When should you pick defense in fantasy? Strategizing picks for 2023

Defense usually works completely differently than offensive scoring in most Fantasy Football leagues. The majority of formats opt to use defensive and special teams combined scoring as an entire unit as opposed to drafting individual players.

This means that fantasy managers select one real NFL team and receive points for their cumulative statistics as a whole.

Individual offensive NFL players in Fantasy Football are drafted to teams from each position, with the exception of offensive linemen. This makes up the offensive poriton of a fantasy roster.

While some leagues use individual defensive players as well, most use the team defense format. Managers will instead draft a full NFL defensive unit, not individual players.

Fantasy teams will receive points when their defense and special teams units accumulate various statistics, including sacks, fumbles, interceptions, and touchdowns. This means the most popular strategy for this position is targeting teams known for applying pressure to opposing quarterbacks and having a knack for forcing turnovers.

While high-scoring fantasy defenses can obviously make a major impact on the outcome of each matchup, they shouldn't necessarily be considered premium picks in drafts.

Most managers will elect to wait until the much later rounds of a fantasy draft before even considering selecting a defensive unit. While the top ones will often be selected in the middle rounds, solid production can be found late.

Another popular strategy that many slick fantasy managers will use for this position is streaming. To do so, they can search the waiver wire each week for a defense facing off against a weak offense, giving them a favorable matchup.

In this strategy, defensive units can be added and dropped each week accoridng to their matchup. This further lends to the idea of waiting as late as possible in a fantasy draft before taking any of them.

While many fantasy managers will wait as long as possible to select their defensive units, this creates an opportunity to use the contrarian approach.

Certain managers can target one of the top options, such as the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, or San Francisco 49ers. It's all about timing. Waiting too long could result in missing out, while pouncing too soon is missing out on propr value elsewhere.

Top 15 defenses for 2023 Fantasy Football season

Here are the projected top 15 defensive units in Fantasy Football for the 2023 NFL season:

1. Dallas Cowboys
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. Buffalo Bills
5. New England Patriots
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. New York Jets
8. Denver Broncos
9. Miami Dolphins
10. Pittsburgh Steelers
11. New Orleans Saints
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
13. Cleveland Browns
14. Los Angeles Chargers
15. Seattle Seahawks