Seattle, Washington, Cardinals, Houston? Just throwing some names out there. Who do you like as a mediocre defense last year who will be solid this year? Similarly, who are last year's good defenses who could put up top 5 numbers? I'm liking Dallas and San Diego to outperform this year. Dallas had ~50 sacks last season, but somehow people don't like them as much as the other big name defenses. I'm also thinking about picking up some Seattle to go with my Dallas.

I like Houston, Jets, and San Diego this year.

Cincinnati Bengals is my sleeper D of the year.

Michael Johnson, Roy Williams, and Rey Maualuga added to an already solid group.

Bengals - I really liked the addition of Michael Johnson and think the sack total will go up, and not only because of him. Leon Hall is really coming into his own and they have youth and potential behind him. I see them causing many more turnover's this season.

Texans - The addition of Antonio Smith and Brian Cushing should help increase the sack total, also with Dunta being healthy this season and with some impressive young players in the secondary I see the turnover's going up aswell. Also they have a decent return game with Andre Davis and Jacoby Jones.

Loving that Seattle defense.

not sleepers and will most likely be reached for in drafts

I like houston...I mean you might think im a homer but let me give you my reasoning...

HOUSTON
D-Line - Already have Mario Williams. They signed Antonio Smith to help the pass rush and he will. Amobi Okoye is a young beast in the making. Guys like Dejuan Robinson, Frank Okam, Shaun COdy, and Travis Johnson (most texans fans hate him) are going for the starting DL spot...Okam and Robinson appear to be the favorite. Connor Barwin the speedy pass rusher from Cincinatti alraedy has 2 sacks this offseason and will be in the DE rotation. Him and Tim Bulman (last year really showed what hes made of) are the 2 backups

LB's - Arguably a top 5 LB unit the starters appear to be as follows...Ryans in the Middle with Cushing (speed rusher) at OLB and Adibi as the other OLB. There depth is just amazing with Zach Diles (great LB last year b4 he got hurt) Cato June and Kevin Bentley as 3 backup LB's. The backups could start on many teams and have had many reps. Cato June is hurt now so Buster Davis is taking his place and will take his place if June is cut due to the injury.

Corners- The texans currently have 6 Corners signed who all deserve playing time. Reeves and Dunta are the projected starters. Dunta is still holinding out and Reeves should be out till week 3'ish. Dont worry though. 3rd year stud Fred Bennet and Rookie Glover Quin have been great this offseason and should start. 3rd rounder last year Antwan Molden and 6th rounder this year Brice Mccain have also done well (molden on PUP list but reports are great). So those 4 all deserve time and all will get to play as this secondary is deep. And even past the 6 they have great players that wont make the team like Pittman (don;t know first name) has played very well and will prolly make another team

Safeties - Ferguson and E. Wilson are the first teamers as of training camp. last years 6th rounder Dominique Barber is now a first teamer replacing Ferguson. (Barber is Marions brother). Backups are Nick Ferguson and another player. It appears Jon Busing might be the favorite for backup to wilson.

These are the reasons why you should draft Houston as your ONLY defense. They also have a week 10 bye so you dont need to draft 2 defenses. Come week 10 one of your backups you can drop because that is the last week of byes. SO draft Houston and you can probably get them in the last round. SLEEPER ALERT!!!

I'm going to follow up Go Texans Go's homer post with a homer post of my own. I know the preseason means nothing but the Packers D has been unstoppable so far. Granted they played the Browns and Bills but still, they are creating turnovers like crazy and flying to the ball. I don't know what they are putting in the water up there in GB but I hope they keep drinking it because this defense looks COMPLETELY different than last year.

Bringing in Dom Caper's and the switch to the 3-4 seems to have breathed new life into what was a bad defense last year. At times on Saturday Trent Edwards looked like I would if I were out there. Confused as all hell. haha

I'd like them a lot better if they weren't still planning on giving Brian "The Human Highlight Reel for Opposing WRs" Russell meaningful playing time. Between that and Marcus Trufant's back issues, that great front-seven might end up wholly undercut by a terrible secondary behind them.


Edit: GTG's paragraph on the Houston CBs is comedy gold.

This. Two weeks ago I loved Seattle as a potential top ten defense, especially considering they're in the worst division in the NFL. But now? You couldn't pay me to draft them.

Anyway, I'm not sure if these are sleepers or just underrated, but regardless, DSTs that are making my list include: Dolphins, 49ers, Redskins, and Packers.

I agree, the Packers D looked really really good against the Bills the other night. And capitalizing when you play "The Bills" type teams is what's important if you have a defense like that, since you can typically have two of them and play match ups.

I'm not too worried about the Texans performance against the Saints, since its the Saints, but their secondary does seem a little sketchy.

ironic that u followed my post with this bcz u mention dom capers...just a thing that i never do. I NEVER DRAFT A DEFENSE RUN BY DOM CAPERS! He ruined the texans! Him and Casserly! (but thats for a diff. topic)

I do however love matthews and raji!

I might be mistaken here, but if it wasnt for Casserly, the texans would be sitting with reggie bush as their rb, and no mario williams. Which probably means no steve slaton. And wasnt he the one who brought in Matt schaub? and drafted andre johnson? Thats pretty good stuff to leave behind

Bad mouth Casserly all you want but his last draft has given us a lot of building blocks, and having the pair to take Super Mario even tho everyone was saying take Bush. He had his up's and down's, mostly down's but he pointed the franchise in the right direction with his last draft (Williams, Ryans, Daniels, Winston, and to a lesser extent D.Anderson).

keeping is on topic, The Packer's are a good pick Raji looked like a beast his first game.

Not sure I'd call them a sleeper but San Diego should bounce back this year after underperforming last season. Merriman and Cromartie healthy. Schedule is nice and they drafted some new defensive players too.

i knew that was gonna come up...

well AJ is really the only thing casserly did that was good...but back then it was rumored that we really wanted rogers and had lions taken AJ, we woulda taken rogers, so we really got lucky that the lions were stupid...casserly was technically in charge still then, but it was really guys like kubiak and others that helped with those picks...i believe kubiak also made sure to get rid of carr and asked for schaub...

He made some other solid picks over the years, Dunta has been very good, AJ regardless who he "wanted, Dominick Davis was looking to be a great RB in this league but an injury ended his career, thats not Casserly's fault. As I said he had more low points than high but at least give him credit for the good moves he did make.

I like the New England D to rebound in a big way this year. Between the likelihood of the offense being on the field the majority of the time and creating blowouts. Teams will try to compensate with riskier plays when they are down big. They have also improved the pass rush by signing Burgess from the Raiders. They have a stacked reworked secondary with Bodden and Springs. The D line is all healthy at once for the first time in awhile. Mayo and Thomas should both have great years as well. They have added a lot of nice pieces through the draft and off-season. I expect them to be in the top 5 by the end of the year.

Jets D

im not in anyway saying that casserly was 100 percent terrible...just saying that he sure as hell did not do much good for us...now im thankful for AJ, Dunta (tho annoying now) Dominick Davis, but besides for that nothing much else...Pitts maybe? and i believe that casserly did not have as much of a say in the williams draft then many people believe...

Wade Phillips is calling plays for D this year, and could have a big influence...I like the Cowboys as well, but they may go earlier because of their sack totals from last year.

Another vote for the Packers. Not only will they be a sleeper Defense. But i think they will surprise and be at the top of the heap when its all said and done.

Not a lot of love for the Redskins here yet. They were middle of the pack last season and have added Haynesworth and Orakpo to the defensive line. Albert Haynesworth is a BIG addition to any defense.

Am I the only one who doesn't like GB's defense at all this year?

They had strong fantasy production last season based on a fluky amount of turnovers returned for scores-- that's mostly luck based on where you happen to be when you get the ball, not a repeatable skill. The defense's real-world football effectiveness (which translates much better, season-to-season) was lousy.

The scheme shift might fit their overall roster math better, as they are deeper at LB than they are at DL. But past experience with similar shifts tells us that there are going to be some square pegs in round holes until a season or two of roster shuffling is in the books. Their best pass-rusher is changing positions, and the results of the shift on his effectiveness are still very much to-be-determined. Also, their already-ancient starting CBs are a year older, and the depth behind them doesn't appear to be improved. And the depth at safety is even worse. (PROTIP: DB is one of the most important areas to have quality depth, as starting DBs have a higher rate of missing games due to injury than any other position.)

Preseasons success against terrible offenses is nice and all, but it doesn't really get us anywhere in answering these concerns.

A note on scoring: An often-neglected element of assessing fantasy defenses: The offense.

For leagues that have a component of defensive scoring that rewards low points and/or yards allowed (i.e., not just points for big plays and shutouts), a bad offense makes a fantasy defense better. Teams with strong offenses make for weaker fantasy defenses under this scoring, because opponents are often seen racking up garbage-time yards and scores against 'prevent' formations. On the other hand, teams with weak offenses tend to have high-scoring fantasy defenses even when their team loses-- a 13-3 loss still shows only 13 points and 270ish yards of offense allowed!

The opposite is true of leagues that score defenses solely by sacks, turnovers, D/ST scores, safeties, etc. Those defenses are helped by having a good offense, since opponents in pass-first situations yield more sacks, INTs, FFs (most of which happen on sacks), etc.

What does everyone think of the Bears D?
I picked them up last pick..

Great post, plus rep. This logic is part of why I like SF, Cincy & MIA as underrated D's this year.

If you want a true sleeper, how about the Aints? Nobody is going to draft them. There's a good chance that Gregg Williams gets some production out of their talented front 7.

Sleeper defenses? I think many are sleepin on SF. Not a high-sack kind of team, but they certainly have playmakers all over that defense in what could be a very opportunistic unit. This is Manny Lawson's make-or-break year, he will be important on the outside. A Top 15 defense that might be able to sniff the Top 10 if everything goes right.

Houston is another one that I like.

I actually drafted SF. I'm not sure about their STs or turnover capability but I think they are better than what people think because their offense is so bad. Also, all it takes is a Warner injury and they should be able to keep that division in check.

I think its safe to say Oakland is not one, sheesh

Houston just traded one of their best run stopping tackles. He constantly injured, but when he plays, he's stout....Houston has a nice week 1 matchup vs. the Jets, if they can stop the run. Rookie QBs tend to turn the ball over....

Chargers acquired NT Travis Johnson from the Texans in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick. The pick becomes a fifth-rounder if Johnson meets certain playing-time levels.
The Texans were fed up with Johnson's inability to practice, but they've just given up their most gifted run stopper. The compensation is minimal for a 27-year-old with starting talent, making the deal a steal for Bolts GM A.J. Smith. Johnson, the 16th overall pick in 2005, could play either end or the nose in San Diego's 3-4, where depth is needed behind aging NT Jamal Williams. Houston's run defense has struggled this preseason and now looks worse.
Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

Jets defense should be a solid sleeper pick. Jets will be playing ball control offense and trying to pin opposing teams inside the 10. Jets defense will thrive on big plays which means more sacks and INT's. Jets also have leon washington as a top 3 Kickoff returner.

Jets D has been a pretty fashionable pick for most websites. They were pretty good last year + Rex Ryan has made them very hyped. So while I agree with you, I don't know if they can be considered a "sleeper" pick....

Giants D is pretty good I heard.

Not week one. The Texans are going to shred the Jets defense defense.

The Saints Defense plays week 1 against the Lions, so we should find out if they have any potential soon.

For me, the most important thing for a sleeper defense is the pass rush, blitzing, pressuring, and generating sacks.. even at the expense of some extra points conceded.

I thought the broncos looked good last night.

Well the Saints will be missing their best 2 DL for the first 4 weeks, so they'll be a good team to keep track of on the wire starting in week 6 after the bye. They have some decent matchups after with Miami, St Louis, and TB on the schedule, but have NE, NYG, and Carolina to face.....

The Broncos gave up 17 points in the 1st half to an average Bears' offense with no sacks and no TO's.....No thanks....

I think Capers the head coach and Capers the def. coordinator are two different people. Just look at what Capers has done as a def. coordinator. I remember seeing a stat during the last Packers game about Capers and what he has done to the defenses he has taken over. Something like taking those bad defenses and turning them all into top 5 in the league. It isn't unrealistic to think he could do the same with the Packers. They seem to be thriving in this new system.

/Packers fan trying to get too excited about how they've looked this preseason

Well week 1 is the Cowboys who will be facing a downright miserable team in Tampa Bay. I expect atleast 1 defensive touchdown and 3 sacks with multiple INT's. Demarcus Ware is arguably the best defensive player in the NFL, so why not take the team who has the best defensive player in the NFL? He led all of the NFL in Sacks last year by alot, and he's only getting better. Also, as someone above posted Wade Phillips took over the defensive play calling in the middle of last season and they played much better. Wade may be a lousy head coach, but he is a quality defensive coordinator. This is why I selected the Cowboys defense with the last pick in my 12-team league, they are a definate top 5 start in week 1. After that who knows.

Bengals. LB Corp is solid with Ray, Rivers, and Mr. Jones (bias because he was a Giant)!

Leon Hall and Roy Williams (in the box, not in coverage)!

DL is solid with Tank and rookie Michael Johnson who looked great at training camp.

The teams biggest negative is that they face Houston, Pats and saints in 3 out of the first 4 weeks. THe other team they play in first 4 weeks are the Titans who tend to be a ball control and mistake free offense.

Really liking Washington.

If Seattle can stop the pass they have enough playmakers to put up some solid points.

I like Seattle first two matchups against St. Louis and San Fran.

And they play against the Lions this year

Don't see any threads on defenses. Who do you guys like?

What teams are overrated? Underrated?

My league gives a few extra points than default for the scoring allowed cats, and takes away a few more for excessive points, so defenses are worth a bit more.

save your defense for your last pick and take the Bengals

the Bengals?

Thoughts on Oakland or Houston defenses this season?? I need to pick one of the 2.

FAIL

So I take it you like the Houston defense more than Oakland?