NFL

3 Fantasy Football Defensive Streaming Options for Week 15

Cody Parker  —  @CodyJParker Dec 14th, 2021
The Jaguars draw the struggling Texans at home. Which defense is the best one to stream if you're in a pinch?

I'm one of the 10 or so weirdos on the planet who has a passion for D/STs. In truth, it's a difficult passion to explain to people. Fantasy football is already a niche within a niche, and defensive streaming adds a couple of layers of obscure on top of that. Indeed, even a certain chunk of the fantasy football community is vehemently opposed to defensive streaming.

Whether you share my passion for the D/ST position, or you're gritting your teeth and bearing with your league's decision to keep the spot in spite of your repeated requests to the contrary, I'm here to help.

A few housekeeping matters: lines are courtesy of NFL odds, and roster percentages and scores are from the Yahoo! fantasy platform. Assume that the listed order is the preferred order. I'll try for defenses on 40% or fewer of Yahoo rosters.

Miami Dolphins

vs. New York Jets
Spread: Dolphins -8.5
Roster Percentage: 48%

The Miami Dolphins clock in north of 40% rostered, but I'd be remiss to not include them on the list of streamers this week -- especially given they were potentially soft-dropped coming off a bye.

The Dolphins feature an above-average defensive unit at 0.06 Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) allowed per play. More importantly, they're facing Zach Wilson (8.9% sack rate) and the New York Jets (17.25 implied point total).

The Jets are already a bad team that has continued to have its offensive firepower throttled by injuries. It's a crowded field, but they're probably the best "stream against" option out there right now.

For these reasons, our model has the 'Phins as the top D/ST in Week 15.

Minnesota Vikings

at Chicago Bears
Spread: Chargers -4.0
Roster Percentage: 39%

Justin Fields, with his D/ST-friendly 12.5% sack rate, faces the Minnesota Vikings this week. That instantly makes them a viable D/ST.

In large part because of these negative plays, Fields has a -0.17 Passing NEP per drop back mark. That puts him among the league's worst.

In an ideal world, the Vikings would be at home in this fantasy football playoff matchup, but even as the road team, they're 4-point favorites. The Chicago Bears also have just a 19.75 implied point total, suggesting they're a somewhat safe play.

We project the Vikings as 4th-best D/ST in Week 15.

Jacksonville Jaguars

vs. Houston Texans
Spread: Jaguars -3.0
Roster Percentage: 2%

Both the Vikings and Dolphins are intuitive plays. The Jacksonville Jaguars are far from that.

The upside here is that you'll almost certainly be able to acquire them (who would really think to pick up the Jaguars.)

Look, unless you're fundamentally different from me, playing a team like the Jaguars will never be comfortable. The play makes some sense though. The Houston Texans have just a 19.0 implied point total, and Davis Mills has a -0.09 Passing NEP per dropback, an 8.1% sack rate, and a 2.9% interception rate.

If you're looking at teams this deep on the wire, you're just looking for a team to play badly. Who's more likely to play badly than a bad team? If you feel more comfortable in the Texans, feel free to play them instead. The Jags are the recommendation here as they're the home team.

We see London's favorite team as 11th-best D/ST in Week 15.