Getty Myles Jack of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 7 of the NFL season. Our defense edition this week features a top-level unit returning from a bye. Plus, another unit, who despite trading away a superstar talent is worth a start in your lineups this week.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Be sure to also check out our weekly fantasy football defense rankings to better gauge where these start-sit options compare to the rest of the options at the position.
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DEF: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Bills DEF vs. MIA
Buffalo returns from a bye week in prime position to put up monster numbers. Miami allows a league-topping 16.6 point average to opposing defenses this year. No defense has scored under double-digits against the ‘Phins in 2019. Miami is once again playing musical chairs at quarterback between two underwhelming options.
49ers DEF at WAS
San Francisco’s defense is just a peg behind the Patriots’ unit in terms of must-start options at the position this season. It also seems as if they are continuously improving. After back-to-back single-digit efforts in Week 2 and Week 3, the team returned from a Week 5 bye and has since averaged 14.5 points per game.
Jaguars DEF at CIN
No Jalen Ramsey, no problem. Well, at least for this week. Cincinnati surrenders the fifth-most sacks on a per-game basis this season, while Jacksonville has registered the fourth-most sacks. Defensive opponents of the Bengals have averaged nearly 11 fantasy points over five of their six games in 2019.
Sleeper: Chargers DEF at TEN
No team in the NFL has struggled quite like the Chargers these past few weeks. Those struggles carried over to the defensive side of the ball last week where the Bolts were able to only muster up three measly fantasy points against the Devlin Hodges-led Steelers. However, LA had averaged 12.5 points over the prior two games prior to their blunder a week ago. Tennessee has made a quarterback change this week. That won’t help them with the fact that their o-line has allowed the most sacks in football this season.
DEF: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Broncos DEF vs. KC
Denver’s defense was second in fantasy at their position a week ago after a monster 23 point outing against the Titans. In fact, their 15.5 point average over the past two weeks is the fourth-highest in fantasy. That will undoubtedly change for the worst this week. Even with their recent struggles, the Kansas City Chiefs offense allow an absurdly low average of just 3.17 points to defensive units.
Giants DEF vs. ARI
The Giants defense has quietly improved over the last three weeks. Since Week 4, only the Patriots, Panthers, and Steelers have averaged more fantasy points than the G-Men. However, while Arizona would have seemed like a plus-matchup just a few weeks ago, that is not the case anymore. Kyler Murray has seemingly figured things out, and so has the Kliff Kingsbury run offense. Opposing defenses have averaged literally zero fantasy points against them over the past two weeks.
Buyers Beware: Packers DEF vs. OAK
Green Bay seemed like the next great defensive unit early on in the season. Yet, since their 13 point average over the first three weeks of 2019, they’ve totaled just 11 points overall in the past three weeks. Oakland still gets a bad rep around the league, but they’re a tough out. The Raiders currently surrender the fifth-fewest fantasy points to defenses this year.
READ NEXT: Fantasy: Defense Rankings Week 7