D/ST Strength of Schedule: Best Fantasy Football Defense Streamers and Matchups (Weeks 12-17)

Andrew Ball looks at 2025 D/ST fantasy football strength of schedules for Weeks 12-17, and the best fantasy football D/ST matchups for the rest of the season. Target these D/STs.

D/ST lineup decisions are like the breakfast of fantasy football: Important, but largely an afterthought.

The position is one of the last selections in drafts and is commonly relegated to a lower priority on waiver wire Wednesdays. By the time the end of the season rolls around, the importance of D/STs is amplified. You may brag about a positional advantage when rostering Trey McBride or Brock Bowers. This is a positional advantage that you can find on the waiver wire.

This article dives into the strength of schedule for the D/ST position for the rest of the season and pinpoints several options for the fantasy football playoffs.

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

Fantasy Football Top Scoring D/STs

It's best not to gauge the strength of schedule for fantasy football D/STs until late in the season. With the most moving parts, on both sides of the football, it's the most volatile metric.

The highest scorers don't necessarily mean they are the best defenses for fantasy football. Strength of schedule matters. For example, the Texans, although considered a great defense, have played the Tennessee Titans twice. They are giving the most fantasy points to defenses. Here's the rest of the top five:

1. Tennessee Titans (11.2 points per game)
2. Cleveland Browns (10.1)
3. Las Vegas Raiders (9.6)
4. Minnesota Vikings (9.1)
5. Arizona Cardinals (9)

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 fast. Typically, this list is full of young quarterbacks who haven't mastered processing defensive looks and mobile quarterbacks who use their legs to extend the play.

Here are the 10 quarterbacks who take the longest to get rid of the football, and how many sacks their team has allowed (min. 150 plays).

1. Caleb Williams (3.12 seconds) (16 sacks)
2. J.J. McCarthy (2.89) (34)
3. Jalen Hurts (2.83) (26)
4. Josh Allen (2.79) (20)
5. Jacoby Brissett (2.78) (34)
6. Cam Ward (2.73) (41)
7. Lamar Jackson (2.71) (30)
8. Justin Fields (2.71) (36)
9. Jaxson Dart (2.7) (33)
10. Drake Maye (2.7) (36)
11. Jordan Love (2.7) (16)

Williams and Allen can afford to take a little extra time in the pocket because their offensive lines are among the best at pass blocking. 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 instead of the best.

• 32. New Orleans Saints (52%)
• 31. Houston Texans (53%)
• 30. Los Angeles Chargers (54%)
• 29. Cincinnati Bengals (55%)
• 28. New York Jets (56%)

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

1. Cleveland Browns (52%)
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (48%)
3. Minnesota Vikings (45%)
4. Denver Broncos (43%)
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (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, both for the rest of the season and the fantasy playoffs.

Note: The table is sorted from highest to lowest pressure rate. An opposing rate allowed over 39% is highlighted in green, and a rate under 35% in red.

With the Vikings (41.1%), Chargers (40%), and Commanders (38.5%) on the schedule, the high-pressure Cowboys defense has a favorable fantasy playoffs slate in this metric. The big winners are New England and Buffalo. The Patriots' playoff schedule is weighted by a 50% pressure rate allowed by the New York Jets. However, that's a championship weekend matchup that can't be ignored.

The Indianapolis Colts, a top-10 fantasy defense, have the third-lowest pressure rate and an unfavorable schedule for the rest of the season and playoffs.

With all that said, here are the top 10 fantasy football defenses, on a per-game basis, entering Week 12 (one point per sack, two points per turnover, safety, or blocked kick, six points per touchdown).

1. Seattle Seahawks (9.8)
2. Houston Texans (9.7)
3. Los Angeles Rams (8.5)
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (8.4)
5. Denver Broncos (8.3)
6. Cleveland Browns (8)
7. Indianapolis Colts (7.9)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars (7.7)
9. New England Patriots (7.6)
10. Philadelphia Eagles (7.5)

2025 Rest-of-Season Fantasy Strength of Schedule

With all of that data out of the way, guess what? There's more data.

The following table shows each team's schedule for the rest of the regular season (Weeks 12-17). For us, that includes the fantasy playoffs. 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. This isn't a Michael Scott situation. Green means go.

There are some of you out there who don't care about the rest of the fantasy regular season, because you've positioned yourself to secure a first-round bye in the playoffs. The luxury there, of course, is that you can bypass the streaming D/ST parade for the rest of the regular season. Below, we shorten the window and show which defenses have the best schedules in Weeks 15 through 17.

Are you more of a reading learner than a visual learner? Not to fear. Here are the top ten defenses based on rest-of-season strength of schedule. Included in parentheses is the roster percentage (before Week 12) 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 Orleans Saints (2%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Four
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): Three
2.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Four
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): Two
3.  Miami Dolphins (5%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Three
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One
4. New York Jets (10%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Two
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One
5.  New England Patriots (82%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Two
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One
6.  Cincinnati Bengals (3%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Two
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): Two
7.  New York Giants (3%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Two
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): Two
8. Buffalo Bills (50%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Two
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One
9.  San Francisco 49ers (18%)
   • Plus Matchups (ROS): Three
   • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One
10.  Baltimore Ravens (86%)
    • Plus Matchups (ROS): Three
    • Plus Matchups (Playoffs): One

Some good matchups here, but how trustworthy are the defenses? Only one of those defenses (New England) is a top-10 scorer on the season. A team like Cincinnati may have an enticing matchup or two, but trust me, you don't want to start a leaky defense like that in the fantasy postseason.

D/ST Streaming Road Map (Weeks 12-17)

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 option (Option 1) and a secondary option (Option 2). These D/STs will have a roster share under 60%. And, a reminder, things change! If a backup quarterback is starting, certain D/STs could look more appealing.

Week 12:

• Option 1: Cleveland Browns (50% rostered, third-most favorable matchup versus Las Vegas)
• Option 2: Las Vegas (5% rostered, second-most favorable matchup versus Cleveland)

The second-most favorable matchup may be even more favorable if Shedeur Sanders picks up his first-career start in place of Dillon Gabriel (concussion). If Gabriel clears protocol, the Raiders' defense isn't strong enough to trust, and fantasy managers can pivot to Atlanta against New Orleans.

*If Seattle (80% rostered) is available, they are the clear top choice against the Tennessee Titans. They follow that up with a matchup with Minnesota. It gets rougher for fantasy's top D/ST in Weeks 14-16, but if they're dropped, keep an eye on a Week 17 contest with Carolina.

Week 13:

• Option 1: Jacksonville Jaguars (21% rostered, best matchup against Tennessee)
• Option 2: Los Angeles Rams (57% rostered, eighth-best matchup against Carolina)

Week 14:

• Option 1: Cleveland Browns (50% rostered, best matchup against Tennessee)
• Option 2: Los Angeles Rams (57% rostered, fifth-best matchup against Arizona)

Week 15:

• Option 1: Jacksonville Jaguars (21% rostered, 10th-best matchup against New York Jets)
• Option 2: San Francisco 49ers (18% rostered, best matchup against Tennessee)

Week 16:

• Option 1: Kansas City Chiefs (48% rostered, best matchup against Tennessee)
• Option 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25% rostered, eighth-best matchup against Carolina)

Week 17:

• Option 1: New Orleans Saints (2% rostered, best matchup against Tennessee)
• Option 2: Tennessee Titans (6% rostered, sixth-best matchup against New Orleans

As you may be able to tell by the options for championship weekend, it's not an ideal streaming week for the position. We may get lucky with an inexperienced backup quarterback thrust into action. Otherwise, do your best to pounce on one of the highly-rostered D/STs, if available. Those options include Detroit (at Minnesota), Pittsburgh (at Cleveland), Houston (at Los Angeles Chargers), or the aforementioned Seattle.

The Texans, in particular, have a cupcake playoff schedule.

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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