Let’s Stream Defenses: Week 14 (2024 Fantasy Football)

This is it – the final week of byes, and in many fantasy leagues the final week of the regular season. If you’re already locked for the playoffs, don’t waste roster spots in fill-in players for this week’s byes – use that bench to plan ahead. If that’s you, be sure to stick around after this week’s picks for my recommendations for defenses to stash for the playoffs.

Streaming Defenses: Waiver Wire & Start/Sit Advice (Week 14)

It’s a big week of byes with six teams sitting out: BAL, DEN, HOU, IND, NE and WAS. It’s a decent week for streaming nonetheless, because many of the top options are available in a majority of leagues. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Bluesky, and be sure to check out the FantasyPros Starter Pack to connect with all your favorite FP writers on Bluesky.

Matchups

1. NO @ NYG: The Giants have not named a quarterback for Week 14 yet. Tommy DeVito was out with a forearm injury last week, so Drew Lock got the start. DeVito and Lock have each had one start since the departure of Daniel Jones, and both have been bad. The Giants are a great matchup either way, but I think Lock his higher variance. He brings more potential for sacks and turnovers, but also more scoring potential.
2. TEN vs JAC: Trevor Lawrence left last week’s game with a concussion after a pretty scary hit during a slide. We don’t know if he will be ready to play this week, but my default assumption with concussions is that the player will be out for at least one week. Mac Jones played a good second half in relief, but that doesn’t really change my expectations for him going forward. Jones has been turnover-prone in his career, including in his two starts this season, both of which led to less than 10 points for the Jags.
3. PIT vs CLE: Jameis Winston had the most Jameis Winston game ever on Monday night. He torched a banged-up Broncos secondary to the tune of 4 touchdowns and almost 500 yards while throwing a season-high (for the league) 58 pass attempts. Nevertheless, the Broncos were the #1 fantasy defense for the week thanks to two pick-sixes. Winston’s reckless brand of football is fun to watch and can result in a lot of points, but also creates a lot of opportunities for defenses that can capitalize on his mistakes. The Steelers are certainly a good enough defense to be in that category.
4. JAC @ TEN: The Jaguars’ remaining schedule looks great on paper, in part because they play the Titans twice. The Will Levis Titans are far from the worst scoring offense in the league – they have the highest projected points of teams ranked in my top two tiers. But he’s known for making bone-headed mistakes that sometimes lead to defensive touchdowns, and putting up huge sack numbers with some regularity. Levis himself avoided turning the ball over last week, but his teammates made up for it with two lost fumbles. This week will be extremely informative – if the Jags can take advantage of the good matchup this week, that bodes well for their usefulness in the fantasy playoffs, against the Titans in Week 17.
5. PHI vs CAR: Bryce Young, the #1 overall pick in 2023, went from looking like a bust at the beginning of the season to a genuine franchize quarterback since he was un-benched in Week 8. He hasn’t taken more than two sacks in a game since Week 1, and is currently on a three-game streak of zero turnovers. At this point I would not start most defenses against the Panthers, but the Eagles aren’t most defenses. After a rocky start to the season, they’ve been dominating in recent weeks. They held the Bengals, Commanders and Ravens – three of the best offenses in football – to under 20 points, and slammed the door on lesser offenses like the Giants and Cowboys, who both failed to reach 7 points. The Eagles are the last startable defense on the Panthers’ schedule.
6. TB vs LV: Aidan O’Connell has kept the sack totals down and avoided multi-turnover games, but ultimately leads a pretty low-powered offense. At 2-10, the Raiders have no incentive to win and should be focused on getting the earliest possible draft pick next year. At just 9% rostership, the Buccaneers should be available in your league and look like a reliable start, albeit with limited upside.
7. ARI vs SEA: The Seahawks have been scraping by with three low-scoring wins since their bye. Geno Smith has been prone to turnovers this season, and is now on a four-game streak of taking 3+ sacks, including a 5 sack day against Arizona just two weeks ago. To expect a repeat of that performance this week is very reasonable.
8. MIN vs ATL: Kirk Cousins had a real meltdown against the Chargers last week, throwing 4 interceptions for his third multi-turnover game of the season. In 12 starts Cousins has had 4 genuinely good games, but is currently on a 3-game skid of zero passing touchdowns. I’m willing to bet the struggles will continue on the road in Minnesota.
9. MIA vs NYJ: With the Jets out of playoff contention, it seems like only a matter of time until Aaron Rodgers is benched. He shows flashes of his old self for a quarter at a time, but rarely for a whole game. The Dolphins will be looking to bounce back from an embarrassing snow game on Thanksgiving, and I think that will be an easy task at home against the Jets.
10. SF vs CHI: Caleb Williams has continued his pattern of playing well and avoiding turnovers while still taking a lot of sacks. The Bears fired their head coach Matt Eberflus after he threw away a potential upset against the Lions with some horrible clock mismanagement that any Madden player could get right. Like the Dolphins, the 49ers will be at home looking to bounce back from a horrible snow game. I don’t love the idea of targeting the Bears’ offense, but you could do worse than expecting another high sack total, especially if Nick Bosa is able to return from his hip injury – pay attention to those practice reports if you’re thinking about using the 49ers this week.

Rest of Season

The time is now to plan ahead for the fantasy playoffs. To help with that, I put together a google sheet with my evaluation of each team’s quality as a matchup for defenses, and a schedule grid to help you plan out your strategy. Here is a list of teams that I think could be useful in more than one of Weeks 15-17, roughly in order of how much I want them on my team.

• The Buffalo Bills have back-to-back good weeks with the Patriots in Week 16 and the Jets in Week 17.
• The Tennessee Titans have a good outlook against the Jags this week, then they get the Colts in Week 16 and the Jags again in Week 17.
• The Carolina Panthers have looked pretty good on defense lately, and they get the Cowboys in Week 15 and the Cardinals in Week 16.
• The Atlanta Falcons are a sit this week against the Vikings, but have two good matchups against the Raiders in Week 15 and the Giants in Week 16.
• The Los Angeles Rams have a couple good-but-not-great matchups with the Jets in Week 16 and the Cardinals in Week 17.
• The Indianapolis Colts have two good playoff matchups with the Titans in Week 16 and the Giants in Week 17.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars play the Titans this week, and their performance in that game will be informative for how useful they will be in the playoffs, with the Raiders in Week 16 and the Titans again in Week 17.