Over time, the value of fantasy defenses shifts. Every season there are always one or two top defenses that go in the eighth or ninth round in most drafts. This year, it’s the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.
After that, all the defenses seem to be bunched together in the late 10th round through the remainder of the draft. Even at that point, many owners prefer just to go with a defense-by-committee approach, picking up a new one off the waiver wire each week.
In order to avoid that, look at these three defenses that improved the most this offseason through the draft and free agency. Drafting one of them will give you an every-week option for a fantasy defense, and they likely won’t cost you nearly as much as the Seahawks or 49ers.
3. St. Louis Rams
We all know what St. Louis did up front in this year’s draft. All their opponents should shudder at the thought of adding the athletic Aaron Donald to a front-seven that already was one of the best in the league.
Defensive end Robert Quinn had a breakout campaign last season, recording 19 sacks in just his third NFL season. Across from Quinn, Chris Long has a total of 33 combined sacks in his last three years and he is still in the prime of his career.
At defensive tackle, Donald will likely substitute in for 2012 first-round draft pick Michael Brockers who had 5.5 sacks this past season. If Donald pans out in his rookie year, St. Louis’s sack totals could be through the roof, and opposing quarterbacks will want to beware.
In leagues that account for yardage allowed by defenses as well, it will be tough for most teams to run against the Rams.
At linebacker, the Rams also have James Laurinaitis who is now pushover and Alec Ogletree is looking to rebound after a mediocre rookie year.
That all sounds great along the front seven, but the reason the Rams are lower on this list is because of the secondary. Second-round pick Lamarcus Joyner could emerge as the top defensive back on this team, because the rest is pretty disappointing.
St. Louis will struggle to defend the pass with the safeties they have, but they’re still a great fantasy option given the pass rush upside.
2. Denver Broncos
The Broncos have improved on defense more than anyone else on this list, but because Peyton Manning will put up 35 points a game on offense, opponents will be airing out the ball against the Broncos in an attempt to win shootouts.
But, for fantasy purposes, there’s opportunities to pick up points in sack and interception totals. The pass rush took a huge step forward by adding Demarcus Ware. Ware and Von Miller are possibly the best one-two pass rush combo in the league now, and teams won’t be able to double-team Ware because of Miller’s presence on the other side of the defense.
Ware’s presence should also help the linebackers, mainly Danny Trevathan, who had a solid sophomore season with the Broncos last year. Trevathan is a good candidate to break out with opponents having to focus on blocking Ware and Miller.
There’s a big hole at middle linebacker, but Denver’s defense is no joke given what Miller and Ware bring to the table if they’re both able to stay healthy.
In the secondary, I’m not going to get as excited for Aqib Talib, because I don’t see that signing as more of a swap for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (who the Broncos couldn’t afford) but Denver won’t see a drop-off at that position because of Talib.
Signing T.J. Ward at safety and drafting Bradley Roby is a huge upgrade over having Champ Bailey in the secondary.
Rahim Moore will also be back in the lineup. He missed the second half of the 2013 season with a leg injury. This is a great defense, but from a fantasy perspective, I’m concerned with how many shootouts they’ll be a part of.
Cleveland Browns
There were some huge personnel moves on defense for the Browns this offseason, but more so than that, the coaching staff changed to shift more toward defense. Mike Pettine comes from being the coordinator of a Buffalo Bills defense that was 10th in the league in yards allowed per game, first in total tackles and tied for fourth in sacks (Cleveland was already third in that category last season).
Pettine also brought Jim O’Neil with him to coach the defense. O’Neil was the linebackers coach for Buffalo last season.
Desmond Bryant is returning after missing all of last season at defensive end, giving the Browns the personnel they need to fill out the 3-4 defense. Although Phil Taylor hasn’t been as good as expected in his first few seasons at nose tackle, Ahtyba Rubin is an underrated defensive end, and at linebacker, Cleveland is super deep with Paul Kruger, second-round draft pick Christian Kirksey, Craig Robertson, free-agent signing Karlos Dansby, Jabaal Sheard and last year’s first-round pick Barkevious Mingo.
Taking Kirskey was a questionable move for the Browns given their lack of receivers at that time, but that pick, along with the Dansby signing, gives them a ton of combinations to use in different defensive packages. Dansby is an upgrade over D’Qwell Jackson, who the Browns released, and they’ll be getting a full year of a healthy Mingo.
In the secondary, they already had Joe Haden, one of the three best corners in the league, and drafted Justin Gilbert and Pierre Desir. Like Kirksey, the Desir pick was puzzling given the need at receiver, but he was a great value pick in the fourth round (he should have gone in the early third) and Gilbert was one of the three best corners available in this year’s draft.
Donte Whitner at strong safety was more of a swap for losing Ward to the Broncos, but with the moves made this offseason, it’s tough to find a hole on this defense outside of defensive end. If Josh Gordon does miss the whole year, the Browns will look to run the ball against opponents and win games with their defense.
There’s fantasy upside here for sacks and interceptions, and their games will be low-scoring affairs.