D/ST Strength of Schedule: Best Fantasy Football Defense Streamers and Matchups (Weeks 16-17)

Andrew Ball looks at 2025 D/ST fantasy football strength of schedules for Weeks 16-17, and the best fantasy football D/ST matchups for the rest of the season. Target these D/STs.

What's the last piece of a perfect fantasy football lineup, capable of winning a championship? That'd be the D/ST.

Here at RotoBaller, we're helping you complete the puzzle. This article dives into several key metrics that help us pinpoint league-winning defenses.

At the end of this article, we'll discuss options for every week of the fantasy football playoffs to help you win your league. Note: All stats, percentages, metrics, figures, and data are through Week 15.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) rankings
• Quarterback (QB) rankings
• Tight end (TE) rankings
• Defense (D/ST) rankings
• Kicker (K) rankings
• FLEX rankings
• Dynasty rankings

Fantasy Football Top Scoring D/STs

The later in the season it gets, the better it gets to gauge the strength of schedule for fantasy football D/STs. With the most moving parts on both sides of the football, it's the most volatile metric.

Strength of schedule matters. For example, the Denver Broncos, although considered a great defense, have played the Las Vegas Raiders twice. They are giving the most fantasy points to defenses. Here's the rest of the top five:

1. Las Vegas Raiders (10.5 points per game)
2. Minnesota Vikings (10.2)
3. Cleveland Browns (10)
4. Cincinnati Bengals (9.5)
5. Tennessee Titans (9.4)

For the most part, bad offenses are the stickiest part of the D/ST equation. Despite positive matchups sprinkled throughout the season, these offenses are among the units putting the fewest points on the scoreboard, frequently turning the ball over, and getting sacked the most.

It's easiest to predict sacks, but to do so, there are a couple of stats to look at. We'll start with a quarterback's time to throw. This is an indication that a quarterback is holding onto the football for too long in the pocket, and those pass-rushers are closing in.

Here are the 10 quarterbacks who take the longest to get rid of the football, and their sack percentage (min. 150 plays).

1. Shedeur Sanders (3.15 seconds) (8.13%)
2. Brock Purdy (3.06) (2.9%)
3. Caleb Williams (3.05) (4.45%)
4. Lamar Jackson (2.85) (9.82%)
5. Jalen Hurts (2.82) (6.3%)
6. Josh Allen (2.82) (6.82%)
7. J.J. McCarthy (2.82) (9.76%)
8. Cam Ward (2.8) (9.12%)
9. Tyrod Taylor (2.8) (8.28%)
10. Jacoby Brissett (2.79) (7.09%)

You'll notice a larger time in the pocket versus a low sack rate for Williams and Allen. The Bears and Bills rank first and third, respectively, in pass block win rate, so the quarterbacks can afford to let routes develop a hair longer. Pass block win rate measures whether one of the big boys up front can hold a block for 2.5 seconds or longer. Since this is an article aimed at finding the best D/STs, we're going to look at the worst pass-blocking lines.

• 32. Los Angeles Chargers (54%)
• 31. Houston Texans (54%)
• 30. New Orleans Saints (55%)
• 29. Detroit Lions (56%)
• 28: Cincinnati Bengals (57%)

Inversely, here are the top-5 pass rush win rates on the defensive side of the ball:

1. Cleveland Browns (47%)
2. Minnesota Vikings (45%)
3. Denver Broncos (44%)
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (43%)
5. Seattle Seahawks (43%)

One more thing we'll look at is pressure rate. While pressures lead to sacks, they can also force turnover-worthy throws or fumbles by the quarterback. We'll also compare a team's pressure rate to the average pressure rate allowed for their opponents.

Note: The table is sorted from highest to lowest pressure rate. An opposing rate allowed over 40% is highlighted in green, and a rate under 35% in red.

If the New York Jets are on a team's remaining schedule, chances are they have a favorable pressure-rate schedule. With a league-leading 46.3% pressure rate allowed, all three starting quarterbacks have shown a tendency to take sacks. Brady Cook has been sacked on 11.6% of his dropbacks. The New England Patriots draw that matchup in Week 17, championship weekend.

There are three teams below 30%: Pittsburgh (28.2%), Los Angeles Rams (28.5%), and Seattle (29%). Those offenses have quick-release passing games and/or lean on the running game. Defenses won't pick up many, if any, sacks against those offenses.

The Chicago Bears, a top-10 fantasy defense, have the third-lowest pressure rate and an unfavorable schedule for the fantasy playoffs. Here are the rest of the top-10 D/STs on a per-game basis entering Week 16 (one point per sack, two points per turnover, safety, or blocked kick, six points per touchdown).

1. Seattle Seahawks (11.1)
2. Houston Texans (9.5)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (8.4)
4. Philadelphia Eagles (8.1)
5. Denver Broncos (8.1)
6. Los Angeles Rams (7.9)
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (7.9)
8. New England Patriots (7.4)
9. Cleveland Browns (7.9)
10. Chicago Bears (7.1)

D/ST Fantasy Playoffs Strength of Schedule (Weeks 16-17)

The following table shows each team's schedule for the fantasy football playoffs (Weeks 16-17). The bigger the number, the easier the matchup against the D/ST position. The lower numbers indicate more difficult matchups. The ranks are averaged to give each team a strength-of-schedule score for the rest of the season.

Are you more of a reading learner than a visual learner? Here are the top-10 defenses based on rest-of-season strength of schedule. Included in parentheses is the roster percentage for each team. I've also added the plus matchups (opponents ranked 22nd or worse versus D/STs) for the rest of the season, and specifically the fantasy playoffs.

1.  New York Giants (5%)
   • Plus Matchups: Two
2.  Houston Texans (94%)
   • Plus Matchups: Two
3.  New Orleans Saints (19%)
   • Plus Matchups: Two
4. Cincinnati Bengals (3%)
   • Plus Matchups: Two
5. Arizona Cardinals (4%)
   • Plus Matchups: One
6. Dallas Cowboys (35%)
   • Plus Matchups: One
7. Miami Dolphins (20%)
   • Plus Matchups: One
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (48%)
   • Plus Matchups: Two
9.  Detroit Lions (53%)
   • Plus Matchups: One
10.  New York Jets (8%)
    • Plus Matchups: One

If you're forced to stick to one defense for the postseason (a strategy I wouldn't recommend, but there are some roster and transaction restraints out there), there are five units with a plus matchup in the remaining two weeks; one is rostered heavily, the others not so much. If you're in the 6% of leagues where Houston is on the waiver wire, add it now.

The rest of us can take a hard look at New Orleans. It has two great matchups and has averaged 7.2 fantasy points in the last five games. The Saints draw the New York Jets in Week 16 and the Tennessee Titans on championship weekend.

Can you trust the Dallas defense? That will be a question that fantasy managers ask themselves ahead of the first round of the fantasy playoffs. It is generating pressure at the third-best rate in football, and faces the Los Angeles Chargers, who have the worst pass block win rate in football. However, Dallas is still allowing the most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

D/ST Streaming Road Map (Weeks 16-17)

Let's blend the stats, the schedule, and the eye test, and roll it all up into one road map. For each week, I will provide my top streaming options. These D/STs will have a roster share under 60%.

And a reminder that things change! The Colts aren't scoring points at a high rate with Philip Rivers under center. The Kansas City Chiefs may be less than motivated after they were eliminated from the postseason, and a D/ST against Gardner Minshew II is more appealing than Patrick Mahomes (i.e., the Broncos are back in play for Week 17).

Week 16:

• Option 1: Buffalo Bills (56% rostered, third-best matchup against Cleveland)
• Option 2: New Orleans Saints (19% rostered, eighth-best matchup against New York Jets)

Week 17:

• Option 1: New Orleans Saints (19% rostered, fifth-best matchup against Tennessee)
• Option 2: Detroit Lions (53% rostered, second-best matchup against Minnesota)
• Option 3: New England Patriots (47% rostered, eighth-best matchup against New York Jets)

Good luck for the rest of the fantasy football season, and feel free to reach out to me on X (@ajball4real) if you have questions as the season progresses!

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