Week 17 Fantasy Rankings: Defense

Jacob Camenker

Week 17 Fantasy Rankings: Defense image

The beauty of playing a Week 17 fantasy football championship is that the tables are often turned on position predictability. Usually, kicker and defense are the hardest positions to figure out. But in Week 17, they are often the easiest, as team's start/sit decisions don't have a major impact on the overall performance of the unit. Plus, a handful of teams resting starters creates a great opportunity to find quality sleepers on the waiver wire, and the streamers will make up a good portion of the top of our Week 17 fantasy defense rankings.

This week, we're targeting defenses playing against backup quarterbacks. The Rams (vs. 49ers), Texans (vs. Jaguars), Saints (vs. Panthers), and Steelers (vs. Bengals) get to take on the likes of Nick Mullens, Cody Kessler, Taylor Heinicke, and Jeff Driskel at home. These inexperienced quarterbacks will be prone to mistakes, and these solid defensive units should have more than enough talent and ability to slow down their opponents and find scoring opportunities.

Week 17 Rankings:
Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight EndKicker

Throughout the week, some other potential streamers may rear their heads as well. The Saints and Cowboys could both potentially sit their starters, and if that happens, the Panthers and Giants would have some appeal as streaming options. Of course, we need to see whether or not that will actually happen first, but the point is that there are plenty of defensive units to target this week, and realistically, fantasy owners should be comfortable rolling with any one of the top-12 options this week.

Note: These rankings will be updated with analysis during the week, so check back for updates.

Week 17 Fantasy Defense Rankings

These rankings are for standard, non-PPR leagues

1Los Angeles Rams vs. 49ers
2Houston Texans vs. Jaguars
3New England Patriots vs. Jets
4Chicago Bears @ Vikings
5Baltimore Ravens vs. Browns
 ​WEEK 17 DFS CASH LINEUPS: YahooFanDuelDraftKings
6Seattle Seahawks vs. Cardinals
7New Orleans Saints vs. Panthers
8Buffalo Bills vs. Dolphins
9Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Bengals
10Minnesota Vikings vs. Bears
 WEEK 17 DFS GPP LINEUPS: Yahoo | FanDuel | DraftKings
11Philadelphia Eagles @ Redskins
12Dallas Cowboys @ Giants
13Washington Redskins vs. Eagles
14Indianapolis Colts @ Titans
15Denver Broncos vs. Chargers
16Tennessee Titans vs. Colts
17Jacksonville Jaguars @ Texans
18Los Angeles Chargers @ Broncos
19Miami Dolphins @ Bills
20Atlanta Falcons @ Buccaneers
21Cleveland Browns @ Ravens
22Green Bay Packers vs. Lions
23Carolina Panthers @ Saints
24New York Giants vs. Cowboys
25Detroit Lions @ Packers
26New York Jets @ Patriots
27Kansas City Chiefs vs. Raiders
28Arizona Cardinals @ Seahawks
29Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Falcons
30San Francisco 49ers @ Rams
31Cincinnati Bengals @ Steelers
32Oakland Raiders @ Chiefs

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.