Fantasy Defense Inquiries
Gregg Rosenthal and I held our annual Fantasy Defense Summit on Sunday night. We came up with a ranking of the 32 squads for the 2009 draft guide, but I was curious to see if the knowledgeable readers/commenters on this blog would do anything differently.
Some factors to consider:
The Cowboys led the NFL in sacks last season by a wide margin.
The Giants appear to have the best defensive line in the league.
The Steelers have the highest Average Draft Position to this point.
The Jets are moving from Eric Mangini's conservative 3-4 system to Rex Ryan's highly aggressive 3-4/4-3 hybrid.
The Titans lost Albert Haynesworth and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
The Chargers get back Shawne Merriman and Antonio Cromartie's hip has healed.
The Vikings, Ravens, Eagles, Patriots, and Bears also were high in the rankings.
If you had to rank the top five right now, how would you go? How about sleeper Ds?
Comments
Texans D - Major Sleeper and good value for wherever drafted. Lots of highly touted college players and high draft picks,
Posted by: Packfan | May 13, 2009 01:30 AM
I will have to think about my top 5 a bit.
I will say that every year fans and "experts" alike tend to overrate good real world defenses for fantasy purposes. Outstanding defenses like the Steeler don't necessarily rack up sacks, turnovers and special teams scores any better than other mediocre or even bad but aggressive defenses.
So I think I can safely say I wouldn't put the Steelers in the top 5 fantasy DST list.
Posted by: Robert O. | May 13, 2009 12:58 PM
i like both the Jets and Cowboys defenses...but maybe that's because i own them.
by the way, when are you guys going to let Wessling out of the cage so he can update his Dynasty Rankings on his website????
Posted by: Bart | May 13, 2009 03:33 PM
The Giants will be scary good. But I agree that packers are the sleeper d. even though they weren't good, they were pretty decent fantasy wise, with plenty of turnovers and return tds. now they can stop the run. i have them ranked 8th in fantasy defenses.
my top 5:
1)Steelers
2)Giants
3)Jets
4)Ravens
5)Chargers
Posted by: Kenny Phillips | May 13, 2009 04:20 PM
I agree that the top defenses on the field, don't always translate to top fantasy defenses. It really depends on the scoring. My top 5, in no particular order...
Giants - like the front 7
Eagles - like offensive additions... score more points = pressure on opposing offenses = field day!
Chargers - the return of Merriman is scary man!
Ravens - two words - Ed Reed...nuff said.
Pats - the return of Brady + free agents + the draft = field day! Darius Butler is a top notch return guy and will have Pat's fans saying Ellis who?....
Sleepers: Go Pack Go!...I think Capers will run a hybrd 4/3 3/4...BJ Raji is a beast and will man the middle in the 3/4...and Matthews, in time, could prove to be the best USC linebacker in this draft...
Posted by: Skip Tracer | May 13, 2009 05:14 PM
Best Hummer and other auto information source here http://automoto.goodnanoav.com/
Posted by: Neinnausabe | June 15, 2009 05:27 PM
l4wILy comment6 ,
Posted by: Oesokasd | June 23, 2009 09:33 PM