3 Fantasy Football Defensive Streaming Options for Week 11
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.
Tennessee Titans
vs. Houston Texans
Spread: Titans -10.5
Roster Percentage: 61%
I typically make an exception to the roster rate threshold when I recommended a team last week as I did with the Tennessee Titans. They are a dynamite run-it-back option this week taking on the Houston Texans.
The Titans still sit at a middle-of-the-road 0.08 Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) allowed per play. The real appeal, however, is the offense putting Tyrod Taylor in "hair on fire" mode. "Tygod" has fallen back to Earth after a hot start, now sitting at 0.12 Passing NEP per drop back -- below the league average.
The Texans' implied team total is just 17.5, and Tennessee's defense is generating a solid 31% pressure rate.
Assuming you can run it back, we project the Colossals to be the third-best D/ST this week.
Miami Dolphins
at New York Jets
Spread: Dolphins -3.0
Roster Percentage: 26%
Onto defenses that actually meet the criteria.
The Miami Dolphins sit at a slightly below average 0.11 Defensive NEP per play, which is perfectly acceptable when facing the New York Jets, who will be lead by...a quarterback...presumably.
Whoever it is, they won't be very good. Mike White sits at 0.00 Passing NEP per dropback (which is well below average) and Zach Wilson is far below that even at -0.17 Passing NEP per dropback. I don't even want to imagine Joe Flacco playing meaningful snaps in 2021, so I won't.
With nine sacks and six turnovers the past two weeks, Brian Flores' squad is playing much more like the version from last year that was a top-five defense in most league formats.
Our forecast shows the Aquatic Cetaceans as the fifth-best D/ST in Week 11.
New York Jets
vs. Miami Dolphins
Spread: Jets +3.0
Roster Percentage: 1%
To peak behind the curtain a little bit, I always try to sneak in a "Second Page Defense." What I mean by this is a defense who isn't listed in Yahoo's platform in the top-25 in roster percentage, and thus you need to hit "next page" to see them.
This week? That page is dire. You'd have to be pretty desperate in a deeper league to play the Jets, but the "flip the script" strategy worked last week, so maybe we'll see some more funkiness?
The Jets -- of all teams -- are the best candidate to put up a reasonable fantasy performance against the Dolphins' struggling offensive line.
Miami has allowed plenty of pressure on both quarterbacks. Jacoby Brissett has been under pressure third-most in the league or 27.0% of the time, while Tua Tagovailoa is under pressure 23.7% of the time. It's easy to see how they've only scored two offensive touchdowns in two weeks with the aforementioned six turnovers.
We've got the Frequent Fliers pegged as the 24th-best D/ST on the week. They've struggled enough to merit that, but there aren't better options if you're down that far or use this piece to generate ideas in daily fantasy.
