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: stop being concerned with finding good defenses, and find defenses that are playing against terrible offenses. Bad offenses are more likely to keep playing poorly because if they knew how to be good, they would already be good. Following this flawless logic, let’s find out who we should stream this week!
THURSDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!
Las Vegas Raiders Defense (25% owned) @ Los Angeles Rams
I haven’t recommended a lot of streaming for Thursday Night Football, but with the Rams playing, we’d be remiss not to mention the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders have also quietly won three of their last four games, but let me be clear. The Raiders are not a good defense. That doesn’t matter because the Rams aren’t a good football team. The Rams actually improved a bit this week. They only give up the third-most fantasy points to opposing defenses. This week, there is a non-zero chance we could see Baker Mayfield throwing the football, which can only help the Raiders’ chances. I will continue to bet against the Rams as long as the defenses that play them continue to put up top-ten defensive performances.
Kansas City Chiefs Defense (52% owned) @ Denver Broncos
Kansas City is slightly over the 50% rostered threshold that I like to limit myself to, but this week is a pretty bad week to stream defenses. I feel like I am setting for most choices. Which is why if the Chiefs are on your waiver wire, just grab them. The Broncos are a trainwreck. They give up the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing defenses. Courtland Sutton is likely to be out, which will only hurt an already anemic passing game, and their best running back is Latavius Murray. More importantly, the Chiefs just lost a heartbreaker and will be looking for revenge. I’d say this is a bad week to be a Broncos fan, but every week is a bad week for that this year.
Tennessee Titans Defense (38% owned) @ Jacksonville Jaguars
If Kansas City isn’t available, the Tennessee Titans are a decent consolation prize. In a normal week, I am not sure the Titans would have made the cut. They are an average fantasy defense, and Jacksonville is an average match-up. But the Titans are a very good real-life defense. They give up the seventh-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs. Their pass defense is more suspect for fantasy, but with Trevor Lawrence potentially missing this week, this could end up being a very sneaky start.
