Sportsnaut
Our weekly NFL defense rankings examine every unit across the league to determine the best defenses in the NFL. With the preseason wrapped up, let’s dive into our evaluations for the worst and best NFL defenses this season. We’ll update our NFL defense rankings, with analysis on all 32 teams, every Sunday night each week.
Our NFL defense rankings are updated as of Tuesday, October 21. We’ve provided analysis on how every defense performed in Week 7. We’ve also included NFL defensive stats on the best and worst pass and run defenses in the NFL right now.
Here are the best fantasy defenses this week.
Atlanta Falcons D/ST vs Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots D/ST vs Cleveland Browns
Kansas City Chiefs D/ST vs Washington Commanders
Minnesota Vikings D/ST vs Los Angeles Chargers
Indianapolis Colts D/ST vs Tennessee Titans
Cleveland Browns D/ST vs New England Patriots
San Francisco 49ers D/ST vs Houston Texans
Philadelphia Eagles D/ST vs New York Giants
Tampa Bay Buccaneers D/ST vs New Orleans Saints
Houston Texans D/ST vs San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers D/ST vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Los Angeles Chargers D/ST vs Minnesota Vikings
Buffalo Bills D/ST vs Carolina Panthers
Denver Broncos D/ST vs Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals D/ST vs New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks (4)
The Seattle Seahawks defense is doing all of this without Devon Witherspoon and Julian love. Following the Monday Night Football defensive clinic versus Houston, this unit has allowed just a 54.9 percent completion rate, 4.5 yards per pass attempt and recorded 10 sacks over that span. Against the run, opponents averaged 57.5 rushing yards per game. Seattle will return in November, very likely with Witherspoon and Love back on the field. The return of those two defensive backs will also allow Mike Macdonald to get even more creative with Nick Emmanwori and we can’t wait to see that.
The more things change around the NFL, the more they stay the same for the Houston Texans defense. Seattle only managed a 4.7 yards-per-play average on Monday, going 2-for-14 on its third down attempts and they turned it over four times. All of that outstanding work by this Texans’ defense still resulted in a loss because Houston simply can’t function offensively because of its front five. We expect another great performance from the Texans’ defense in Week 8 versus San Francisco, but it might not result in a victory.
This almost felt too easy of a matchup for the Cleveland Browns defense. Even without the weather, Cleveland’s pass rush was going to make Tua Tagovailoa panic and the Browns were going to consistently win at the line of scrimmage. Sure enough, that’s what happened. Outside of De’Von Achane’s 46-yard run early in the game, Cleveland allowed just 173 total yards on 56 plays (3.09 yards-per-play average) with Miami going...
