Rent-a-Defense: Week 10

Sigmund Bloom's Rent-a-Defense: Week 10 Sigmund Bloom Published 11/07/2023

Unless most of the teams in your league carry a backup defense, more than half of the league should be available to you every week. Perhaps instead of playing one above-average defense every week, regardless of matchup, we should instead target the widely available waiver wire defenses with the best matchups in any particular week? You can always make exceptions if your rent-a-defense gets hot - heck, you might find a team worth starting all year by accident. Even if you don't, good matchups will continue to get greater in number as more QBs get injured or yanked as the season goes on. You can steal some points from bad weather come December. Each week, I'll list the startable fantasy defenses on most waiver wires and rank them.

**Buffalo, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Dallas have great matchups but are assumed to be rostered**

Week 9 Results

Pittsburgh (vs Tennessee) - 4 sacks, 1 INT

The Steelers defense did enough to get the win, and they weren’t a fantasy dud, but Will Levis was better than expected.

A Look Ahead: GB @CLE @CIN - Yes, we will leave the Steelers in against Jordan Love.

New Orleans (vs Chicago) - 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 INT

Tyson Bagent is just the kind of backup quarterback we love for fantasy - bold enough to keep the offense viable but also to keep opposing defenses strong plays.

A Look Ahead: @MIN BYE @ATL - Joshua Dobbs is a great story, but playing the Saints D/ST against him is still a good idea.

Cleveland (vs Arizona) - 7 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 INT, 0 pts allowed

The Browns defense is good. Clayton Tune is not.

A Look Ahead: @BAL PIT @DEN - If you have to play the Browns D/ST this week against Lamar Jackson to have them for the rest of the season, do it.

Green Bay (vs LA Rams) - 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT, 3 pts allowed

Brett Rypien was so bad that the Rams signed Carson Wentz this week

A Look Ahead: @PIT LAC @DET - We won’t go back to the Packers until Week 14 against the Giants

NY Giants (at Las Vegas) - Nada. Zilch. Bupkis.

We had the wrong side of this one, as Daniel Jones went down with an ACL tear.

A Look Ahead: @DAL @WAS NE - That’ll be all for the Giants D/ST this season.

LA Chargers (at NY Jets) - 8 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 ST TD, 6 pts allowed
NY Jets (vs LA Chargers) - 5 sacks

The Jets defense was good, but they were playing from behind, and the Chargers offense was able to be conservative and safe with the ball. The Chargers defense got after Zach Wilson, and rookie Derius Davis returned a punt for a score to account for enough points to beat the Jets on his own.

LAC A Look Ahead: DET @GB BAL - We might not use the Chargers again this season.
NYJ A Look Ahead: @LV @BUF MIA - We’ll stick with the Jets this week against Aidan O’Connell.

Atlanta (vs Minnesota) - 1 safety, 4 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries

The Falcons defense knocked Jaren Hall out of the game and then immediately overwhelmed Joshua Dobbs for a safety before he got his bearings and led a stirring comeback win. It was a hit for fantasy but not as good as it could have been.

A Look Ahead: @ARI BYE NO - Kyler Murray is back, so the Falcons D/ST is back to the waiver wire.

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

Indianapolis (at Carolina) - 4 sacks, 3 INT, 2 DEF TD

Kenny Moore scored twice on two Bryce Young pick sixes while the quarterback the Panthers passed on for Young broke the rookie passing record.

Las Vegas (vs NY Giants) - 8 sacks, 2 INT, 6 pts against

If we had known Tommy DeVito was going to play most of this game, we would have recommended the Raiders.

Kansas City (vs Miami - Germany) - 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 DEF TD

Coaches hate it, but we love it when defensive players lateral after a turnover. This time, it turned into a touchdown for Bryan Cook.

Already a subscriber?

Continue reading this content with a PRO subscription.

Photos provided by Imagn Images
Share This Article

Featured Articles

 

Quarterback Rankings and Tiers: One Staffer's Opinion

Dave Kluge

Quarterback rankings provided by Dave Kluge, with explanations on where and why he strays from consensus opinions.

07/15/25 Read More
 
 
 
 
The Myth of Geno Smith
Jason Wood
07/14/25 Read More

More by Sigmund Bloom

 

Wide Receiver Tiers, Value Picks and Players to Avoid

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the 2025 wide receivers by tiers with highlighted value picks and players to avoid

07/11/25 Read More
 

Wide Receiver Tiers, Value Picks and Players to Avoid

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the 2025 wide receivers by tiers with highlighted value picks and players to avoid

07/10/25 Read More
 

Tight End Tiers, Value Picks, and Players to Avoid

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the 2025 tight ends by tiers with highlighted value picks and players to avoid

07/03/25 Read More
 

Bloom's PPR Top 250, Updated

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the top 250 players to draft in PPR leagues

07/01/25 Read More
 

Running Back Tiers and Value Picks

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the 2025 running backs by tiers with highlighted value picks

06/26/25 Read More
 

Bloom's PPR Top 250

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the top 250 players to draft in PPR leagues

06/19/25 Read More