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John's fantasy football Week 1 defense (DEF) waiver wire streamers, pickups and starts for Week 1 of 2025. Target these fantasy football D/ST waiver wire pickups.
The D/ST position is often simply obligatorily included in fantasy football roster lineups for many leagues, grandfathered in from previous seasons. While many leagues abandon the position altogether, it's not going anywhere in public ESPN and Yahoo leagues, among others, for example.
Many fantasy managers are stuck with the prospect of constantly streaming defensive matchups by competing with their league members to pick up defenses with good matchups upcoming to capitalize on the higher scoring potential they have.
Ahead of Week 1, there are still good matchups you might be able to exploit. Obviously, the already-good defenses that have easy matchups should all be rostered, but let's break down a few that are still available in many leagues and see if they're good pickups to make!
Cardinals D/ST Week 1 Waiver Wire Streamer
Rostered: 64% of leagues
Baller Move: Add and Start In All Leagues
The Cardinals finished as the 15th-ranked D/ST of 2024. This season, they'll have their first-round pick from 2024, defensive end Darius Robinson, back after missing all but the final six games of 2024 due to injury. If he can hit the ground running, perhaps the team can have a better pass rush overall and rack up more sacks.
The matchup is about the easiest it could possibly get, though. The Cardinals will face the Saints, who had their starting quarterback, Derek Carr, unexpectedly retire this offseason due to injuries and personal issues. Their starting QB now is Spencer Rattler. He's not good.
Saints ruled out DE Chase Young (calf) and OL Trevor Penning (toe) for Sunday’s game vs. the Cardinals.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 5, 2025
To make matters worse, the Saints' offense in general is in shambles. Their starting right tackle, Ryan Ramczyk, retired after the 2024 season, and their starting left guard, Trevor Penning (toe), won't play in Week 1 due to injury. The Cardinals D/ST is an overall solid unit, and with an amazing projected matchup, should be rostered in and started in all leagues.
Commanders D/ST Week 1 Waiver Wire Streamer
Rostered: 69% of leagues
Baller Move: Add and Start in All Leagues
Washington had a better defense last season than the year before, moving up from the 32nd-ranked D/ST in fantasy football to the 24th spot in 2024. Defensive-minded head coach Dan Quinn still has plenty of work to do, but the team did add some veterans to bolster their depth at various defensive positions.
With a game against the New York Giants coming up, the Week 1 matchup is pretty juicy. The Giants offense completely collapsed without their elite left tackle, Andrew Thomas (foot), after he suffered a season-ending injury knocked him out after six weeks of action. Thomas is now doubtful to play with a foot injury.
Daniel Jones before/after Andrew Thomas season-ending injury...
Wk 1-6:
5.8% sack rate (QB23/37)
5.24 ANY/A (QB26)
223.8 Pass YPG (QB18)
14.9% pressure/sack rate (QB29)Wk 7-10:
10.5% sack rate (5th-worst)
181.8 Pass YPG (QB27/34)
3.81 ANY/A (3rd-worst)
35.7% P2S (2nd-worst)— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 4, 2025
Giants starting quarterback Russell Wilson could face a lot of pressure and be sacked a lot, as he's a QB that's been prone to taking unnecessary sacks in his career, especially as his mobility continues to fade with age. New York doesn't have an elite offensive roster to lean on, either.
The Commanders are another solid start for Week 1 at the D/ST position.
49ers D/ST Week 1 Fantasy Football Outlook
Rostered: 59% of leagues
Baller Move: Add and Start In All Leagues
The 49ers' defense has undergone a ton of changes in recent years. Most notable is the departure of linebacker Dre Greenlaw. But they did re-hire Robert Saleh, their great defensive coordinator of seasons past, who had a great tenure (at least as a defensive coach) with the New York Jets in the past few seasons.
San Francisco, as usual, has had a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball in the offseason. While most of their defenders are now listed as healthy on the team's injury reports, we have plenty of reason to be skeptical. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is notorious for lying about injuries to his players, as fantasy managers of running back Christian McCaffrey (calf) know well.
This 49ers NASCAR package would be unstoppable:
DE: Nick Bosa
DT: CJ West
DT: Mykel Williams
DE: Bryce Huff pic.twitter.com/YGGessJZN2— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) July 30, 2025
They do have a good core of run defenders, but their secondary is a bit suspect, and it remains to be seen how the team adapts without Greenlaw in the long term. Still, they have a matchup with the Seattle Seahawks coming up. Seattle has long struggled to block effectively, with one of the cheapest offensive lines in the league, so the 49ers D/ST is worth rostering and starting this week.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
Trying to decide who to pick up off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool here:
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Who Should I Pickup? Some common 2025 fantasy football waiver wire decisions are regarding players like Cardinals D/ST, 49ers D/ST, and Commanders D/ST. But not to worry, we are here to help make these waiver wire decisions and build winning teams in 2025. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups in 2025. Our free Who Should I Pickup? tool will help make your fantasy football waiver wire decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to pick up... all free! Make the right decisions.
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