be said. The main reason they have been doing so well is that the Cowboy’s defense has the most drives ending in a turnover. They are second overall in turnovers and lead the NFL in interceptions. They are even accumulating sacks, with nine on the season. Dallas is doing everything you want a fantasy defense to do, including playing a New York Giants team that nobody really believes in. Despite the Giants having the fourth-fewest turnovers in the NFL, I can’t help but feel like Daniel Jones is due to have a six-turnover game. The Cowboys feel like the exact defense that Jones will do that against.

Streaming Defenses Option #3:
Minnesota Vikings (35% rostered) @ Detroit Lions

Vikings versus the Lions feels like a no-brainer to me. The Lions have given up the tenth-most fantasy points to opposing defenses. The Lions are ninth in turnovers, twelfth in sacks, and their scoring offense is the ninth-worst in football. Everyone of value in Detroit is either injured in some capacity or they’re Jared Goff, which is way worse. The Lions aren’t spectacularly bad at one thing, they are just mediocre at everything. While the Viking’s defense hasn’t been the most exciting defensive play this year, I just trust the Lions to continue being the Lions.