Let’s Stream Defenses: Week 8 (2025 Fantasy Football)

This is it – the only 6-team bye week of the season. The Cardinals, Lions, Jaguars, Raiders, Rams and Seahawks are all off the board. This puts a lot of pressure on roster management, with several relevant offensive players on those teams that will demand bench spots. The Raiders, and to a lesser extent Jaguars and Cardinals, are good defense matchups that we don’t get to target this week. In general I would advise against holding bench defenses at the expense of other positions, but we have some tough decisions this week. The Rams and especially the Seahawks are defenses I would think twice about dropping. Additionally the Broncos, Browns and Texans are great defenses with bad matchups, who you might have to start anyway.

Streaming Defenses: Fantasy Football Waiver Wire & Start/Sit Advice (Week 8)

With ARI, DET, JAC, LV, LAR and SEA all on bye, it’s a tough week for streaming and roster management. Fortunately there are a few reasonable options that are available in most leagues. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Bluesky.

Matchups

1. IND vs TEN: Cam Ward and the Titans continued their pattern of making winners out of opposing defenses last week. On top of 5 sacks, ward threw an interception and a totally unforced fumble that was returned for a touchdown, while scoring just 13 points against a good Patriots defense. The Colts are a step down from the Patriots but they’re still an above-average defense and more than capable of capitalising on this matchup.
2. NE vs CLE: Browns rookie QB Dillon Gabriel has shown some promising signs through 3 games. He hasn’t thrown any interceptions, and the only good fantasy defense result allowed was the Week 6 Steelers, who held the browns to just 9 points. While his Week 5 debut against the Vikings in London was genuinely impressive, I’m not putting much stock in last week. The Browns put up 31 against the bottom-5 Dolphins defense, and benefitted from 4 Miami turnovers. Against a strong Patriots defense this week, I expect something more like the Steelers game, where Gabriel took 6 sacks and failed to score a touchdown.
3. ATL vs MIA: The Dolphins are in crisis. Talking heads have been calling for Mike McDaniel to be fired, Tua Tagovailoa to be benched, or both. Last week they made Cleveland the #1 defense in fantasy with four turnovers, including a pick-six. Ever since his concussions in 2022, Tua has learned how to take sacks at a below-average rate. But he elite pass rushes do still get to him, as shown by Cleveland’s 4 sacks last week. This week they face the Falcons, who are #2 among defenses in terms of yards allowed  per game, and are #1 against the pass.
4. BUF @ CAR: Andy Dalton played the fourth quarter of last week’s game for the Panthers after Bryce Young suffered a high-ankle sprain. He is officially day-to-day, and I’m currently assuming he won’t play this week. Dalton wasn’t impressive, leading the team to 3 punts and a kneel down as they held on to a 13-6 lead over the jets in the lowest-scoring game of the season so far. Dalton is a veteran, starting 8 seasons for the Bengals from 2011-2019, then bouncing around the league a bit before landing as the Panthers’ backup since 2023. Most recently he started 5 games last season while Young was benched. The first of those games was a great performance against the Raiders, but he preceded to lose the next 4 games, throwing 6 interceptions along the way. I have low expectations for sacks, but low scoring and some turnover upside for the Bills.
5. TB @ NO: Saints QB Spencer Rattler took a big step forward this season. He was pretty bad in 6 starts as a rookie last year, going 0-6 with 3.7 sacks per game and only leading the team to over 20 points once. Through the first 6 weeks this season he was significantly better despite the 1-5 record, with only one turnover and a mere 1.8 sacks per game. Then last week in Chicago, the wheels fell off with 3 interceptions and 4 sacks. It’s reasonable to think the turnovers will calm down, but this is a low-powered offense and the possibility of a meltdown is there. Last week the Buccaneers managed to finish among the top 12 fantasy defenses against the Lions of all teams, terrorizing Jared Goff. The quality of the Saints’ run game is worlds apart from that of the Lions, so I think the Buccaneers’ run-funnel offense will be fine.
6. KC vs WAS: Against the Cowboys last week, Jayden Daniels suffered a hamstring injury that’s expected to keep him out for at least one week. The game was already out of reach when Marcus Mariota entered, but he still threw a pick-six to DaRon Bland for good measure. Mariota was solid in two starts earlier this season, including against a good Falcons defense, though he did throw a pick in that game. This week will be another test against a Chiefs team that’s starting to feel inevitable again. The Chiefs are a top-5 defense by most metrics, and more interceptions are certainly on the table.
7. PHI vs NYG: The Eagles feel surprisingly bad for a team that’s 5-2, and the Giants feel surprisingly good for a team that’s 2-5. Last week the Eagles defense was expectedly underwhelming in the Carson Wentz revenge game, but had their fantasy day saved by a pick-six in the 2nd quarter. Jaxson Dart continued to look awesome last week, crossing the 30-point mark against the exalted Broncos defense. This is a rematch of two weeks ago, when the Eagles defense recorded a measly 1 fantasy point against the Giants, but it’s not unreasonable to expect better here. The Eagles are at home now and have seen more of Dart, who does have 3 interceptions in his 4 starts.
8. DEN vs DAL: It is not often that an offense this good makes it into my top-10, but the combination of 6 teams on bye and one of the league’s best defenses on the other side make this a somewhat viable start. Dak Prescott has been boom-bust when it comes to sacks throughout his career, and now he faces a Broncos defense that leads the league in total sacks and sack percentage by wide margins. If you have the Broncos defense you definitely don’t want to drop them and probably have bench pressure with the byes, and I think it’s fine to just leave them in the lineup this week.
9. LAC vs MIN: J.J. McCarthy was listed as the emergency 3rd QB for the Vikings last week as he recovers from a multi-week ankle injury. I suspect quality of play is a factor in them taking their time with McCarthy, so I expect Carson Wentz will start again. Wentz threw over 300 yards in his revenge game against the Eagles, but I guess allegiances run deep because the only touchdown he threw was to Eagles linebacker Jalyx Hunt. In 4 games so far this season, Wentz has a 5:4 TD:INT ratio and 3.5 sacks per game. Against the Chargers I expect all 3 to continue – the sacks, the turnovers, and the touchdowns. LA will likely need those turnovers to record a solid fantasy day, but the chances are reasonable.
10. SF @ HOU: C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense looked awful against a good Seahawks defense on Monday Night Football. It wasn’t just Stroud – there was some pretty baffling play calling, the run game simply did not work, and they lost their top reciever Nico Collins to a concussion. With the short week following the monday game, I would be shocked if Collins played this week. I don’t have high expectations of the Texans, but this is an easier matchup than the Seahawks. I would rank the 49ers higher if it weren’t for the fact that both of their star pass rushers – Nick Bosa and Fred Warner – are injured.
11. CIN vs NYJ: This is the desperation play. The Bengals are bad, and as a result they’re available in pretty much every league. Last week against the Panthers the Jets benched Justin Fields at halftime after he recorded the same number of sacks as points – 3. In the second half Tyrod Taylor one-upped Fields, matching his 3 sacks and a field goal, but adding an interception too. It’s not clear who will start next week, but the o-7 Jets should suck either way. I would not start the Bengals in most good matchups, but this is a great matchup, and they should have fewer turnover-borne short fields to deal with now that Joe Flacco has taken over for Jake Browning.