D Up! Updated 2024 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings (Top 12)

the secret to finding great fantasy football defense plays on a weekly basis is to not draft a defense if you don't have to the reason why is because when you actually attach draft Capital to a defense that is going to make you feel more attached and less likely to let go of a defense if they're even playing bad defense is one of the most fluid positions along with kickers in fantasy football which is why I'm not only one of the only ones who does weekly defense rankings during the actual fantasy football season but I can also tell you don't draft them because of just not a good idea to attach yourself to a high variance position so that's why we're going through the top 12 defense rankings today for 2024 fantasy football to give you a good blueprint of who I believe will finish as the top 12 defenses and this week's winner of the free FN hat is Scott McKenzie jm8 XE Scott you have won the free FN hat their sleeper wide receiver was khil Shakir so Scott email me at football fos Network and I'm still giving them away and the way to qualify to get one is to go down there drop a like on the video subscribe to the channel Chan and give me your favorite sleeper wide receiver to take this year so let's go ahead and start diving into these rankings right now and I'm going to start by saying there was a change for me the Cowboys were at number one for basically the entire off season I actually ended up moving them down and I'll explain why in a little in a little bit the Ravens are now my number one defense here look when I looked at the Ravens and the and the Dallas Cowboys what I said to myself is they're both great defensive cultures like over the past several years the Cowboys have been a lead on defense and really over you know the duration of like 20 years the Ravens have been an elite defensive culture and they're both getting new defensive coordinators obviously Dallas has Mike Zimmer who may not be the most likable head coach but knows how to coach a defense really well and then when we're looking at Baltimore they've got Zack or who was a former player had his career cut short on the Baltimore Ravens because of a neck injury I believe in both of their abilities to call defense what separated me from having the Cowboys at one and moving them down to two is that when I looked at the Cowboys they've got a lot of injuries not only is Don Bland going to miss the start of the Season he's on IR because he just got surgery he may well miss more than four games their linebackers are like a lot of them are injured right now so the Cowboys are not exactly like this clean bill of health and their linebackers not that deep because some of their backups actually are injur right now too so it makes me question what their start of the season is going to look like and I think that's probably going to make a difference between these two teams because I believe the Ravens will be just as good as the Cowboys they'll be right there step and step so it really will come down injuries and when I look at the Ravens they're not really injured aside from Kyle Hamilton who is going to be fine but just looking at the talent that the each team has they're both extremely talented so I think it just matters just enough who's out there right now and I don't think that the Cowboys are going to be at full health to start the season and you typically don't get healthier as the season goes on so obviously they're both going to be great that's why they're in tier one but that's why I move the Ravens up now dropping down to the next tier here the Raiders just moved up for me again I am oh my God I so big on the Raiders defense this year guys I heard a lot of people say that the Raiders were sleeper defense and I said for a lot of like people who don't pay super close attention I can understand why it's sleeper if you've been watching my channel like I've been shouting about the Raiders defense all offseason dating back to March I am so big on the Raiders defense this year not only were they really good last year ended up finishing as a top five defense last year they added Christian Wilkins in free agency I don't know if people understand and grasp how big of a free agent signing that is people like Christian Wilkins do not hit the free agent market so the Raiders getting him at that front seven it's going to open up so much for Max Crosby that that defensive line is going to be a nightmare for opponents so I think their front seven is going to just cause so much Havoc not only going to get a lot of sacks I think they're going to force a lot of turnovers I think they'll get a lot of fumble recoveries I think they'll get a lot of safe a lot of interceptions from their secondary as a result of bad en forced throws because of that front seven so the Raiders here they're they're just really peing right now and I think their offense is going to do so bad but I think it's what their defense will do that will dictate how they do this year and I think that the Raiders defense is going to keep them in a lot of close games this year now drop it down to four the 49ers also moved down for me so again when I looked at the Raiders versus the 49ers it really did have to do with again the 49ers have some injury issues on that side of the ball Dre Greenlaw obviously had one of the most brutal injuries that I have ever seen on a football field when he was jogging onto the freaking field during the Super Bowl last year and he tore his Achilles so obviously he's not going to be ready to start the year he may come back at some point it's going to be a while though so that middle of the defense is Fred Warner and cross your fingers a little bit and with the 49ers I ultimately believe that he'll they'll have a better year this year because with the 49ers now they get rid of Steve wils bring in Nick swordens as our defensive coordinator and I'm not saying Nick sword's great but I think he's better than Steve wils I think that was addition by some traction there and obviously they've got a lot of talent they've obviously got a great secondary they had over an interception per game last year and they were forcing a lot of sacks as well so I think the 499ers just take a good leap this year and then number five the Browns defense here is my number defense because I do believe in the front end Talent now I will say that their front end Talent is getting older and of course I'm discussing miles Garrett and Denzel Ward they are getting older and Denzel Ward is actually dealing with a little bit of an injury right now but what I will say is there're still I would say towards the back of the prime of their careers right here and one big thing that I think is going to matter with this Browns defense is I actually do believe that AFC North may not be as explosive offensively as a lot of people think they will the Steelers we know are going to be horrible on offense we also know that the Ravens offensive line is not as good as it has been years past so I think the Browns will up that sack number to above three per game and I think they have a strong chance to get those interceptions per game up to about like one and a half interceptions per game so I trust I trust the Browns defense ultimately still and those are my top five defenses but I cannot tell you enough do not draft these defenses if you want to draft so bad you should hop in an underdog beste ball draft because beste Ball Mania is the highest upside beste ball draft that you can get in where you have the chance to win more than a million dollars and those spots are filling up fast like you're not going to be able to draft much longer in that league so if you do want to draft on Underdog today in best Ball Mania use the link in the comments below and when you use code FFM to deposit at least $10 they will give you a 50% deposit match up to $11,000 in free bonus cash and you'll also be able to get in on the free Travis Kelce line which is him having more than half a yard in week one so that's obviously a free line and you can go take advantage of it and draft on Underdog today now moving down to the next tier here I've got the bills defense at six and the Chiefs rose up to number seven here so the bills fell for me they actually fell an entire tier and it's not because like I'm all of a sudden off of their defensive like depth chart or anything like that my issue with the bills is I think like they're they're just getting older and they do have weaknesses that I see in their secondary like Demar Hamlin is their starting safety right now and obviously he's a big name because of the UN fortunate situation he had a couple years ago but he's really not that great of a player and he's actually injured right now as well like that second secondary is just not a particularly strong one and when I look at the bills defense what ultimately keeps them inside of the top 10 for me is that sea MC sea mcder knows how to coach a defense like there's a reason they got three sacks per game last year he knows how to scheme well and they obviously have a good front seven there's a reason they got over an interception per game last year too they're a defensive culture in Buffalo so I ultimately do believe in Shawn MC's ability to coach a defense not as wild on their personnel Department though in my opinion now the Chiefs defense they are a shoe in for a top 10 spot in my opinion even though they've got a tough schedule simply because the chief's defense is run by freaking Steve spagnolo Steve spagnolo is an elite defensive coordinator who gets paid a lot of money because he has been so responsible for helping them win Super Bowls and the thing that only holds me back of the Chiefs is they did lose two key players on that defensive side of the ball they lost Willie gay at the linebacker position which is a very overlooked loss because they lost lerus sne lerus sne is obviously the bigger name player Willie gay in the middle of that defense that's a pretty big loss what they do have is Trent McDuffy coming into his Zone and they've also got Nick Bolton returning for this year so I just ultimately believe Steve Spagnola finds a way to keep this defense getting over three sacks per game getting an interception per game and getting you close to like eight and a half nine fantasy points per game by the end of the year and then the round out this tier the jet stens are at eight here and really it's just a question for me that the Jets move down because I don't like at all at all what's going on with h reic right now hisan reic they traded for him during the off season and he just requested a trade from the Jets because he wants more money well the irony of the situation is this dude wanted more money before they traded for him so it's like what did you expect was going to happen like this just seems like such a bad move like by the front office to me so it just I just always question like the Jets ability to like dig themselves out of their own hole but obviously the Jets defense is really really stacked with Talent like you've got The Williams Brothers Quincy and quinnon Williams at that front seven Shoring it up you've got s Gardner in the back it's like they've got a lot of good things going for them they also have the number four strength of schedule for any defense this year so the Jets defense coming into the year I do believe that they ultimately will be good cuz they're defensive culture first and they've got a lot of Talent on that defense so I still have them here at number eight inside this tier now dropping down to the last tier right here I've got the Eagles defense I oh man I can't tell you enough how much I he wanted to raise the Eagles defense there are so many things I like about the Eagles defense number one they have Vic vanio now so last year when they were bad on defense they were run by Matt Patricia like he was calling the defensive plays last year for the Philadelphia Eagles and of course they were atrocious towards the end of the year everything changes with big vanio who originally they were going to get last year he ended up going to Miami now they have Vic vanio here and they've got obviously Jaylen Carter coming into his second year they have made a lot of personel moves on that defensive side of the ball specifically at the corner position because their secondary last year was horrible now what keeps me from moving up the Eagles defense is because they are reliant on two rookie Corners that is the whole reason I can't move the Eagles defense into the next tier because I want to so bad and I think this defense has a tremendous amount of upside numbers don't support it from last year obviously but I can tell you that this defense is going to be pulled together really quick by dick vanio and it really does depend on whether or not they're a top 10 defense or a top five defense it really does depend on those two corners that they are really reliant on and the Texas defense is at number 10 here as well they ended up moving up here because I also want to move up the Texans defense a lot too the Texans defense run by demo Ryan Elite defensive coach and just building an elite culture over there so obviously they have Will Anderson in his second year I believe he'll take a lead in part because they have Daniel Hunter there right now to help take a lot of pressure off Will Anderson so I think that front seven is in really good shape they've also got drik Singley in that cornerback position who's just going to be extremely locked down again and he's a Ball Hawk whenever the ball is in the air so this defense is just so again it's the glue that holds them together is deo Ryan here so I ultimately just believe in this defensive culture that the Houston Texans are building and I think coming into another year with a good quarterback to help take the pressure off the defense because that matters a lot for defenses I think they take another leap this year and I could easily see them being like a top five defense at some point now the Chargers defense also moved up to 11 here because very similar to the Eagles and the Texans I could easily see a world where the Chargers defense is a really good defense by the end of the year look what's hilarious about the Chargers probably not to a Chargers fan but what's funny to me about the Chargers situation is that they have had Talent on this defense forever they've had Derwin James they've had Joey Bosa they've had CLE Mack now and they still couldn't like be a good Fantasy Defense why because Brandon Staley sucks that's why so he gets he gets tossed to side obviously the players just like said we're not playing for you anymore you're not our coach anymore so he gets tossed aside last year after an embarrassing loss on Thursday Night Football to the Raiders now obviously what they needed was a stable head coach who was going to stabilize the building and continue to invest in the defense they got that with Jim Harbaugh Jim Harbaugh immediately comes in and he stabilizes defense because what he does is two things very well runs it down your throat and plays really good tough defense they've got the Personnel they have the talent they just needed the right coach and they got it this year that's why I believe the Chargers defense takes a big Le this year and to round it out at number 12 I initially had the Steelers here the Steelers have one of the most brutal schedules of the entire season and while their defensive culture I don't like their personnel I ended up moving the Bears up to number 12 now the Chicago Bears defense is a unique defense as well because I do believe that they have a variance to finish a lot higher than this I think the Chicago Bears could be like a top six top seven defensive fantasy because last year the numbers don't really tell the story for the full season Once they got a hold of montz sweat that sack number started going up like before Mont sweat they were not really pressuring the quarterback at all once they got montz sweat a lot of things changed for that front seven so obviously he comes in he's going to be a really good pass rusher this year and he's going to put a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks they've also got TJ Edwards the shore of the middle of that defense as well and I ultimately do think that Matt EO is a decent def defensive coach which is why I have the Bears actually going above the seos at this point because they're not going to have one of the hardest schedules in the actual NFL so looking at them compared to the Steelers I just believe in the personnel and the coaching a little bit more and the strength of schedule than I do with the Steelers and that not only says a lot about the bears that says a lot about the Steelers as well so let me know what you think of the rankings in the comments below and if you want to see the top 36 running back rankings for 2024 click on this video right here