And with Week 6 in the books, I can finally admit that I had a bad play. Typically when I write these D/ST previews I tend to go all in on one defense, but I may mix it up in GPP’s by pivoting in one or two lineups. Disciplined approach? No, but it had worked this season including Week 5 when I was all in on Dallas. Last week I was very high on Jacksonville and it didn’t work out because the Colts went with more of a pass-heavy approach and it finally looked like the offense was clicking, sans Jonathan Taylor. But my D/ST choices didn’t kill me as I still had a profitable week, but a simple pivot off Jacksonville may have yielded a larger return. But we can turn our attention to Week 7 and there is one juicy value D/ST that I’m tempted to go all in on and we’ll get to that shortly. As always, we have you covered with NFL DFS Coverage starting on Tuesday with the NFL DFS Watch List that is updated throughout the week and don’t forget to check out the other valuable NFL DFS Position Coaches as you start constructing your winning lineups. Let’s dig into the trenches for this week’s top NFL DFS picks at the D/ST position.

Be sure to check out the rest of the NFL DFS Coaches and DFS Watch List throughout the week!

| NFL DFS Watch List | DFS Playbook | QB Coach | RB Coach | WR Coach | TE Coach (Thu) | D/ST Coach (Thu) | Value Plays | 

NFL DFS D/ST Coach Week 7

NFL DFS D/ST Top Plays Week 7

Dallas Cowboys

I’m a little hesitant to go here and for obvious reasons. The Lions are no slouches on offense and they’ve put up plenty of points. In general, this isn’t a week you need to pay up this high. But we could also see the Cowboys D/ST as a leverage play, which is a shame since they’re so good in a variety of areas. Even last week against the Eagles they only allowed 268 yards of offense. But they did give up 26 points and they only offered four sacks, so there wasn’t much of a return. However, the Cowboys defense is still one of the elite options in the league and now play host to Detroit who is coming off their Bye week. Detroit has plenty of weapons and the off week may have benefitted D’Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown with their injuries. Yet without a plethora of top plays to motivate ourselves, we can feel good about paying up for, we can take solace in one of the best defensive groups in the league.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Bucs fell flat last week, there’s no doubt about it. Against a poor offensive line and a rookie quarterback (although he left with injury) they could only return two sacks? After coming out of the gate blazing with eight turnovers and 11 sacks through their first three games they’ve regressed to just ten sacks and one turnover in their last three contests. If you want to avoid them in this spot then fine, you can always pay down. The DFS return hasn’t been great in recent weeks. However, they do visit the Panthers this week and that’s a team that has a lot of changes being made after firing their head coach last week and shipping out Robbie Anderson on Monday. The Bucs opened as five-points favorites and that was aggressively bet to 11 while the total is sitting at a lowly 40.5 points. We also don’t have a strong idea as to who will start Sunday. The Panthers have just one truly healthy quarterback as of Wednesday and that’s Jacob Eason. However, PJ Walker has said he’ll be ready for Sunday’s game and interim head coach, Steve Wilks, acknowledged Baker Mayfield will have to earn the starting job once he’s healthy and ready to go. It’s a mess in Carolina right now and I expect the Bucs to use this as a “get right” game as a confidence booster for their defense. They still rank top five in the league in terms of sacks and tackles for loss and they’ve held their last three opponents to a total of just 531 passing yards.

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Price Plays Week 7

Denver Broncos

Another DraftKings play as the Broncos are the second-most expensive team on the FanDuel slate. At $3,300 on DK the Broncos are absolutely in play, but I love the other team in this matchup. But more on them shortly. Denver’s defense has kept the Broncos competitive in almost all their games so far in 2022. They’ve held five of their opponents to under 20 points and three of their opponents to under 13 points. Zach Wilson hasn’t looked good since returning in Week 4. He has just one touchdown pass and he’s attempted just 39 pass attempts in his last two games. The big concern or “weapon” to contain will be Breece Hall who has truly broken out in the last few games. Denver has 19 sacks through six games and they allow the third-fewest yards per game. If they can get the expected pressure on Zach Wilson and force turnovers, they’ll have an easy path to value at home. But I do expect this game to be very low scoring so read on as to why you should consider the Jets in Week 7 as well.

NFL DFS D/ST Value Plays Week 7

New York Jets

I can’t remember the last time I included the Jets in the D/ST Coach. Maybe it was in a previous edition of this article for a Thanksgiving slate where I preview all six defenses playing for that particular slate. Either way, the Jets are a pretty strong defense and their head coach was one of the premiere defensive coordinators during his time in San Francisco. It took me a hot minute to come around on the Jets but I’m on board. This is a great secondary in the making. They’ve allowed just one quarterback to throw over 250 yards and they haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer yet. Do we really think Russell Wilson is going to be able to do that on a bad hamstring? The Jets D/ST has put up 20, 9, and 12 fantasy points in their last three games with seven turnovers and nine sacks in that span. The pass rush isn’t elite, but they break up passes better than most in the league and at 39.5 points, this game has one of the lowest projected totals on the slate. The Broncos opened at 7.5-point favorites. That’s quickly been bet to nearly a pick ‘em. My lone concern is the altitude and how the Jets can perform in these conditions. But I’m more of the mindset that this is the last time we see the Jets priced in the mid $2K range on DraftKings. Don’t tell Howard, but the Jets are my favorite D/ST on the board this week given the pricing and how rough the Broncos look on offense right now.

Washington Commanders

The Jets aren’t truly a value on FanDuel. FanDuel is a little smarter and more aggressive with their pricing. So if you need a value play off New York, and this applies to both sites, then the Commanders are in play. I think we might be targeting D/ST’s against the Packers over the next handful of weeks. Sunday marks the first of three straight road games for Green Bay including five of their next seven games as well and they don’t have their Bye week until December. The Packers are struggling with a little bit of an identity crisis on offense right now. Without Davante Adams, they’re not lighting it up. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t put up 20+ fantasy points. Hell, he hasn’t even hit 18 yet on DraftKings. He’s barely eclipsed 250 passing yards twice and he only has nine touchdowns passes and six turnovers so far this season as well. The running game has also been a struggle of late. The Commanders are top five in pressure rate and sacks and the Packers have been one of the better matchups all year for opposing D/ST’s. Vegas is trending towards the Packers but that’s because of the uncertainty at the quarterback position on Washington’s side of the ball. The defense could hit value and it wouldn’t take much at this price tag.

NFL DFS D/ST Fades Week 7

Los Angeles Chargers

Truth be told, I don’t hate the price of the Bolts on FanDuel at just $3,800, that’s a decent value for a defense with talent on it. But I don’t see how we can pay up to this team in good faith on DraftKings. If you can’t throw on this team, you can just as easily run on them and the Seattle Seahawks have a shiny new toy at running back in Kenneth Walker III. The Chargers also only have nine sacks and four turnovers over their last five games and you can certainly put up points against this team without burning them deep. We’ve seen the Seahawks put up big offensive performances and although last week was a dud against the Cardinals, there are multiple game scripts where we see them put up points against L.A. The Chargers also don’t have the greatest home field advantage and currently this game has the highest over/under on Sunday’s main slate at 51 points. We can find pivots elsewhere at D/ST this week. 

NFL DFS Tools

DFS Player Projections | NFL DFS Lineup Generator | NFL DFS Draft Percentage Forecaster

Fantasy Alarm is the home of all things Fantasy Sports. Bringing you the best Fantasy Football content all year long. Be sure to also check out the best fantasy promo codes on offer today!