Week 7 was a strange week for fantasy football, but thankfully, my top streaming options for kickers and defenses turned out relatively well.
Jason Myers was second among all kickers with 16 points, and Will Lutz and Greg Zuerlein each scored 11+ points.
Defenses were a bit shakier, though the Dolphins scored the sixth-most points. Spoiler alert: That trend may continue in Week 8. Most of the juiciest options are already rostered in a majority of leagues.
So aside from some familiar names in this week’s column, you’ll notice common themes as well, including these traits to target.
Best Traits to Look For Streaming Kickers
- Potentially high-scoring matchups
- Teams with good, but not great, red zone efficiency
- Domes/good weather
Best Traits to Look For Streaming D/STs
- Potentially low-scoring matchups
- Slow-paced offenses
- Turnover-prone quarterbacks
- Bad weather
But as I said last week, sometimes it’s as simple as choosing a kicker or defense with a good matchup. As a reminder, eligible kickers and defenses for this column must not be rostered in more than 50% of leagues, per FantasyPros’ rostership data. Following these guidelines doesn’t hurt, either.
Top Streaming Kickers for Week 8
Jason Myers v. NYG
- Rostered in 35.1% of leagues
- Myers is the third-highest-scoring kicker in fantasy.
- He’s the highest-scoring kicker since Week 3.
- He’s scored 10+ points in each game during that time.
- Myers is also 14/15 in field goals since Week 3.
- The Seahawks have scored the fifth-most points this season.
- The Giants have allowed the sixth-fewest points per game this season.
- New York D/ST has allowed the 11th-most fantasy points to kickers.
- Week 7 against the Jaguars was the first week where the Giants D/ST didn’t allow 7+ fantasy points to kickers.
- It was also the first week a kicker didn’t make two field goals against them.
Greg Zuerlein v. NE
- Rostered in 8.9% of leagues
- Myers is the seventh-highest-scoring kicker in fantasy.
- He’s scored fewer than eight fantasy points just twice this season.
- He’s also 11/12 in field goals since Week 3.
- The Jets only scored 16 points in Week 7, and Zuerlein still scored 12 points.
- The Patriots have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to kickers this season.
- They have yet to allow fewer than eight fantasy points to a kicker.
- That includes 12 points to Cade York and 18 points to Cairo Santos over the last two weeks, respectively.
Cade York v CIN
- Rostered in 13.1% of leagues
- York is the ninth-highest-scoring kicker in fantasy.
- York has only reached 8+ fantasy points four times.
- Two of those times happened in the last two weeks, though.
- The Browns have scored the 10th-most points per game this season.
- No team has allowed more fantasy points to kickers than the Bengals.
- Week 7 (Atlanta) was the first time a kicker didn’t score 9+ fantasy points against Cincinnati.
Top Streaming D/STs for Week 8
Jets D/ST v. NE
- Rostered in 32.6% of leagues
- Jets D/ST has scored the fifth-most fantasy points among D/STs.
- That includes 13, 11 and 21 points scored through Weeks 4-6, respectively.
- The Patriots have allowed the 12th-most fantasy points to opposing D/STs this season.
- That includes four games of 8+ points allowed.
- And that includes 12 pts allowed to Chicago last week.
- Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones looked pretty bad against the Bears.
- Jones is reportedly in line to start in Week 8.
- Streaming the Jets is banking on a) Robert Saleh’s squad picking up where they left off from Week 6 and b) New England’s offense picking up where they left off from Week 7.
Jaguars D/ST v. DEN
- Rostered in 14.3% of leagues
- Jaguars D/ST is only 18th in fantasy points scored.
- They’ve hit 8+ points only twice this season.
- Jacksonville is tied for the 10th-fewest points allowed per game.
- It’s not the best defense to stream, but the options are thin in Week 8.
- At least the Broncos have allowed the 9th-most points to opposing D/STs.
- Even if Russell Wilson plays, he hasn’t been good.
- No team has scored fewer points per game than the Broncos.
Panthers D/ST at ATL
- Rostered in 2.6% of leagues
- Panthers D/ST has scored the twelfth-most fantasy points among D/STs.
- Carolina has hit 8+ fantasy points in 3/7 games this season.
- It’s not a great metric, but the Panthers have a fine matchup.
- The Falcons are tied for the third-most points allowed to opposing D/STs.
- Atlanta has the sixth-fewest yards per game this season.
- The Falcons play (notoriously) conservatively, so this is a safer option rather than a high-upside one.
- This has all the makings for a low-scoring game.
Commanders and Colts D/STs are also fine streaming options, though that game screams like a trap. Both defenses are pretty bad, and while the offenses aren’t much better, there’s no telling which D/ST will come out on top in fantasy. One D/ST could score 20 fantasy points just as easily as it could score -5. I’d avoid streaming one of them unless you’re desperate.
