Streaming Defenses: How to Do It and Should You do It?

In this article I will be analyzing the method of streaming defenses in fantasy football. The following topics are discussed:

• What is the streaming defense strategy?
• Is it better to stream defenses vs drafting a top defense?
• Analysis and results of defense streaming across six 12-team leagues
• Tips for picking the best weekly streamers
• Common mistakes to avoid for the D/ST position
• Resources for streaming defenses in fantasy football

What is the Streaming Defense Strategy?

To stream defenses in fantasy football simply means to choose your starting D/ST position based on weekly matchups rather than committing to a defense long term. Those who utilize this streaming strategy are likely to draft their D/ST position in the final rounds of their draft (ex. rounds 14-16) compared to other managers who might draft a top defense in rounds 8-13.

For example, some managers like to draft a top defense based on ADP and start them for a majority of the season, whereas managers who stream are likely to replace the position weekly based on matchups. Last season, the 49ers and Eagles were the top two D/ST according to Sleeper ADP, being drafted in rounds 8-9. Managers who invested in a round 9 defense likely planned to start them for a majority of the fantasy regular season. Meanwhile, streaming managers who ignore defenses in the draft, typically have no long-term plan for the position, instead strategizing one week at a time or 2-3 week periods.

Is it Better to Stream Defenses vs Drating a Top Defense?

It’s impossible to definitively prove which strategy is better since every league is different and my sample size is too small, but in my 20+ years of playing fantasy football, my personal preference is to always stream.

I have personally been streaming defenses for over a decade with consistent success. It was much easier when there was a lack of resources and a majority of teams just drafted a defense and started them all year. I credit reddit user quickonthedrawl who burst onto the scene with his defense streaming analysis 10 years ago for the popularity of this strategy. He was the #1 resource for defense streaming for approximately four-five years before calling it quits. Luckily, shortly after his retirement another user, Subvertadown, introduced us to his defense streaming rankings based on predictive models which has led to accurate results.

Is Defense Streaming Still a Smart Strategy?

Despite the abundance of fantastic resources and the widespread popularity of defense streaming, it is still an extremely viable strategy which I would personally recommend. Below is an example of a league in 2023 where I streamed nine different defenses in 14 weeks, outscoring every other team in the league in the regular season, including the team which drafted the #1 scoring defense (Dallas Cowboys) and the team which drafted the #1 defense in ADP (San Francisco 49ers).

The top five defenses according to Sleeper ADP in 2023 were the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, and Jets. The graph above indicates which team drafted each of these five defenses. All five of these defenses were chosen typically in rounds 9-12 in my leagues but were all top 121 picks according to ADP. No other D/ST had an ADP below 140.

Here is a breakdown of how many times each D/ST was started in the league (regular season) charted above:

• SF, PHI, NYJ (13 times)
• DAL (11 times)
• BUF (8 times)
• My team never started any D/ST more than three times

The Cowboys, Bills, and Jets were actually very strong defenses for fantasy football in 2023, all ranking in the top four at years end and top six in the regular season, but they still weren’t able to outscore my team which streamed nine different defenses. Meanwhile, the team which drafted the Eagles finished 11/12 in scoring from the D/ST position, wasting a valuable round 9-10 pick.

Even if you hit on a top D/ST like Dallas in round 10-11 they are not guaranteed to outscore the streaming strategy. Even if they do, they aren’t likely to provide league winning value. Below is another league where I waited to draft New Orleans in round 15/16, instead choosing to invest in ambiguous backfields and receiving rooms, RB handcuffs, and chase some potential volume during the rounds where top defenses started being selected.

In rounds 10-12 when the top defenses started coming off the board, I was able to land a league crushing RB in Raheem Mostert (RB4 PPG) and a highly productive WR2 in Adam Thielen who was actually a top 10 WR from weeks 1-11. Even though some of the top defenses performed as expected, there may be league winning players still available in rounds 10-12, while strong D/ST plays will still be on the waiver each week of the season.

Defense Streaming Analysis Across Six Leagues

I must admit, the graph example in the section above is best case scenario. It certainly won’t always work out like this, in fact, out of my six leagues with D/ST scoring 2023, only once did I outperform the top scoring defense (Dallas Cowboys). However, the defense streaming strategy consistently and significantly outproduced the league average, including 92% of the teams that didn’t draft the Cowboys.

Below is the raw data of the analysis:

• Orange highlight is Fantasy Football Helper defense streaming PPG
• Blue highlight is the PPG from the owner who drafted the Cowboys (#1 scoring defense in 2023)

I participated in six 12-team leagues, all with the same D/ST scoring settings. I gathered the PPG from all 72 teams during the fantasy football regular season (weeks 1-14) to see if my ability to stream defenses was successful. Here are some key takeaways:

• I streamed in every league, never drafting my D/ST spot before the last round or 2nd last round.
• I never owned any of the top five defenses based on Sleeper ADP (SF, PHI, DAL, BUF, NYJ)
• The average PPG across the 72 teams (six leagues) was 9.29 vs my average PPG of 11.40
• The average PPG of Cowboys owners was 12.40, only 1 PPG more than the 11.40 I was able to produce streaming across six different leagues
• Only 5/60 (8%) teams who did not draft the Cowboys were able to outproduce my PPG from streaming

Judging by the data, 2023 was a fantastic year to stream defenses, even though the competition for doing so has increased drastically in the past decade. Yes, the Cowboys owners outproduced my streaming PPG but it also required a draft pick in the 11th or 12th round vs the 15th or 16th round and the positional gain was only 1 PPG. Meanwhile the owners who drafted the 49ers and Eagles in the 9th and 10th rounds were consistently in the bottom half or even bottom third of their league in D/ST scoring PPG.

How to Stream the Best Defenses?

This is going to sound extremely obvious but to stream the best defenses weekly, you must identify opposing offenses that should provide your D/ST with opportunities to score fantasy points. This means targeting offenses that:

• Are towards the bottom of the league in points scored
• Are expected to have low scoring output based on Vegas betting lines
• Have a QB who is prone to throwing interceptions (interceptions also provide TD scoring opportunities)
• Have a QB/offensive line which takes/allows lots of sacks (sacks also lead to fumbles and TD scoring opportunities)
• Have key impact players missing, especially if a backup QB is starting
• Are large betting underdogs (underdogs tend to trail for large portions of the game, usually resulting in more turnover worthy plays)
• Are playing in terrible weather conditions such as strong winds, heavy rain, or snow-covered fields (bad weather may lead to very low scoring games with more opportunities for turnovers)

Starting a defense against an offense which meets some of these requirements is the foundation for a successful weekly stream. It’s an added bonus if the defense your streaming is actually good in real life but that’s not a necessity. In a perfect world, you wouldn’t want to start a terrible real life defense, but even the worst D/ST unit in 2023 (Washington Commanders) scored double digits three times and nine points on two occasions. These five best scoring weeks were against the week 1 Cardinals without Kyler Murray, Broncos, Falcons, and Giants x2. It’s all about the matchups.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

When analyzing the teams with the lowest D/ST PPG output across my six leagues in 2023, there are commons themes which I’ve also witnessed every season playing fantasy football over nearly 20 years. Try to avoid these mistakes:

• Drafting a defense before the final rounds. If you are confident in your ability to stream, then don’t waste a round 8-13 pick. Even if you’re not confident, you’re still probably better off streaming

• Starting defenses coming off huge weeks with bad matchups. Just because your defense scored 20 against the Jets, doesn’t mean they will be successful the next week against the 49ers. It’s all about matchups

• Sticking with a defense for too long. Last year many teams stuck with the Eagles after their hot start, or the Chiefs who were on fire before their bye. The D/ST position is volatile and you shouldn’t be afraid to drop an underperforming D/ST with a bad schedule because they scored 15+ points back-to-back four weeks prior

• If for some reason you do have a top performing defense on your roster, you don’t have to start them every week. In 2023, the Dallas Cowboys D/ST scored three points combined against the 49ers, Dolphins, and Bills, who were three of the best offenses in the NFL

• Refusing to spend waiver budget on defenses with promising schedules. Don’t be that manager who refuses to spend FAB when streaming defenses because you will get outbid by others using the same strategy. Be aggressive and spend $2-$3 on a solid streaming candidate or even $5-$6 if there’s a D/ST who has a cluster of strong matchups coming up. It’s important to look at the next few weeks ahead, not just the current week

Resources for Streaming Defenses

I’ve personally been using Subvertadown for about five years. His method combines statistical analysis and predictive models to determine the rankings. If that’s not for you, you may also like:

• Rotowire – Provides weekly implied Vegas point totals (how many points a team is expected to score) for each team
• FantasyPros – Provides weekly consensus D/ST rankings aggregated from 100+ fantasy experts
• Fantasy Football Helper – Uses all the resources above + our own rankings to provide a one-stop shop for your defense streaming needs.
• Read our blog for the best defenses to target in 2024