There was a time in fantasy football where it was commonplace for managers to prioritize a single, strong, defense on draft day and hold that team in this DST spot for the duration of the season. Gone are those days, and managers are, instead, viewing their DST as a commodity and streaming the position from week to week. While this is a perfectly viable approach, it does add another position to the list of targets when setting waiver priorities and can occasionally leave managers picking between less than ideal choices. Finding and holding a defense that is heading into a soft spot in their schedule can provide some stability and a nice edge to the streamers out there. Let’s take a look at the schedules from Week 2 to Week 5 and identify the best DSTs to stash for the next month.
Buffalo Bills
Week 2: @ New York Jets | Week 3: vs. Miami Dolphins | Week 4: vs. New Orleans Saints| Week 5: vs. New England Patriots
The Buffalo Bills delivered us one of the more electric Week 1 games in recent memory, overcoming a 15-point deficit in the 4th quarter to topple the Baltimore Ravens. They have a chance to build some major momentum and establish the inside track to the 1-Seed in the AFC with a Cottonelle-soft schedule for the early part of the season. The most challenging part of the run might come this week as they head to the Meadowlands to face a suddenly-explosive Jets offense. Despite a strong Week 1 performance, the Jets are still the most run-heavy offense in the league (62.9% of plays), and that can serve to burn the clock and minimize scoring opportunity. Let us also not forget that while Justin Fields is a dynamic fantasy asset, he has been known to take plenty of sacks and turn the ball over. Once we clear the Week 2 hurdle for the Bills DST, it is smooth sailing with 3-straight home games against the Dolphins, the Saints, and the Patriots – all of whom are in the bottom 5 in scoring offense this year. The good times roll well beyond Week 5 for the Bills DST, so don’t be surprised if they are a mainstay of this article for weeks to come.
New England Patriots
Week 2: @ Miami Dolphins | Week 3: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers | Week 4: vs. Carolina Panthers | Week 5: @ Buffalo Bills
Although the New England faithful weren’t pleased with the final score, the Patriots’ DST had a solid start to the season, hosting the Raiders in Week 1. Despite arguably missing their best player on defense, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, their DST accumulated 4 sacks and plucked an interception from Geno Smith – finishing with 7 points in most scoring formats. The 4-week outlook for the Patriots DST is a bit up and down, but they head into Week 2 with an excellent matchup against the Miami Dolphins. Miami was an absolute dumpster fire in Week 1, scoring just 8 points while allowing 3 sacks and 3 turnovers. Making matters worse in Week 2 is the loss of their starting Guard, James Daniels. Their matchup in Week 3, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a bit of a toss-up. I tend to believe that the scoring prowess Pittsburgh showed in Week 1 is a bit of a mirage and by the time they’re playing New England, they’ll be back to the slow, grind-it-out philosophy that has become their calling card. The good times keep rolling in Week 4 as the Patriots will host the Panthers and Bryce Young, who looked like the version of himself that got benched last season and should struggle to move the ball consistently. The Bills in Week 5 is obviously a matchup to be avoided but if you can plug the hole that week, there are several juicy matchups ahead for the Patriots DST.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 2: @ Houston Texans | Week 3: vs. New York Jets | Week 4: vs. Philadelphia Eagles | Week 5: @ Seattle Seahawks
As I combed through the upcoming NFL schedule, I was surprised by how much I kept coming back to the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay certainly isn’t known for their defensive prowess, and the weeks ahead are not filled with cupcakes like some of the other teams spotlighted in this article. Instead, the case for the Buccaneers DST is rooted in a time-tested strategy for this position: pressure leads to turnovers, and turnovers lead to points. The blitz-happy Buccaneers have an upcoming schedule that features 2 of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, the Texans and the Seahawks, and another in the Jets that was believed to be strong but is already short-handed due to injury and allowed 10 pressures on just 25 passing plays. Obviously, you’ll be best served to make other plans in Week 4 when the Bucs host the well-oiled machine that is the Eagles’ offense, but setting that game aside, the Buccaneers should be a readily available option for all those needing to stream their DST position.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@kurt_player02 on IG & Threads, @kuwasemiller on Bluesky)