Annnnd... away they go! The iconic call of Trevor Denman signaling the start of every horse race I've witness in Southern California still gets my adrenaline pumping knowing the race has just begun.
Week 1 one of every fantasy football season reminds me of the beginning of a horse race. You always want a great start and a strong finish. Like horse racing, your starting D/ST each week should more than likely change week by week, as you can't pick the same horse to run every race and you shouldn't be starting the same defense every week (nor should you drafting your defenses early, case in point Tampa Bay's negative three point showing against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football last night).
Through some research on scheduling advantages/ratings and overall OL/DL matchups throughout the year I've come up with the top five defenses you should have on your roster each week for the first four weeks of the fantasy football season as we try to pad ourselves an early lead in the standings:
Week 1
1. DENVER vs @ NYG (Daniel Jones)
2. LOS ANGELES Rams vs CHI (Andy Dalton)
3. SAN FRANCISCO vs @ Det (Jared Goff)
4. CAROLINA vs NYJ (Zach Wilson)
5. MIAMI vs @ NE (Mac Jones)
Week 2
1. WASHINGTON vs NYG
2. GREEN BAY vs DET
3. PITTSBURGH vs LV
4. CLEVELAND vs HOU
5. NEW ENGLAND vs @NYJ
Week 3
1. DENVER vs NYJ
2. PITTSBURGH vs CIN
3. CLEVELAND vs CHI
4. BALTIMORE vs @ DET
5. ATLANTA vs @ NYG
Week 4
1. NEW ORLEANS vs NYG
2. CHICAGO vs DET
3. BUFFALO vs HOU
4. DENVER vs BAL
5. TAMPA BAY vs @ NE
A lot of the same names you'll notice above in terms of who we're looking to stream defenses against early in the season. But just who is worth holding onto for multiple weeks of fantasy goodness? I've created a tiered list below of D/ST's for owners who might have a maximum amount of transactions they can make season OR have more limited means of attacking waivrs/spending their free agent budget dollars:
Tier 1
Denver Broncos (W1 @ nyg) (W2 @ jax) (W3 vs nyj)
Tier 2
Green Bay (W2 det)
Cleveland (W2 hou) (W3 chi)
Pittsburgh (W2 lv) (W3 cin)
Carolina (W1 nyj) (W3 @hou)
Tier 3
Los Angeles Rams (W1 chi)
Chicago (W2 cin) (W4 det)
San Francisco (W1 @det)
Cincinnati (W2 @chi) (W4 jac)
Buffalo (W2 @mia) (W4 hou)
Lastly, I'm guessing you didn't join a fantasy football league not to win the championship, right? I know that I'll be at the big dance in all my leagues.. maybe? Well, either way, here is a look ahead of who to target once you clinch a playoff berth and D/ST's worth keeping on your watch list until the playoffs:
Week 14
1. DENVER vs det
2. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS vs nyg
3. TENNESSEE vs jac
4. SEATTLE vs @ hou
5. GREEN BAY vs chi
Week 15
1. DENVER vs cin
2. CLEVELAND vs lv
3. BUFFALO vs car
4. MIAMI vs nyj
5. TAMPA BAY vs no
Week 16
1. PHILADELPHIA vs nyg
2. TAMPA BAY vs @car
3. ATLANTA vs det
4. SEATTLE vs chi
5. DENVER @lv
Week 17
1. CHICAGO vs nyg
2. SEATTLE vs det
3. NEW ENGLAND vs jac
4. TAMPA BAY vs @nyj
5. INDIANAPOLIS vs lv
AND here is a tier list for those leagues with a MAXIMUM transaction number for the playoff weeks:
Tier 1
TAMPA BAY (W15 vs n.o.) (W16 @ car) (W17 @ nyj)
DENVER (W14 vs det) (W15 vs cin) (W16 vs lv)
SEATTLE (W14 @ hou) (W16 vs chi) (W17 vs det)
Tier 2
TENNESSEE (W14 vs jac) (W16 vs sf) (W17 vs mia)
LA CHARGERS (W14 vs nyg) (W16 @ hou)
ATLANTA (W16 vs det)
Tier 3
NEW ORLEANS (W14 @ nyj) (W16 vs mia)
KANSAS CITY (W14 vs lv)
GREEN BAY (W14 vs chi)
INDIANAPOLIS (W17 vs lv)
CHICAGO (W17 vs nyg)
SAN FRANCISCO (W17 hou)