Welcome to week 3! Now that we have two weeks of data under our belt, let us take a look into some of the matchups heading into this week that present themselves as viable candidates for streaming. Reminder that you should familiarize yourself with your league’s defensive point settings, most notably- do they count yards allowed or not.
As always, we’re looking for teams rostered around 50% or lower rostered.
Please note that there is a decent chance better teams are out there in your league than these listed, but we cannot assume they’re out there for every league. Stay active and monitor the league home page, there is also a chance someone will drop a defense after the waivers clear for this week as well.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Opponent: vs. Houston Texans
ESPN % Rostered: 12%
Yahoo % Rostered: 18%
Jacksonville leads the league in QB hurry % and has the third-highest QB pressures. Now the Jaguars sack leader Josh Allen (No, not that one- the linebacker) will be facing down a Texans team that started 4 backups on their offensive line last week. Laremy Tunsil is starting out the week questionable and some of the other starters aren’t even eligible to return until week 5 at the earliest. After two games, Jacksonville has created 6 turnovers and 5 sacks. The Texans are bottom five in rushing yards so far so there should be a substantial amount of pressure on CJ Stroud to keep up his notable passing rates. The Texans are on pace for surrendering 5.5 sacks per game and that trend should continue into this matchup.
Kansas City Chiefs
Opponent: vs. Chicago Bears
ESPN % Rostered: 10%
Yahoo % Rostered: 41%
Generating the sixth-worst total offensive yards per game, the Bears now travel to Arrowhead to face a Kansas City defense that bounced back in week 2 after opening the season with a lackluster performance. They sacked Trevor Lawrence 4 times and recovered a fumble from him. Now they will take on Justin Fields who has already thrown 3 interceptions and been sacked 10 times this season. With Chris Jones back in the fold, this defense has the third most blitzes and will look to keep up the pressure on Chicago which has allowed double-digit fantasy points to both defenses they’ve played against this year.
Seattle Seahawks
Opponent: vs. Carolina Panthers
ESPN % Rostered: 5%
Yahoo % Rostered: 10%
Seattle has 3 players in the top ten of total tackles so far and now faces a Carolina offense that’s bottom 5 in total yards per game and ranked last in passing yards. Bouncing back from a slow start to week 1, the Seahawks traveled to Detroit and came away with an interception-touchdown, two sacks, and two fumble recoveries. Now they will host the Panthers who have surrendered 6 sacks and turned the ball over 4 times. Seattle has the third-lowest rushing yards per attempt allowed but has been weaker in defending the pass than most teams. However, with the Panthers lacking in the passing game, this looks to be a better matchup than the previous two passing attacks and hold the opposing quarterback to under 300 yards passing this time.
These teams did not meet the consideration threshold for the main highlight section, but you should check to see if they’re available in your league:
Baltimore Ravens – ESPN: 52% Y!: 77%
New England Patriots – ESPN 57% Y!: 66%
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