Defenses (DEF) to Start in Week 6: Fantasy Tiers & Rankings

October 7, 2014

Matt Lib analyzes which defenses (DEF) to sit or start, and provides his Week 6 rankings and tiers for all of the NFL defenses. Starting the right defense in fantasy football can be a game changer.

For those of you fantasy football owners out there who are streaming defenses, RotoBaller has got you covered with around-the-league analysis of the Week 6 NFL matchups.  Week 6 shouldn’t be an issue with bye weeks meaning there should be a good selection on the free agency market, so be sure to stay on top of the NFL matchups and defensive opponents.

Just like every other week of the fantasy football season, we’re here to give you the insight to help make your defense streaming decisions and Week 6 lineup decisions a bit easier. Some of these defenses may have good matchups, and be sleepers available on your league’s waiver wire, so make sure to take a look at your waiver wire options as well.

Teams that have bye weeks in Week 6: Kansas City Chiefs & New Orleans Saints

Week 6 Defenses: Tiers & Rankings

Tier 1: Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals

This week we start off the first tier just like most weeks, with the Bengals taking on the Panthers at home, the Seahawks facing off against the Cowboys at home, and the Niners going up against the the Rams in St. Louis. It may be a tougher week for Cam Newton, Tony Romo, Austin Davis and some other offensive weapons like Kelvin Benjamin, Brian Quick and Dez Bryant. It will be interesting to see how these players do against some of the top defenses in the NFL. All of these defenses are owned in over 90% of leagues, but please do the right thing and pick them up off the Week 6 waiver wire if any are somehow available in your league.

Then we dive into the teams that are available in more leagues, and for this week in tier 1 that consists of the Chargers and the Cardinals. The San Diego Chargers head 500 miles north to visit the Raiders, and coming off their dismantling of the Jets offense, you can expect more of the same this week again Derek Carr, James Jones and Darren McFadden. Oakland has the worst offense in the league thus far, scoring 13 PPG and totaling only 270 YPG through four games.

The Arizona Cardinals take on the Washington Redskins and while their fantasy numbers haven't been too flashy so far, the weeks in which they've done poorly have been against the Chargers and the Broncos. Their defense is averaging 21.5 PPG even after giving up 41 to the Broncos this past week, and will look to add to their seven takeaways through four games against a Washington offense that's given up nine turnovers through four contests. Kirk Cousins, Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson may be in for a long day at the office.

Tier 2: Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens

Tier 2 starts off with teams owned in 75% of leagues and up - the Lions will be in Minnesota against a Vikings offense averaging 20 PPG on 205 YPG passing. Detroit's front seven will challenge Teddy Bridgewater to rely on his arm more, and we haven't seen enough consistency from Greg Jennings, Cordarelle Patterson, or Jarius Wright for that to be too scary of a matchup with the Lions giving up 16 per game. The Broncos end up at the Meadowlands against the New York Jets, who were just blanked by San Diego's defense 31-0. With the Jets averaging 16 PPG with 184 YPG passing, look for Denver's run defense to force another young QB to throw. If Geno Smith is lucky, he will have Eric Decker back in the lineup. But we shouldn't expect much from Chris Ivory, Chris Johnson or anyone else on the Jets offense.

The Patriots are the third team owned at 80% of Yahoo leagues, and find themselves up in Buffalo against the Bills now led by Kyle Orton. While Buffalo's offense did look better than expected against Detroit, they did only manage 17 points and New England's defense is just as formidable. Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller should get their touches, but the Patriots may be focused on stopping Sammy Watkins. The other half of this game will be the more interesting matchup for me, as this surprisingly good Bills defense goes up against Tom Brady and company. While Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, and Steven Ridley clearly did shred the vaunted Bengals defense this past Sunday, one good week (coming away with a chip on their shoulders after an embarrassment the week before) doesn't convince me that all of their offensive problems have disappeared. Buffalo is giving up 18 PPG through five games, and has 10 takeaways including four fumble recoveries against a Patriots backfield full of "fumble-prone" guys.

Baltimore travels to Tampa Bay to take on a Buccaneers offense averaging under 300 yards per game. Tampa has looked better with Mike Glennon under center as opposed to Josh McCown, but the Ravens are somewhat quietly back to their stingy defensive ways. Baltimore is only giving up 16 PPG, has 10 takeaways through five games, and just contained Andrew Luck and the Colts better than anyone else has this season. Look for the Ravens to continue their good start this week against Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, and Doug Martin who haven't faced a formidable defense since Glennon's been the guy this season.

All of these second tier teams should be started in all leagues with a good amount of confidence, and should obviously be grabbed off the Week 6 waiver wire if they're still somehow available.

Tier 3: Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, St. Louis Rams

The third tier is where we get into some of the iffier matchups, starting off with the Titans against Jacksonville. And while it is the Jags, the Titans defense has been mediocre at best. That being said, they do have seven takeaways and are going up against a Jacksonville offense that's given the ball away 10 times through five games. Look for Wesley Woodyard and Bernard Pollard to make things difficult against Blake Bortles, Toby Gerhart, Denard Robinson, Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns as the Jaguars are averaging a measly 13.5 points per game.

Carolina travels to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals who were just thoroughly embarrassed by the Patriots. Their offense, who had looked so good under Hue Jackson through three games, looked lost and unable to move down the field without the help of penalties. While I've been higher than most on the Panthers defense this year, they haven't done a whole lot to show me my faith was well placed. This also may not be the best week to start believing in them as Andy Dalton, Giovani Bernard, A.J. Green, Jeremy Hill and Mohamed Sanu will look to have a big bounce back performance.

The Steelers head to the other team in Ohio in Week 6, and while the Browns offense has been averaging nearly 26 PPG, AFC North games are typically defensive battles. Pittsburgh is coming off of a great game defensively, holding the Jaguars to nine points. And while it was against Jacksonville, it should be a nice confidence booster for a team traditionally built on a stellar defense. Neither team in this game has taken part in many turnovers on either side of the ball, but Cleveland makes for an interesting play in Week 6 too. The Browns haven't lived up to expectations defensively so far this season. But they've already played the Steelers, have the secondary to challenge Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller and Markus Wheaton, and are a much better run defense than they've shown through four games to showdown against Le'Veon Bell.

St. Louis hosts San Francisco this week, who's averaging a mere 207 passing YPG. The Rams secondary has been giving up less than 200 YPG, but their run defense has been atrocious. Coming off another high-scoring affair with the Eagles in week 5, the Rams will be looking to make a statement against Frank Gore, Carlos Hyde, and Colin Kaepernick. They will need to get the ball to Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin, Stevie Johnson and possibly Vernon Davis (if healthy) to score points.

All of these tier 3 teams make for decent options for fantasy managers in most 12+ team leagues, and may be available on the Week 6 waiver wire.

Tier 4: Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tier 4 is where the waters really start to get murky. Most of these options are only for very deep leagues, or for fantasy managers who are dealing with defense hoarders. This tier starts off with the Vikings facing off against the Lions. This is Minnesota's second straight divisional contest, coming off of a 42 point thrashing put on them by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers this past Thursday. The forecast isn't looking much brighter for them either as they get ready to take on Matt Stafford, Golden Tate, Reggie Bush and possibly Calvin Johnson. Even if Megatron doesn't play, the Lions have a multitude of weapons and a lot of versatility. With Eric Ebron technically being their third tight end, Joique Bell likely returning, and Golden Tate developing chemistry with the rest of the offense, this isn't the week I'm looking to mess with the Vikings.

Green Bay travels to South Beach to face off against the Dolphins coming off of their BYE week. The Packers have been giving up 21 PPG, with 163 YPG rushing, and Lamar Miller has made Miami's running attack somewhat formidable averaging over 14o YPG. That coupled with Ryan Tannehill needing to throw the ball to Mike Wallace, Charles Clay and Brian Hartline to keep up with Aaron Roders and their offense, makes this a less than desirable matchup.

Atlanta will go up against the Chicago Bears, and while this has all the makings of a shootout, these teams have a couple of things in common this year. They both have the tendency to give up a lot of turnovers, while at the same time creating turnovers on the other side of the ball. So while there's almost too many star skill players to count in this NFC matchup (Jay Cutler, Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White - phew), this makes for a boom/bust play for both teams defensively.

You may know my stance on Thursday night games at this point. Not only is the product bad for the NFL, as a result of lack of preparation time, but it's seen in the fantasy numbers as well. That being said, I don't trust Indianapolis or Houston this week defensively. Houston will have the tall task of containing Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, Reggie Wayne, Trent Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw on a short week as they'll look to bounce back after their worst offensive showing of the season so far with 20 points. The Colts will try and contain Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins and Ryan Fitzpatrick after their tough loss to their in-state rivals the Cowboys. Both teams create and give away a lot of turnovers, similar to the Falcons Bears matchup. Start them at your own risk.

The Washington Redskins take on Arizona, who will be coming off of a bad loss to the Broncos. The Cardinals have been putting up decent numbers offensively with both quarterbacks, Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton, one of which should hopefully be able to make the start in Week 6. With as many offensive weapons as they have in Andre Ellington, Michael Floyd, Larry Fitzgerald and John Brown, coupled with how bad Washington's defense has looked, I'm staying away from this one.

The Jaguars defense has been at the very bottom of the barrel for a while now, and even though the Titans offense isn't keeping up defensive coordinators at night, I would almost rather not have a starting defense at all than place faith in the players wearing a Jaguars uniform. The other team in the running for worst defense in the league has been Tampa Bay, and they take on the Smith brothers (Steve Smith and Torrey Smith), Joe Flacco, and Baltimore's fearsome committee of running backs who are averaging nearly 24 PPG. Justin Forsett, Bernard Pierce and Lorenzo Taliaferro will be looking to have a bounce back performance in Week 6 after being held to 13 points in Indianopolis.

These tier 4 teams are last-resort options in the majority of leagues.

Tier 5: New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles

No need to look at any of these tier 5 teams this week, unless you're insanely desperate. The New York Jets host Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, and Emmanuel Sanders of Denver, who have the chance to see history in Week 6 if Peyton can throw 5 touchdowns (to tie Brett Farve for the most TD passes ever thrown with 508). The Cowboys defense has shown they're not who most people thought they were, but this isn't the week to hop on that train as they find themselves in Seattle for Week 6. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and Percy Harvin are just too good. The Dolphins will take on the rediscovered offense of Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and the rest of the Packers. Stay away.

The Raiders host Phillip Rivers and the Chargers in an in-state showdown that shouldn't be much of a contest for Antonio Gates, Keenan Allen, Oliver and company. Another showdown to round-out the list brings us to the NFC East, where the Giants find themselves in Philadelphia against the Eagles. Very similar to the Bears-Falcons matchup, both of these teams seem to be involved in a lot of turnovers, both on offense and defense. The debut of Odell Beckham Jr., along with the Giants offense starting to show some consistency through Eli Manning, Rueben Randle, Victor Cruz, Larry Donnell and Andrew Williams make this a matchup to avoid. The Eagles are continuing to put up 30+ a game, and Nick Folk is looking pretty comfortable with his stable of offensive options in Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, Darren Sproles and Zach Ertz, I'm staying away from this one along with all these tier 5 teams.