Let’s Stream Defenses: Week 9 (2025 Fantasy Football)

We made it through the worst of the bye weeks, but we still have four remaining weeks with four teams on bye, including this week. It won’t be that long before we’re thinking about stashing defenses for the fantasy playoffs, but we’re not there yet. For now, the streaming mindset and willingness to drop last week’s defense can be an asset as the byes complicate roster management. The landscape of defense matchups has continued to evolve, so let’s review some of the teams that have been changing.

• The Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young appears to be on track to return this week, which is good news for the Panthers because Andy Dalton was awful against the Bills last week. Young is not nearly as good of a matchup as he was earlier in his career thanks to a newfound ability to avoid taking very many sacks, but the Panthers are still a viable target for good defenses.
• The Atlanta Falcons: Like the Panthers, the Falcons are getting their young QB (Michael Penix Jr.) back after a one-week absence wherein their veteran backup (Kirk Cousins) played horribly. Also like the Panthers, the Falcons are a mid matchup – viable for good defenses – owing to their QB’s relatively low sack rate.
• The Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Flacco has breathed life back into the Bengals. In 3 starts he has posted a QB rating above 90 every time, taken only 4 total sacks and committed zero turnovers. It turns out Jake Browning was more of the problem than we thought. The Bengals are a team to avoid with defenses as long as Flacco is playing.
• The Minnesota Vikings: J.J. McCarthy is in line to return from his ankle injury to make just his 3rd career start this week. McCarthy took 9 sacks and committed 4 turnovers in his first two games, and has some tough defenses coming up. The Vikings are a good defense matchup until further notice.
• The New Orleans Saints: The Saints benched sophomore QB Spencer Rattler for rookie Tyler Shough at halftime last week, and named him the starter going forward. Shough did not impress in that half-game, but it also doesn’t tell us much. Rookie QBs are always defense targets until they prove they shouldn’t be, and while Shough has potential, it’s not exactly a good situation to walk into. It would be an uphill battle for any quarterback to succeed on this roster.
• The San Francisco 49ers: Mac Jones has continued to start and play pretty well for the 49ers while Brock Purdy deals with a toe injury. As has often been the case with Kyle Shanahan offenses over the years, the 49ers are still a bad defense matchup even with their backup QB.
• The Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels continues to deal with a hamstring injury, and is questionable for this week. Marcus Mariota has started in his place, and represented a medium-good matchup for defenses, with turnover problems but not a ton of sacks.

Streaming Defenses: Fantasy Football Waiver Wire & Start/Sit Advice (Week 9)

We have 4 teams on bye this week, including some pretty good defenses: CLE, NYJ, PHI and TB. As as result, it’s a pretty shallow week for streaming. There’s one good option that’s available in most leagues, but you don’t have to go very far down the ranks to find matchups that feel pretty sketchy. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Bluesky.

Matchups

1. LAR vs NO: Though the first six weeks, Saints QB Spencer Rattler played pretty good, and especially clean football. After recording just a single turnover in those six games, the wheels fell off in Week 7, with a three-picks-and-a-fumble performance against the Bears. Last week against the Buccaneers, the wheels stayed off. The Saints benched Rattler at halftime after recording two turnovers and leading the team to just a field goal. Rookie Tyler Shough played the second half and while there were some promising signs in his game, the stat sheet didn’t look any better – an interception and no points. Shough has been named the starter going forward, but it doesn’t matter all that much to the Rams. They’re a very good defense and going to eat the Saints alive.
2. LAC @ TEN: The Titans and Cam Ward have continued to be the most consistently good defense matchup in the league. No team has finished outside the top 8 defenses in fantasy scoring. Ward has had at least one turnover in every game, and has taken 4.25 sacks per game, which puts him on pace for 2nd all-time on the single-season sacks taken leaderboard. The Chargers are certainly in the category of teams that can take advantage of this matchup. Last week they recorded 5 sacks against the Vikings and may have quite literally ended Carson Wentz‘s career (though coach Kevin O’Connell deserves the blame for that).
3. DET vs MIN: It appears that second-year Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy will make his third career start this week after missing the last 5 games with an ankle injury. His last game was Week 2 against Atlanta, wherein McCarthy took 6 sacks and turned the ball over 3 times. He’s in for a tough welcome back to the starting role against a Lions defense that has been quite good with Aidan Hutchinson back in action this year, and is fresh off a bye week.
4. GB vs CAR: The Panthers started Andy Dalton at quarterback last week while Bryce Young was sidelined with an ankle injury, and it was kind of a disaster. My current expectation is that Young will return this week. While that makes the Panthers a bit less tasty of a matchup, the outlook is still excellent for a strong Packers defense that’s well equipped to handle Rico Dowdle and the Panthers’ top-5 run game. Young has been pretty good this year and taken less than 2 sacks per game, but he still turns the ball over at a moderately high rate. With a tough matchup for the run game and a high-powered Packers offense to try to keep up with, the potential for more interceptions is high this week.
5. DEN @ HOU: The Texans have been hot and cold this season, with last week’s performance landing firmly in the “hot” category. This week they’re likely to get start WR Nico Collins back from the concussion he suffered in Week 7, and if the pattern continues that means this will be a cold week. The matchup supports that conclusion. The Broncos have lost reigning defensive player of the year Patrick Surtain II for 4-6 weeks to a pectoral injury. This will limit their ability to run so many man blitzes, but this is still the best pass-rushing team in the league. The Broncos are a solid play in what should be a defensive slugfest.
6. JAC @ LV: The Jags’ defense was expectedly roughed up by the Rams and Seahawks over the last two weeks, but prior to that they had a 5-game streak going of finishing 9th or better among defenses, including in some difficult matchups. Now, fresh off the bye, they get one of the best matchups in the league: the Raiders. Geno Smith had a couple of good games as the Raiders’ QB early in the season, but has mostly been a disaster, with high sack totals, multiple turnovers, or both in almost every game. The offensive line is a big part of the problem – Ashton Jeanty has been met behind the line at the highest rate of any running back in the league.
7. SEA @ WAS: It is unclear if Jayden Daniels, out with a hamstring injury, will be able to return for the Commanders this week. I am currently assuming he won’t, in part because the betting lines seem to imply it will be Mariota again. Mariota is a pretty good backup in that he’s a similar enough style of player to run the same playbook as Daniels. But he is still a backup, and susceptible to good defenses as demonstrated by the Chiefs last week. The even better Seahawks defense is a great start if it is indeed Mariota, and might not be the worst idea even if Daniels does play. Daniels is of course great, but the Commanders did make fantasy starters out of lesser defenses in his last two starts (the Bears and Cowboys). The Seahawks are in the very rare category of defenses I would even consider against a QB like Daniels.
8. NE vs ATL: The Falcons are expected to get QB Michael Penix Jr. back, which is sorely needed after they were clobbered by the Dolphins of all teams with Kirk Cousins under center. Penix has been all over the place this season, as exemplified by weeks 3-4 where the Falcons were shut out by the lowly panthers, and then put up 34 points against the Commanders. The Patriots have been a top-5 scoring defense so far and I expect a good real-world result against the Falcons, but the floor is low for fantasy thanks to Penix’s tendency to not take very many sacks.
9. SF @ NYG: The wind got completely taken out of the Giants’ sails by the tragic and gruesome ankle injury to rookie phenom Cam Skattebo last week. QB Jaxson Dart has played well in his for 5 career games, but has shown growing pains with 4+ sacks in 3 games, and a 3-turnover meltdown against the Saints in week 5. The 49ers aren’t nearly as likely to deliver one of those high sack totals as they would be if Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were healthy, but there is some decent upside here.
10. BAL @ MIA: The Ravens’ defense has been pretty bad for fantasy this year, but their schedule has been brutal. The only good matchup they’ve had so far was the Browns in Week 2, and they were able to capitalize on that matchup with a fumble six for a total of 15 fantasy points. Last week Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins shocked the Falcons with their best offensive performance of the year, following back-to-back 3-interception games from Tua. At a glance this seems like a good opportunity for the Dolphins to keep the momentum, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they collapse again. This is the best matchup Baltimore has had all year, and Miami’s offense feels extremely fragile.