After an offseason that felt more like six years than six months, we are finally just weeks away from the start of another NFL season.
As the dog days of summer wind down and the preseason rolls on, fantasy prep szn is in full swing. Everyone who has any chance to win their league this year is ripping mock drafts, mainlining training camp updates, and warming up for five months of group chat shit-talking with their league mates.
However, only the true fantasy wolves are talking about the unsung hero of a championship roster: the D/ST spot. Sure, your first-round receiver and sleeper QB picks will play a big part in taking home a title in 2026, but too often we overlook an entire roster spot and leave things up to chance when it comes to defense.
Now to be clear, I’m not telling you to use a third round pick on the Texans defense. But when the late rounds come along and D/STs start flying off the board, having a clear picture of your best available options can make a big difference in how your team fares, especially in the early weeks.
Case in point: last year, while New England was being assessed as the 19th-ranked defense and not being drafted at all in most leagues, I told you their free agent spending frenzy and weak schedule had them in a great spot to turn around a DST30 finish from the previous year. The result? A top-ten finish with almost eight points per game and an AFC Championship to boot.
I then spent all season giving you streamer picks (as I will again this year), and when the fantasy playoffs rolled around, I told you that the lowly Giants, rostered in just 5% of leagues, were primed to go on a tear and help you win a title. The geniuses on Reddit thought I was trolling; then the Giants scored 38 points from Weeks 15-17, the highest total in the league. And yes, I did take a victory lap. Wouldn’t you?
Now that my credibility has been established and my own horn sufficiently tooted, let’s get into it. Which defenses, through a combination of overall talent and a weak early-season schedule, should you target in your drafts to get off to a hot start before coming back here for in-season streamer picks? I thought you’d never ask.
2025 FANTASY FOOTBALL DEFENSE PREVIEW (DST)
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
2025 Scoring Finish: 1st
Early Season Schedule: vs. Patriots, @ Cardinals, @ Commanders
It’s becoming tradition at this point to just start with the obvious one. Last year I kicked off my preseason preview with the Broncos, who had been the DST1 the previous season and had a pretty favorable start to the year with the Titans, Colts, and Chargers. They put up eight points or more in two out of three of those contests (the other being an abysmal showing against a much-better-than-anticipated Colts team), finished as the DST3 on the season, and were potentially a healthy Bo Nix right ankle away from a trip to the Super Bowl.
Speaking of the Super Bowl: Seattle rode the coattails of their number one ranked defense throughout an incredible 2025 season and ended up trouncing New England to claim Super Bowl LX in February. They were an absolute force for the entire year, finishing the season ranked sixth in total yards, third against the run, and first in scoring defense. Looking at the primary fantasy-relevant stats, they were tied for eighth in sacks with 47, fifth in interceptions with 18, and led the league with seven defense and special teams TDs.
Like most Super Bowl winners, Seattle underwent some roster turnover after the season, with Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen all finding new franchises to play for in 2026. The Seahawks didn’t respond to these losses with any big free agency splashes, instead focusing on retaining their remaining free agents, signing some depth veterans, and bolstering the secondary on Day Two of the draft. They did recently reach an agreement with CB Terrion Arnold, but it remains to be seen if Arnold will play in 2026 after an arrest on kidnapping and robbery charges in February.
Seattle is never going to have an easy schedule as long as the 49ers and Rams remain in the upper echelon of the NFC, but even aside from their token divisional battles, they’ll face additional 2025 playoff teams in the Chargers, Broncos, Bears, and Eagles, along with a Chiefs team that should be much improved from last year’s down season.
However, Seattle has a much more manageable start to the season, so while you may need to use a high pick to nab a unit that’s been generally the second or third DST off draft boards, you’ll likely be rewarded. They’ll start the season at home against the Patriots, a rematch of a Super Bowl matchup that Seattle’s defense dominated, to put it mildly. The Seahawks forced three turnovers and sacked Drake Maye six times, but truthfully, it was more of a beatdown than even those numbers indicate.
New England is coming off a great year (brutal Super Bowl loss aside) but a lot of factors point to Seattle having the upper hand in this matchup. In addition to Mike McDonald clearly having this offense’s number, the Patriots had a tumultuous offseason that included their coach being busted for a years-long affair with a notable NFL reporter. New weapons AJ Brown and Romeo Doubs are still getting acquainted with a new QB and system, and even on the way to a 13-win season last year, New England still had a poor showing in Week 1, losing to the Raiders at home.
Seattle will then get a few extra days of rest with their Week 1 game being on a Wednesday (which is super weird, btw) before hitting the road to face the Cardinals followed by the Commanders, two teams with Vegas win totals sitting at 3.5 and 7.5, respectively. Arizona is likely in for another high draft pick this year, and while the Commanders should bounce back from last season to some degree, nobody’s picking them to win the division this year. Especially if Jayden Daniels is mostly focused on what LSU is doing with his jersey number.
Things get much more difficult for the Seahawks after Week 3 with the Chargers, 49ers, Broncos, Chiefs, and Bears over the next five weeks, but if any defense can come out of that stretch with some decent performances, it’s likely this one. Again, it’ll cost you a relatively high pick for a defense, but if you’re going with one of the top options anyway, Seattle’s your best bet.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
2025 Scoring Finish: 11th
Early Season Schedule: vs. Cardinals, vs. Raiders, @ Bills
Unsurprisingly, when Jim Harbaugh took the reins of the Chargers in 2024, he immediately set his sights on strengthening their defense. That focus has shown clearly in his first two seasons as head coach, as Los Angeles has had one of the best defenses in football over the past couple of years.
The Chargers were in the top ten in total yardage, pass yardage, rush yardage, and scoring last year as they finished with an 11-6 record and lost to the eventual AFC Champion Patriots in the Wild Card Round. Given their strong defense and gutsy quarterback play from Justin Herbert, a slightly below-average offensive line probably would’ve allowed them to at least win a playoff game; instead, injuries and poor performances from their o-line spurred their ultimate downfall.
LA racked up 45 sacks a season ago, good for a tie for tenth in the league, with almost a third of those (13) coming from Tuli Tuipulotu alone. Tuipulotu went ballistic in his third NFL season, doubling his sack total from his first two years. Given he’s entering 2026 in the final year of his rookie contract without an extension in place, I’m expecting another double-digit sack effort from the 23-year-old as he tries to lock down a long-term deal after the season.
Those sack numbers combined with 19 interceptions, good enough for a tie for third in the league, could’ve easily boosted the Chargers into a top-ten DST scoring finish in 2026 if they’d been able to score a single defensive or special teams touchdown all year long — which they were not. That honestly makes their seven points per game even more impressive, especially considering that every unit ahead of them scored at least two touchdowns on the year. If they can luck their way into the end zone a couple of times this year, we could be looking at a top five defense in 2026.
The Chargers didn’t make any big moves in free agency to strengthen their defense, but they did retain Khalil Mack, who was still a force last year in his 12th NFL season. Mack played in just twelve games in 2025 due to an early-season elbow injury, but while his overall stats were low in comparison to his Hall of Fame career, his impact was felt nonetheless; in the games that he missed with injury, Los Angeles had the league’s sixth-worst run defense, but from his return in Week 7 through the rest of the regular season, they were the fourth-best unit against the run.
LA also added more talent on the edge in April’s draft, using the 22nd overall pick on Akheem Mesidor. The 25-year-old out of Miami led the Hurricanes with 12.5 sacks last season and drew comparisons to Jonathan Greenard from scouts, and Harbaugh has noted multiple times throughout training camp how much Mesidor has impressed him while going up against Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt every day.
The Chargers will open the season with two straight home games against the Cardinals and Raiders, two teams that are expected to be near the top of next year’s draft board when this season is all said and done. They’ll follow it up with a road game in Buffalo, which is never an easy task, but with a new head coach and a slightly underwhelming supporting cast around Josh Allen, Los Angeles could be just fine in that matchup as well. The Chargers have a pretty easy schedule overall by most metrics, and I believe they’re being vastly undervalued in their current spot outside of the top 10 in most D/ST rankings. They’ll likely make it to the late rounds of your draft, and if they do, I recommend taking them.
GREEN BAY PACKERS
2025 Scoring Finish: 22nd
Early Season Schedule: @ Vikings, @ Jets, vs. Falcons
The Packers were a pretty average defensive unit over the entirety of last season; on the year, they finished 12th in total yards, 11th against the pass, and 11th in scoring. They struggled in fantasy-relevant stats however, recording just 36 sacks (T-20th) and 14 turnovers (T-26th) while failing to score a touchdown all season.
Micah Parsons was Green Bay’s big addition heading into last season, and he had a solid year with 12.5 sacks before a torn ACL in mid-December ended his campaign prematurely. Parsons is expected to miss at least the first five games of the 2026 season as he finishes his recovery, and when you combine that absence with Rashan Gary‘s departure to Dallas, Green Bay will be without over 55% of their 2025 sack production for the first quarter-plus of this season.
Luckily, Green Bay wasn’t complacent in the offseason when it came to their defense. Newly-extended head coach Matt LaFleur lost his defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who took Miami’s head coaching job, and replaced him with Jonathan Gannon, who oversaw Philadelphia’s NFC-winning defense in 2022 before three lackluster seasons as head coach of the Cardinals. Reports out of Packers camp have players describing Gannon as “turnt up” with a “crazy energy” as he tries to revitalize his career and Green Bay’s defense at the same time.
The Packers made some additions to the roster as well, signing DT Javon Hargrave and CB Benjamin St-Juste to two-year deals and going heavy on defense in the draft. Their first round pick belonged to Dallas as part of the Parsons trade, but they went CB-DT-EDGE in the second, third, and fourth rounds, adding depth to a unit that’s being ranked as high as 10th for fantasy purposes heading into this season.
Green Bay starts 2026 with two road games, first in Minnesota before heading east to face the Jets in The Meadowlands. Kyler Murray was recently named the starter for the Vikings, which should represent a step up from the JJ McCarthy/Max Brosmer fiasco we witnessed last year, but Murray still has a lot to prove after an up-and-down tenure in Arizona, and he likely won’t have much of a run game to lean on after Minnesota kept their RB room intact that finished 23rd in rushing a season ago.
The Jets, meanwhile, may only have a run game in their arsenal, as Geno Smith is back in the starting role after a league-high 17 interceptions for the Raiders last year. New York was in the bottom five in total offense and scoring last year, and even after getting their receivers healthy and adding TE Kenyon Sadiq from Oregon in April’s draft, they’re not scaring anyone.
Green Bay is right around the middle of the league in strength of schedule based on 2026 win total projections, but they’ll get Parsons back by mid-season and seem to be rallying around their new DC and his energy. They aren’t my favorite pick by any means, but they should put up some solid numbers for at least the first couple weeks. And after that? Come right back to the Roto Street Journal for D/ST streamer picks all year long.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Kansas City Chiefs
T-18th in scoring last year, Kansas City is ready to move on from missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014. They signed safety Alohi Gilman and DT Khyiris Tonga and took LSU CB Mansoor Delane sixth overall in April’s draft. They’ll start the season at home against the Broncos and Colts before road games in Miami and Las Vegas.
New England Patriots
New England was the DST6 last year despite a low sack total (35, T-22nd) as they benefitted from a decent amount of turnovers and five defensive and special teams touchdowns, the second-highest mark in the league. Looking to get back to the Super Bowl, they added EDGE Dre’Mont Jones and safety Kevin Byard III, who should both step into starting roles, and drafted Gabe Jacas out of Illinois in the second round. They’ll play in Seattle for the season opener before heading home to face the Steelers and back on the road against the Jags.
Chicago Bears
The Bears were 16th in DST scoring a season ago, leading the league in interceptions (23) and total turnovers (33) to balance out a paltry 35 sacks (T-22nd). Chicago signed Coby Bryant to replace Kevin Byard III, who left for New England, but Bryant just had knee surgery and is expected to miss most, if not all, of the regular season. They made additional signings, though, including LB Devin Bush and DT Neville Gallimore, and they drafted safety Dillon Thieneman out of Oregon in the first round. They’ll start the season in Charlotte against the Panthers before heading home to host the Vikings, Eagles, and Jets.
