It is often said that the last two picks of your fantasy football draft should be your defense and your kicker and, for the most part, you should probably subscribe to that theory as well. However, a case can be made for drafting a defense “early”.
The Best
There is only one defense you should consider drafting before filling out your roster and that is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last season, the Jaguars defense scored more points than such skill position players as A.J. Green , Jordan Howard and Doug Baldwin , just to name a few, and these are players who are being drafted in the second and third rounds of most fantasy drafts. Jacksonville ranked 31st in fantasy points among all scorers in 2017 with 203 fantasy points. The Jaguars were able to offer such production largely thanks to their division which boasts some of the league’s worst offensive lines between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts. And that’s not even taking into account that Houston played half the season without Deshaun Watson and the Colts did not have Andrew Luck . Though both the Texans and Colts will have their franchise quarterbacks to start this season, it seems unlikely much will stand in the way of the Jaguars defense as both teams still boast offensive lines that rank towards the bottom of the league. The Jaguars schedule this season isn’t all that difficult either as they draw the AFC and NFC East, both of whom boast some of the league’s bottom-tier offenses. Jacksonville finished the season second in sacks with 55 (just one behind the Steelers for the league lead), second in interceptions with 21 (one behind the Ravens for the league lead), fourth in fumble recoveries and first in defensive touchdowns. The Jaguars have a current ADP of 103 which puts them somewhere in the 8th or 9th round of standard league formats. Again, you should still consider building up some depth at running back and wide receiver during these rounds, but nobody will blame you for taking a shot at an impact defense like this.
The Next Tier
The next group of defenses, based off ADP, consists of the Los Angeles Rams (111) and Minnesota Vikings (119). In terms of 2017 production, the Rams finished the season tied for the third-most fantasy points among defenses while the Vikings finished in a disappointing 12th place. There should be an asterisk next to the Vikings ranking, however, as their defense was crushed by injuries. Full-health to open a new season is why they are, again, a highly-regarded unit heading into the 2018 season. The Rams really went out an improved their defensive unit this offseason as they added Ndamukong Suh , Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters to a group that already included Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers . This is a Wade Phillips run-defense that could easily end the season as the league’s No.1 scoring defense. As mentioned with the Vikings, their defense dealt with injuries for most of last season but the unit that placed them among the league’s top defenses in previous years is back and intact for the 2018 season. They have also added defensive linemen Sheldon Richardson who, when focused, can be an absolute force. The team’s secondary remains stout with Harrison Smith , Andrew Sendejo , Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes , all of whom are more than capable of shutting down opposing passing attacks.
Waiting Until the End
Now sure, you can go ahead and point out units like the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens who ranked highly in 2017 in terms of fantasy scoring, but their ADP’s take a big drop off after the group mentioned above. If we break it down into tiers we have the Eagles, Chargers, Ravens, Texans and Broncos all going between rounds 10 and 13. Each team has its flaws but this is where you should try to mix and match two defenses with favorable schedules. After this grouping goes you have hit the final few rounds of the draft where everybody is looking to grab their defense and kicker who waited until the end. At this point you will want to be early rather than late when taking your defense. You should be the one to start the run on D/ST being taken off the board. After the Broncos and their ADP of 155, we hit the Patriots and their ADP of 177 and the Saints with an ADP of 178. The Panthers clock in at 190 and the rest of the teams have an ADP of 200+. Playing the match game with your defense week to week is likely the way to go here if you miss out on the Jaguars, Rams or Vikings.
The moral of the story here is don’t draft a defense early unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure of your depth at running back and wide receiver and even then, you should still think about drafting a running back or wide receiver. As always, you should go and mock draft. See how your rosters turn out when you draft a defense in round eight or wait until the end and mix and match. The best way to build a winning strategy is to perfect it first.