Reading The Defense: Week 1

Welcome back, fantasy managers. After a long hiatus, the 2026 NFL season is here. With that stretch behind us, it's time to look at a changed landscape and recalibrate what we think we know about NFL defenses. Just like life, the league shifts year over year, sometimes for the better, sometimes… not so much. This is the first edition of "Reading the Defense" by Matthew Montgomery. We'll analyze trends and statistical tendencies to better understand how NFL defenses shape both traditional and IDP fantasy football.

New Blood

Every season brings turnover across NFL personnel, in the coach's office and in the locker room. Since last year, 15 teams have replaced their defensive coordinator: one shy of half the league. Not every hire is as impactful as the next, and frankly, some barely move the needle. The changes most likely to affect the players we're rostering are Raheem Morris in San Francisco and Christian Parker in Dallas.

Morris has long favored disguised zone looks and used man coverage mostly by situation. The tell is the pre-snap picture: his defenses show one look, then change it the moment the ball is snapped to scramble the quarterback's read. That zone lean is not new. With the Rams, Morris's defenses sat near the top of the league in zone rate and peaked in the high-80% range. The 49ers wrinkle is the front. Morris is not just a four-man-pressure coach. In Atlanta, he used five-man fronts at one of the highest rates in the NFL, and that is showing up in San Francisco camp as well: odd fronts, shifting shells, and more players who can rush or drop. Fantasy-wise, that still points to linebackers as impact pieces. Fred Warner is the field general inside the disguise, showing blitz and dropping late, or the reverse. When the four-man rush is winning, Nick Bosa remains the engine. When it is not, the call sheet tilts toward linebacker pressure. Bringing Dre Greenlaw back matters for package work. He is the natural complement to Warner and lets San Francisco keep two linebackers on the field in looks that would otherwise swap in an extra defensive back. The secondary is the lower-floor group. Safeties in this scheme spend more time in two-high and take fewer box snaps, both because of Morris's coverage tendencies and because the linebacker room can handle the middle. The farther you are from the ball, the less often you show up in the box score, which is the fantasy scoreboard.

Morris is the established play-caller. Parker is the opposite: first year calling an NFL defense, and the roster around him is full of new names. The philosophies split the same way. Morris fits players into a scheme. Parker starts with the roster and builds the game plan around what those players do well. Parker has said all camp that Dallas will be "multiple." The base is a 3-4, with 4-3 spacing and 4-2-5 nickel mixed in, a real shift from the 4-3 Matt Eberflus ran a year ago. The look will change week to week. What will not change is the bet up front. The defense is built around the interior players with their hands in the dirt. Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark decide how clean everything else looks. If they win the line of scrimmage, Parker can keep the menu open. If they do not, the edges start fighting for snaps and the call sheet gets simpler. In a 3-4, Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and rookie Malachi Lawrence have more assignment variety. In a 4-3, the snap count tells you who Dallas actually trusts as a rusher. The inside linebackers are the most stable pieces in that mix, but the room is still new in Dallas. DeMarvion Overshown has flashed but still has not put together a full healthy season. Dee Winters is not a vagabond, but he has not locked the job down here yet either. Then there is Caleb Downs. Early depth charts have the first-rounder at nickel, and the expectation around him is as high as any rookie in the league. He can line up in more than one spot. If Parker means what he says about adapting to personnel, Downs will move around the formation. That is a feature for the defense. For fantasy, it is a weekly question mark: more opportunities, less predictability.

Thematically, this is a tale of two NFL defenses. One coach trusts the scheme over the long haul and invests in established pieces to make that process work. The other has the ingredients but has not cooked the meal yet, and will adjust to the results instead of staying married to the process.

More Than Just Coaching Changes

Coach philosophy and scheme are the heartbeat of any IDP player. Personnel is the blood in the veins. This offseason, a few familiar faces packed up and went somewhere new.

Devin Lloyd is now in Carolina, where he will pair with fellow newcomer Bobby Okereke in a 3-4 that leans zone. The scheme should keep both linebackers on the field enough to matter in IDP.

Former Bengals All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson now joins a Ravens defense run by first-year head coach Jesse Minter and coordinator Anthony Weaver. Minter will call the plays. Weaver still brings a front that has long tried to generate pressure without leaning on the blitz.

Cincinnati spent the offseason reinforcing a defense that has struggled for years. The Bengals signed edge rusher Boye Mafe and interior linemen Jonathan Allen and Dexter Lawrence II, then drafted edge Cashius Howell. In their 4-3, those pieces can share the field. Mafe and Howell also give Cincinnati the option to slide into a 3-4 look when the down and distance call for it.

The Rams made the loudest defensive splash of the offseason, trading Jared Verse and picks for All-Pro Myles Garrett, last year's Defensive Player of the Year and the single-season sack record holder, then adding three-time DPOY Aaron Donald out of retirement. Alignment only goes so far when the names are that big. Garrett's debut was a dud, and Donald did not play, so we have not seen the finished product yet.

Jacob Rodriguez has been the loudest rookie defender of the summer. He won Miami's inside linebacker job from Tyrel Dodson, and the Dolphins cut Dodson to make it official. The opportunity is real. The context is messy. Miami overhauled the staff, replacing Anthony Weaver with coordinator Sean Duggan while new head coach Jeff Hafley still calls the defense. They are installing a base 4-2-5, which leaves little room for a third linebacker beyond Jordyn Brooks and Rodriguez.

I could go on for days about why "defense wins championships" still holds. In an era when offense owns the headlines, the point just needs more nuance. What cannot be overstated is why teams install the schemes they do: to scramble the other side's script. It is more than the box score. It is knowing the players, why they have to fit, and what happens when they do not. Enjoy your Sundays. And Mondays. And Thursdays. And the occasional Wednesday. You may not know when the next game is on, or which network has it. You will know how to read a defense.