Welcome back to the 2025 NFL Season! Starting with a player ejection before the first down of the season was even snapped, to ending with back-to-back nail-biting finishes for the night games, all in one weekend! We are so back! Whether or not the defense you drafted panned out for you (Shout out to the roughly 80% of Ravens DST managers that decided to start them at Buffalo, that was certainly a gamble), I want to welcome you to our little corner, where we look at the matchups on a week-to-week basis. Every season will have a few defenses that rise to the top and become “set it and forget it” starters for the lucky managers who acquired them. For the rest of us, however, we come here to look for the favorable matchups that maximize specific game potential rather than just sticking with one team. This proactive managing style for your DST position can be the point advantage you need to take home the W each week in fantasy. So join us as we search for the defenses that are rostered in around 50 percent of leagues or fewer (it wouldn’t be too helpful to recommend teams that are already rostered in a majority of leagues, after all!)
Please note that there’s a decent chance that better teams above this 50 percent threshold are available in your league, but we can’t assume they’re available to everyone. We have to draw the proverbial line somewhere, so stay active and monitor the league home page; someone might drop a desirable defense after waivers clear.
Dallas Cowboys
Opponent: vs. New York Giants
ESPN % Rostered: 4%
Yahoo % Rostered: 8%
After spending so much time in the news leading up to the start of the season, Dallas went on the road to hold the defending Super Bowl champions to 24 points while getting to the mobile quarterback of the Eagles once for a sack. They now come home to host the Giants, who only scored eight points in their opening game of the season. New York has announced that Russell Wilson will start again this week for them after his 46% completion rating from last week. This is good news for a secondary that held the likes of AJ Brown in check last week, with all but one of the secondary positions scoring a PFF grade of 65 or higher in that game. The run defense should be warmed up after last week as well to face a Giants rushing attack that saw 44 of their 74 total rushing yards come from their quarterback position.
Los Angeles Rams
Opponent: @ Tennessee Titans
ESPN % Rostered: 8%
Yahoo % Rostered: 29%
Coming off their Week 1 victory in which they held the Texans to under 10 points while coming away with two turnovers and three sacks, the Rams will now hit the road to face Cam Ward and the Titans. Tennessee gave up multiple turnovers and a whopping six sacks while only generating 12 points with a passing attack held to under 120 yards, with their leading receiver in yards coming in one play on a dump pass to the running back. I like defenses facing a rookie quarterback early in the season, and this looks to be a favorable match-up for Jared Verse and a Los Angeles defense that saw three players come away with PFF grades inside the top 10% last week. The Rams are a solid start against a team that only had two more yards in total offense than they did penalty yards for the entire game.
San Francisco 49ers
Opponent: @ New Orleans Saints
ESPN % Rostered: 19%
Yahoo % Rostered: 35%
It’s been a minute since the 49ers’ total rostered percentage was low enough to be qualified for this article! They started their first week against a division rival in a defensive slug-fest that had them come away with two turnovers and a sack while holding Sam Darnold to just 13 points on offense. Now Nick Bosa and company will travel down to the Superdome to square off against Spencer Rattler and a Saints offense that was held to just 13 points in Week 1. New Orleans’ offensive line is already banged up, with two of their starters heading into this week with a Questionable status for this game after one left last week’s game early and the other missed it entirely. San Francisco was a top-five defense last week in total yards and first downs allowed.
Missed the Cut
Arizona Cardinals (E:61% Y!:59%) – Arizona travels back home to host the Panthers, who are fresh off their three-turnover game where they only managed to score 10 points.
Seattle Seahawks (E:76% Y!:22%) – Yahoo leagues might consider the Seahawks, who dominated the league in QB Pressure rating for week one (and the runner-up defense wasn’t even close). They accomplished that on just a 15% blitz rate and now face the 41-year-old Rodgers
If you see something I don’t, leave a comment or hit me up with feedback @MikeoftheFF on Twitter or find me on Reddit!
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by Andy Lewis / Icon Sportswire