Picking your Fantasy Football defense is really not that hard. Pretty much anyone whose been playing for a while will tell you it hardly matters which team you pick (I disagree, slightly). Reason being is that I live in Chicago, so I have a pretty close look at what bad defense looks like, so listen up.
Understanding Fantasy Football Defense
Your defense, also known as your “defense/special teams” player is not drafted like the rest of your team. Your defense it is picked as one whole team, not by individual players.
For example, you wouldn’t individually pick Charles Tillman or Julius Peppers from the Bears. You would just pick the Bears Defense as your team’s entire defense in one clean sweep. Easy peasy, right?
The reason for this (I asked this question myself as a newbie) is because when your offense (quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, etc.) are running a play, you’re earning points. Defenses don’t operate like that, typically. Their job is to defend against whatever the offense is dishing out and trying to peg individual players to actually earn you points would be hard every week.
Sometimes you’ll have offensive players playing against your defense that week, and you may opt to start another offensive player to keep your points from negating.
For my visual learners:
To clarify, you don’t have to swap out a player just because they are playing your defense, that is just one way to do it. If said offensive player in question is a league MVP, keep him in there. Chances are their scoring capability will more than balance anything the defense might lose. Defenses lose/score points at a different rate than offensive players, so they’d need to take a real beating to cost you big points.
My overall advice: draft yourself a reputable defense and that position will be little to no maintenance all season except during their bye week.
How to Draft a Defense
Now the hard part, picking which team you actually want to draft as your defense. Here are a few basic concepts to keep in mind.
- Save your defense/special teams pick for later rounds (we’re talking last 5 picks or so, unless good ones start flying off the board).
- Don’t draft more than one defense at the draft, swap yours out right before their bye week when it’s closer to that time to save yourself roster space.
- Check stats, especially if you have no existing knowledge. If you’re using an app, chances are they’ll rank them for you to make it easier. Score!
Additional Defensive Positions
It’s entirely possible you’ll never need to know any of these if you’re only playing Fantasy Football. However, it’s better to have at least heard them, right? Here are some specific defensive positions.
- Linebackers
- Safety
- Corner backs
- Defensive ends
- Tackles
- Nose Guards
Does that all make sense? Ask questions in the comments. My blog is still very active as of 2021, years later, and I’d be happy to help with your Fantasy Football defense (or general) strategy.
