Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Defenses (Week 16)

We will have you covered throughout the fantasy football season with our bevy of tools, including our Waiver Wire Assistant. Find the top available players and get detailed analysis on how potential fantasy football waiver wire adds will impact your team. Of course, our team of analysts will also have written advice each week. Check out some of our top fantasy football waiver wire defenses to target for the week below. And also be sure to check out all of our fantasy football waiver wire pickups for the week.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets: Defenses

Defenses

Written by Pat Fitzmaurice

New Orleans Saints: 17% Rostered

Next Opponents: NYJ, @TEN, @ATL
True Value: $3
Desperate Need: $6
Budget-Minded: $1

Analysis: The Saints have an appealing schedule the next two weeks, with matchups against the Jets and Titans. If Jets quarterback Tyrod Taylor isn’t ready to come back from a groin injury in Week 16, and if Justin Fields remains on the shelf with a sore knee, the Saints will get to face rookie Brady Cook, who threw three interceptions and took three sacks Sunday in a 48-20 loss to the Jaguars. Even if Taylor or Fields started for the Jets, this would still be an appealing matchup. Then, in Week 17, the Saints face the Titans, who have yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing defenses.

New York Giants: 5% Rostered

Next Opponents: MIN, @LV, DAL
True Value: $1
Desperate Need: $2
Budget-Minded: $0

Analysis: It’s hard to make any sort of case for the Giants’ defense on its own. It ranks dead last in fantasy scoring with a meager 2.6 fantasy points per game. The lone attraction here is a Week 16 matchup with the Vikings and second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who has thrown 11 interceptions, fumbled five times and taken 24 sacks in eight starts. The Giants also have an attractive matchup against the Raiders in Week 17. But again, this is not an endorsement of the Giants’ defense itself.

Minnesota Vikings: 35% Rostered

Next Opponents: @NYG, DET, GB
True Value: $1
Desperate Need: $2
Budget-Minded: $0

Analysis: Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has gone deep into his bag in recent weeks, dialing up some high-level stuff to smother opposing quarterbacks. The Vikings held opponents to an average of 136.8 net passing yards per game (passing yardage minus sack yardage) over a five-game stretch from Week 10 to Week 15. Before Dak Prescott threw for 294 yards against the Vikings on Sunday night, the last quarterback to throw for more than 200 yards against Minnesota had been Jared Goff in Week 9. Prescott had zero touchdown passes against Minnesota in Week 15. The Vikings have a Week 16 matchup against rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart and the Giants. Dart has taken 24 sacks in nine starts.

Dallas Cowboys: 35% Rostered

Next Opponents: LAC, @WSH, @NYG
True Value: $1
Desperate Need: $2
Budget-Minded: $0

Analysis: With their offensive line decimated by injuries, the Chargers have become a team to target with opposing defenses. In the five games since star left tackle Joe Alt went on IR, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has taken 21 sacks and thrown four interceptions. The Cowboys have had a bottom-rung fantasy defense this season, but Dallas is a sneaky streaming option this week in a home game against Herbert and Co.