Fantasy Football Week 14 Streaming Defenses: Commanders, Buccaneers, and More
Three D/ST units with good matchups in Week 14 who are widely available in fantasy leagues and can easily be picked up.
Streamers at every position are all about matchups, but with offensive players, sometimes the situation can mean just as much, such as a guy moving up the depth chart because of an injury. With D/ST units, it's almost all about matchups because we are counting on an entire group, not an individual player.
A few of our best matchups this week aren't available to streamers because they face defenses that are already heavily owned in fantasy, like the Broncos taking on the Raiders. That forces us to go a little further down the pecking order, but we still have a few lesser-owned defenses that have good outlooks this week.
Let's look at three D/ST units with good matchups in Week 14 who 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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Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay is a defense we are targeting often with fantasy players, so it's a little strange to be trusting them on the other side to have a decent performance. That's the nature of streaming, though, as we are looking for those players (or teams, in this case) who are off the fantasy radar but could perform well on the given week.
New Orleans has scored the third-fewest points per game, just 15.2. They are starting a rookie quarterback in Tyler Shough and lack playmakers at every position, especially with Alvin Kamara among the guys currently injured. The Saints' offensive line ranks 32nd in pass block win rate and 29th in run block win rate (according to ESPN).
Trusting Tampa Bay means trusting the Saints to continue floundering. The Bucs are right in the middle in sacks and tied for eighth with 11 interceptions, so they do make some plays, but I'm more interested in the group they are playing.
Tampa is a low-to-mid-level streaming defense this week with a little intrigue. We aren't going to use them very often, but they have some playmakers and name recognition, so there is upside.
Tennessee Titans @ Cleveland Browns
I'll warn you now: All of our streamers are poor defensive teams who we look to go after with offensive streamers most weeks. The Titans are the worst team in football at 1-11, and they allow the fourth-most points per game.
They are right around average in sacks, but Tennessee is tied for the fourth-fewest interceptions (five). It's not often that we are going to look at this group as a positive fantasy option.
The opponent is the draw again, as the Browns have scored the fourth-fewest points per game. They are starting Shedeur Sanders at quarterback now, and while a screen pass that turned into a long touchdown helped his numbers in his first start, he looked overmatched against a better San Francisco team on Sunday, as we would expect.
No matter what you think about Sanders, he is a fifth-round rookie, and those players don't succeed often in the NFL. I would be saying the same thing if they were starting third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel, who is now recovered and in the backup role.
Any defense against the Browns is going to have fantasy value. Young quarterbacks generally take more sacks and make more mistakes, so as long as Sanders or Gabriel are in the lineup, they fit the criteria of what we are looking for. Even with a poor Titans defense, there is some low-level streaming value here if you find yourself without a solid option.
Washington Commanders @ Minnesota Vikings
If you saw Minnesota's game against Seattle on Sunday (or the highlights), then you know why they are listed here as a target. Undrafted rookie Max Brosmer started under center for the Vikings, and they were completely inept, scoring zero points and gaining less than 200 total yards.
J.J. McCarthy was out with a concussion, and he could return for this one against Washington, but McCarthy has also been bad, completing less than 55% of his passes on the way to 154.8 passing yards per game on 5.8 per attempt, all well-below-average numbers. He also has 10 interceptions to just six touchdowns.
The Commanders are a risky team to trust in fantasy because they could be the worst defense in football. Washington allows the fifth-most points per game, and they are below the league average in both sacks and interceptions, not creating plays that score fantasy points.
This is all about the matchup, though, as Minnesota has scored the fifth-fewest points per game, and McCarthy has thrown 1.7 interceptions and taken 3.3 sacks per game. The Commanders are a low-level streamer who have a little upside.
