Fantasy Football Week 10 Defense Streamers: Jets, Panthers, and More

Offense is more exciting than defense in real football, and it's also more enjoyable to root for in fantasy football. When rooting for a defense, you are hoping that points aren't scored; that's not as fun as seeing big plays.

When you are hoping for good things for your offensive fantasy players, that means yards and touchdowns. A TD from your defense or special teams is great, but it happens much less frequently, so we're usually hoping for a lack of production from the other team more than anything else.

That doesn't stop us, though; it's about winning fantasy games by any means necessary. Let's look at three D/ST units with good matchups in Week 10 that are widely available in fantasy leagues and can be picked up and inserted into your lineup. Most stats are from NFL.com.

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Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints

New Orleans gave rookie quarterback Tyler Shough his first career start last week against the Rams. The result of the game was what you would expect: 34-10 Los Angeles. Shough wasn't as bad as he could have been, throwing for 176 yards on 7.3 per attempt with a touchdown and an interception while only taking one sack.

The Saints rank in the bottom five in both yards per pass attempt and yards per rush attempt; they have scored the second-fewest points per game and fourth-fewest overall despite not having their bye yet. Already short on playmakers, they traded receiver Rashid Shaheed at the deadline.

Carolina has been formidable on defense, a surprise given that they might have been the worst defensive team in football a year ago. The Panthers rank right in the middle in points per game and yards per pass attempt allowed, though they are among the 10 worst against the run.

This isn't a great defensive team, but they are good enough to be under fantasy consideration, something that wasn't true in 2024. With a very favorable matchup against the Saints, the Panthers are a good streaming D/ST this week.

Cleveland Browns @ New York Jets

Despite a hapless offense, the Browns have a strong defensive unit that ranked ninth among fantasy defenses before their Week 9 bye (they are tied for 11th now). The depth chart is still stacked with good players, all the way up to superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett.

Cleveland ranks in the top 10 in sacks and right in the middle in interceptions. They are just a little worse than average in yards per pass attempt allowed, but the Browns have given up the third-fewest yards per rush attempt, regularly shutting down running games. New York does the best work via the run.

The Jets are an attractive target team, tied for the eighth-fewest points per game. Despite Justin Fields missing a game and parts of two others and the Jets having their bye last week, he has been sacked the fifth most, including nine times by the Broncos in Week 6. He hasn't thrown an interception, looking more low risk, low reward at times.

New York ranks second worst in pass blocking (according to ESPN), while Cleveland ranks first in pass rush win rate; for a guy who gets sacked a lot, that seems to be pointing toward a big day for the Browns.

Cleveland is coming off their bye, so the defense is more available than it would be otherwise, giving owners a nice chance at a sneaky pickup in the middle of the week.

New York Jets vs. Cleveland Browns

This is a scary one after what we just saw at the trade deadline. While New York has plenty of issues on both offense and defense, they did at least have a few high-level defensive players they could count on. That has now changed.

I like both moves the Jets made, trading cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts for two first-round picks and sending defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys for a second-round pick this year and a first rounder next year (along with the Jets acquiring a couple lesser players).

That significantly hurts their defense, though, a group that already wasn't playing well. New York is at risk of being one of the worst defenses the rest of the way; we won't know what it will look like for a few more weeks. I'm not expecting big things.

Their spot here is all about the matchup, as the Browns might have the worst collection of offensive talent in the league. They have scored the third-fewest points per game, and rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel is averaging less than 5.0 yards per pass attempt, an abysmal number.

They don't turn it over a lot with Gabriel, as six of Cleveland's eight interceptions were thrown by Joe Flacco, and the team has lost just two fumbles, but they are a low-ceiling offense that doesn't do much scoring, leaving them as a favorable fantasy opponent.

I'd rather rely on Cleveland's defense than New York's, but I'd also rather face the Cleveland offense, which brings the Jets a little closer. I still prefer the Browns' D/ST group, though Carolina is probably my favorite streamer of the week.