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Saleh's fantasy football team defenses (D/ST) to avoid as potential draft busts in 2023. He believes these team DST options are overvalued defense draft picks.
After going through all of the defenses that you should be targeting in drafts for the 2023 season, I will now be highlighting some defenses that you should avoid when on the clock late in the late rounds.
This will not include any top defenses. Instead, I will be going through a few that you might consider drafting but are still one’s that you need to steer away from.
There is nothing worse than losing your fantasy matchup because your defense underperformed. I would advise you to go check out my defenses to target article before reading this one to give you more of an idea of what defenses you should be looking at when drafting. With all that being said, let’s get into it.
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Cincinnati Bengals D/ST
The Bengals' defense may have a very hard time in 2023. This is a defense that has been very solid over the past few seasons with most of their consistency coming from their incredible safety play. However, both Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell signed elsewhere in free agency, setting Cincinnati’s secondary up for a difficult future.
The team will now have to rely heavily on second-year players Cam Taylor-Britt and Daxton Hill to start and fill the roles of Bates and Bell in the secondary. The pass rush of the Bengals is also not a strong suit, as they had the fourth least amount of sacks in 2022 with just 30.
The most dominant part of this defense has been the secondary, as they allowed the lowest competition percentage in the entire league at just 58.9%. With the departures of their two starting safeties as well as CBs Tre Flowers and Eli Apple, this young and inexperienced secondary will have a very tough time keeping the unit at the level that they’ve been at.
While this may be a defense that you target after seeing that they have an easier schedule than most teams, they offer very little upside and can often give you very low-scoring weeks.
Kansas City Chiefs D/ST
The Chiefs ranked as the eighth best fantasy defense in 2022. However, the unit did suffer some significant losses, including the departures of DE Frank Clark, S Juan Thornhill, and DT Khalen Saunders. The team did draft DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah with their 2023 first round pick, but it will not be easy for him to replicate what Clark brought to this defense.
The most dominant part of this unit has been their pass rush, as they ranked second in sacks with 55 behind only the Eagles last season. Clark’s consistent pressure on the quarterback was a huge part of this, and his departure will undoubtedly impact the pass rush. Something else to keep an eye on is the fact that their best defensive player and 2022 DPOY candidate, Chris Jones, is currently seeking a contract extension and sitting out. If Jones somehow does not get his extension and sits out for Kansas City, the defense will be impacted significantly.
In terms of schedules, Kansas City faces some very tough offenses in 2023. These include the Bills, Eagles, Bengals, Vikings, Lions, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, and Chargers twice. These are 10 games where their young secondary can get absolutely shredded and underperform for your fantasy team. Overall, there are much better defenses that you can target over Kansas City this season.
Indianapolis Colts D/ST
The Colts ranked as a top-15 fantasy defense and were just five points shy of being top-eight in 2022. I do not see them being at this level or any better in 2023, regardless of their soft division. The team lost their tackle machine in LB Bobby Okereke, team sack leader Yannick Ngakoue, CB Stephon Gilmore, and S Rodney McLeod.
Despite the unit getting their All-Pro LB Shaquille Leonard back, this will not make up for all the departures the defense sustained. This was a defense that allowed the second-highest completion percentage in the entire league at 68.0%. The losses of starters in the secondary do not help whatsoever.
The Colts were top-10 in sacks, but as mentioned before, their sack leader Ngakoue left in free agency, creating a void in reliable edge rushers for the team.
There are much better options out there, and I would not look to draft this defense under any circumstances, despite some of the easier matchups that they face in 2023.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers D/ST
While they weren’t great in 2022, the Bucs have been a very solid and consensus top-10 defense over the past few years. The uncertainty at QB and the offense as a whole will hurt the defense and subsequently increase the amount of time they are on the field.
The team had just one total defensive TD last season and only had 10 interceptions, which was tied for sixth least. I don’t like drafting and relying on defenses that cause very few turnovers and therefore have a weaker opportunity to score TDs. This is because these defenses won’t give you the big weeks that you’re looking for in fantasy.
Todd Bowels emphasizes that defensive play is a huge focus for him, but I do not see this team being a top-15 defense with the personnel that they currently have.
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