Marquee positions like running back and wide receiver get all the love in fantasy football. And for being a "start one" position, quarterbacks get mountains of analysis. Tight end even gets plenty of attention at this point, especially now that there are a lot of new faces in the top of the tight end rankings.
But defense and kicker always seem to be afterthoughts. Relegated to selection in the last couple of rounds, most people fully expect to drop the defense or kicker that they draft soon, so they just don't pay much attention.
But the fact that most people are ignoring the position gives you an opportunity to gain an edge by being well-prepared. So let's look at the best defenses to draft in 2024 fantasy football.
"Best" can be viewed a few different ways, so I'll be breaking down a few different angles. Let's start with the obvious one:
To kick things off, let's remove average draft position (ADP) from the equation. If you could have any defense you wanted and didn't need to consider where you were drafting them, it should be the Baltimore Ravens.
They were the No. 2 scoring defense in fantasy football last year despite scoring only one touchdown. Defensive touchdowns are about as random a stat as you'll find in fantasy football, so when the only team to outscore the Ravens had six of them (the Dallas Cowboys), you should be a lot more impressed with Baltimore averaging 10.2 points per game than Dallas averaging 10.2. There was also a big gap to the rest of the league, with third, fourth, and fifth place averaging 9.4, 9.1 and 9.0 respectively.
The Ravens also ranked as the third-best real-world defense according to PFF grade.
Baltimore didn't suffer many significant losses on the defensive side of the ball, and there's no reason to believe things should look much different in 2024 than in 2023. A little bit of better luck with touchdowns and you're looking at a defense that should be the top-scoring unit by a huge margin.
The biggest downside is draft cost. Someone in your league will probably draft them way too early, meaning you won't get a shot at drafting the top fantasy football defense this year. That doesn't mean you're missing out though.
Best Fantasy Football Defense Value Pick: Cleveland Browns
When we factor realistic draft cost into the equation, the Cleveland Browns could be the year's top fantasy football defense. Myles Garrett is the best pass-rusher in football, and even if you don't agree with that sentiment you have to respect the team earning PFF's top pass-rush grade in 2023.
Cleveland retained everyone who had 3.0 sacks or more from last year, and this defense looks poised to pick up right where it left off. It's also a relatively young unit, so an extra year of development and chemistry building should be big.
The other thing that could lead to big improvements for the Cleveland D is potential improvement from the offense. Things can't get much worse at quarterback than they were last year and any improvement there should help the defense end up in more favorable game scripts and benefit from better field position. In 2023 the Browns' defense faced the sixth-least favorable average starting field position.
Did you decide to roll with a kicker in the second-to-last round and now you're left with slim pickings at defense? You've still got a really interesting high-upside option in the Houston Texans, who rank 13th in ADP.
The Texans' strength is their offense, but that can be a good thing for fantasy production on the defensive side of the ball too. Explosive offenses that force their opponents to play catch-up can create a ton of obvious passing downs, allowing a higher sack total than you might see otherwise. Consider that in 2023 the Kansas City Chiefs ranked No. 2 in the NFL in sacks while PFF gave them just the No. 11 pass-rush grade. The Buffalo Bills were No. 4 in sacks with the No. 19 pass-rush grade.
If C.J. Stroud and the Texans' offense end up being as good as advertised, that could easily carry their defense to a top-10 fantasy finish as well.
Best Fantasy Football Deep Sleeper Defense: New Orleans Saints
This one is for those of you playing in deeper 14 or 16-team leagues (or if your league-mates happen to all go with a baffling two-defense draft strategy, I suppose). Let's look at the best defense available outside the top 14 in ADP: the New Orleans Saints.
There's obviously a lot to be worried about with the Saints, but that's going to be true of anyone drafted in this range — there's a reason they're being drafted so low. The Saints have upside though.
The team is focused on defense, having spent their second-round pick on that side of the ball after investing their first and second-round picks in 2023 on defensive players. They avoided any major defensive losses in free agency and added Willie Gay Jr. and Chase Young.
They were quietly a very effective unit in 2023 as well. They were tied for holding opponents to the NFL's third-fewest plays per drive and tied for fifth in fewest points allowed per drive. They checked in at 10th in PFF grade. Even sweeter? FantasyPros' strength of schedule metric has them as one of four defenses with a five-star schedule for 2024 fantasy football.
Whether you agree with it or not, it's always important to know who the general fantasy football community views as the best defense. In this case, it's the San Francisco 49ers. FantasyPros' ADP data shows them going as the top unit off the board on a couple of major sites (Yahoo and Sleeper) as well as going No. 2 on ESPN and No. 4 on CBS. That gives them by far the highest draft average of any defense.
It's not hard to see why, either. They're a significant betting favorite to win the NFC and last year they were PFF's second-highest-graded defense. Keep in mind, though, that this translated to finishing just No. 10 in fantasy production at the position. You'll probably want to let someone else in your league gamble on the 49ers, but it's important to note that they're the consensus best defense according to ADP.
Ready for more draft prep? Don't forget to check out the rest of the in-depth analysis available in the 2024 Sports Illustrated fantasy football draft kit!
