Defenses are great and for all those truthers that say it wins championships, sure, but this is Fantasy Football. Not reality. Because of that, when should you look to draft defenses? What should you look for when you do seek a defense in your draft?

When we do a deep dive into the numbers, only two defensive units have scored north of 180 fantasy points during a season since 2008. The 2012 Bears led by Brian Urlacher, Julius Peppers and Charles Tillman and the ‘13 Chiefs who had Donte Hall returning kicks for them as he brought four back that year. For a comparison there were five total in the 2018 season. That’s a luxury that us fantasy owners don’t reep the benefits of anymore considering they kick further up the field now and it is seemingly always a touchback, so the dynamic return man is really taken out of the game, which impacts D/ST even more. 

The argument with drafting a defense in the last two rounds makes complete sense when you factor in streaming a defense. If your defense sucks over the first few weeks of the season, there is likely a team on waivers playing better and/or has a better match-up than the one you currently have rostered. Being able to attack the Dolphins multiple times a season is ideal in 2019, which you can do by streaming defenses against them. Obviously you’d have to use a bit of you FAAB budget or a high priority waiver claim to get them, but it’s worth it.

When entering your drafts, being able to have an idea of strength of schedule helps. Obviously only to a certain degree because those sort of projections are wrong all the time, but it allows you to hopefully draft a defense & special teams unit that has an easier road to success than teams that don’t. This strategy plays along with the idea of streaming much more considering it’s far easier to figure out schedules on a week-to-week basis as opposed to all 32 teams at the beginning of the year.

If you are itching to take a D/ST earlier than the final two rounds...don’t. We’re kidding. Kind of. But if you do, there is a specific type of team you should target. The one’s with a boatload of playmakers. Why? Well, here are the rankings in defensive scores for teams that have scored the most fantasy points each season (including special teams touchdowns);

2018 - Chicago Bears - 1st in TD’s (6)

2017 - Jacksonville Jaguars - 1st in TD’s (8)

2016 - Kansas City Chiefs - T-1st in TD’s (8)

2015 - Arizona Cardinals - T-1st in TD’s (8) 

2014 - Philadelphia Eagles - 1st in TD’s (8)

2013 - Kansas City Chiefs - 1st in TD’s (11)

2012 - Chicago Bears - 1st in TD’s (9)

What’s the one thing to note on this list above however? It’s that there were zero back-to-back leaders, so drafting a D/ST before the last two rounds based on a prior year is very flawed.

It is noteworthy to check out your league settings about how your D/ST points are distributed because there are particular leagues that don’t give out points for special teams returns, which would adjust the way you look at things obviously. Drafting a defense earlier than the final two rounds is definitely a risk and something you really don’t need to do.