Defense/Special Teams

Tier 1: Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens

Tier 2: Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, New England Patriots, Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles

Tier 3: Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers

Tier 4: San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets

Analysis:

The rankings above are straight forward, so there’s not much to expand upon in terms of how the teams compare. Matchups always play a key role in terms of a defense’s standing from week to week, with only a few elite defenses serving as weekly plays. The strategy for drafting a defense depends significantly on your league’s scoring system. If the categories in your league provide for defenses to play a large role in scoring, then it’s understandable if you want to select a top team defense once your starting QB, WRs and RBs, along with a few key backups, are all in hand. Conversely, if defenses have tame scoring numbers in your league, then you should pick your team or teams towards the end of your draft. As referenced above, playing the weekly matchups game with defenses is advised. I’ll note for 2019, you’ve got plenty of defenses in that top tier range, which means that you should avoid being the first in your league to draft one. More parity among defenses this year than in most years.