Welcome back for another year of rent-a-defense, another year of fantasy football, and another year of one of our last somewhat universally shared experiences in these strange times. When I started this column (14 years ago? 15 years ago? The past gets blurrier in the rear-view mirror, and I'm not much of a record keeper), it was still common practice for most fantasy football players to try to draft a good D/ST and ride them. Now, more and more people are streaming, so we have to go deeper. Sometimes, the shak" move is to ride a hot D/ST instead of trying to catch lightning in a bottle each week when everyone else is doing the same.
So as we slough D/ST and depend on the waiver wire and even randomness to save us every week, let's consider this more "rent-to-buy" than pure "rent-a-defense" when weighing our potential pickups, especially at the beginning of the season when the big reveal shows us who might be the new elite D/STs, along with the usual important information of who the best matchups for D/ST scoring will be going forward.
**Houston, Philadelphia, LA Rams, Denver, Seattle, and New England are assumed to be rostered**
Week 1 Candidates
Jacksonville (vs Cleveland)
This is the layup pick for this week, and hopefully you drafted them in the last round of your draft. Deshaun Watson was named the starter in a quarterback battle with no winners (except for maybe sixth-round pick Taylen Green). Watson has been embarrassingly bad, and the Jaguars offense should stake their defense to a lead facing the Myles Garrett and Jim Schwartz-less Browns defense.
A Look Ahead: @DEN NE @CIN - The Jaguars will go back to the jungle for now, although the team did spank the Broncos in Denver last year.
Pittsburgh (vs Atlanta)
The Steelers were probably drafted in most leagues, but check just in case. The Falcons are starting Tua Tagovailoa because Michael Penix Jr. isn't ready, Cooper Rush is a mediocre NFL backup, and UDFA rookie preseason sensation Jack Strand shouldn't be thrown to the wolves. Tagovailoa basically lost a quarterback battle he was unopposed in, but the Falcons still had to start him. The Steelers defense will be different under new coordinator Patrick Graham. The scheme should be more flexible, but might lose some of the attacking mentality it had under Mike Tomlin. The Falcons will be without their two 2025 first-round pick edge rushers (Jalon Walker - camp ACL tear, James Pearce Jr. - 8-game suspension), so Pittsburgh should get to pick on Tagovailoa while their offense operates more easily.
A Look Ahead: @NE CIN @CLE - The Steelers actually forced five turnovers in the matchup with the Patriots last year, but we will throw them back with an eye towards Week 4.
