Best Fantasy Football Week 7 Defense Streamers (D/ST): Bills DST, Browns DST Look To Stay Hot

Despite being started in just 7% of leagues, the Detroit Lions had the best defensive performance through Sunday’s action in Week 6, putting up 20 points in a big win via five turnovers, four sacks, and just nine points allowed.

Our streamer picks did have representation in the top three, however, as Houston put up 15 points in a win over New England. The Chargers, one of the week’s more popular streaming options, put up eight points against Denver, and the Eagles finished with just six in a win over Cleveland.

Week 7 brings with it more bye weeks and a few heavyweight matchups that bring down the value of some highly-ranked defenses.

Let’s take a look at the best fantasy football defense streamers (D/ST) for Week 7.

TEAMS TO AVOID IN WEEK 7

BYE WEEKS

The Cowboys (52% rostered) and Bears (63%) are the two teams who will be idle in Week 7. Dallas has been a disappointment through the early part of the season and has a gauntlet coming up with games against San Francisco, Atlanta, Philly, Houston, and Washington, so this is a good time to cut ties with them. They likely won’t carry much value until Week 13 at the earliest.

The Bears, however, have been a top five fantasy defense and have a mixed schedule coming out of their bye, traveling to the Commanders before facing Arizona and New England. They’re likely worth stashing for a week or two if possible.

MATCHUP-BASED

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (57% rostered): The Bucs have been getting healthier and are coming off a 19-point performance against the Saints, but they’ll face a Baltimore team on Monday night who is yielding less than 2 fantasy points per game to opposing defenses.

San Francisco 49ers (97%): The Niners have been one of the league’s best units for fantasy purposes and are unsurprisingly owned in nearly all leagues, but fantasy managers have decisions looming with matchups against Kansas City and Dallas before a bye in Week 9.

FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEK 7 DEFENSE STREAMERS (DST)

BUFFALO BILLS DST (49% ROSTERED ON SLEEPER)

vs Tennessee Titans | 1 PM

The Bills find themselves just short of our 50% ownership threshold to be a streamer, and I have a feeling they’ll be well above 50% once Week 7 waivers clear.

Buffalo hasn’t been dominant defensively to start the year, ranked 15th in fantasy scoring with 13 sacks and nine takeaways, but scoring 32 points across two weeks against Miami and Jacksonville shows they can beat up on bad offenses. And the 2024 Titans definitely fit that description.

2024 QB grading and efficiency (EPA/play), min 100 dropbacks

– Daniels 1st EPA, 5th grading

– Flacco?

– Love/Goff/Darnold/Williams NFC North tier

– Mahomes strangely under-producing vs grading pic.twitter.com/o7Z63W74FO — Kevin Cole (@KevinCole___) October 14, 2024

The Titans have given up over 11 points per game to opposing defenses, the highest mark in the league, thanks to 16 sacks allowed and ten turnovers, seven from Will Levis. The Titans went with a more conservative offensive approach out of their bye week, and while it resulted in a close game, Levis finished with just 95 yards and still threw an INT.

Tony Pollard has started to show some signs of life recently, so there’s a chance he could exploit a Bills rush defense that’s been below average, but I’ll be less concerned about that if Buffalo gets Ed Oliver back for this matchup. Regardless, the Titans have been a lucrative target for D/ST streaming, and I think that continues this week.

CLEVELAND BROWNS DST (49%)

vs Cincinnati Bengals | 1 PM

I was surprised to see Cleveland’s ownership rate slip back into streamer territory. Yes, the offense is hot garbage and gets worse every week, but the defense has managed to keep them in games, with most of their losses coming by less than a touchdown despite their offensive woes.

The Browns have managed to be a top ten fantasy defense to this point with only five turnovers, thanks to a solid sack total (15) and not allowing too many points. They give up fewer than 200 yards per game through the air and have guys like Myles Garrett and Za’Darius Smith that can get sustained QB pressure if given the opportunity.

Joe Burrow sacked two times in a row by #Giants100 Ojulari.

Got him by a shoelace on one of them.

Bengals have to get some better protection for Burrow he’s going to get hurt again.#RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/xNbaesU8G3 — Hoody (@theshanehood27) October 14, 2024

The Giants sacked Joe Burrow four times on Sunday night, exploiting an offensive line that PFF had ranked 24th coming into the week — and they didn’t even have Kayvon Thibodeaux on the field. Myles Garrett should have plenty of opportunities to get pressure on Burrow and add to his sack total or force errant throws.

Cleveland’s secondary will have their hands full with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, but if they can keep those two weapons relatively in check, Cincy doesn’t have many other playmakers to turn to.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (15%)

vs Denver Broncos | TNF

After a red hot start to the season, New Orleans has lost four in a row and continue to be without Derek Carr. On the bright side, the defense has been solid, scoring nine fantasy points per game with seven turnovers during the four-game losing streak.

The Saints will now stay home for a Thursday night bout with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are around the middle of the league with 6.5 points per game allowed to opposing defenses, as Bo Nix has been careless with the ball at times but hasn’t been sacked a whole lot. Denver mustered up 16 points against a good Chargers defense last week, but they all came in the fourth quarter after a scoreless first three periods led to a 23-0 Los Angeles lead.

Javonte Williams still hasn’t found his groove in the running game, and nobody else in a Broncos jersey is stepping up in his place. Nix has played relatively well for a rookie but is going to need some semblance of a rushing attack to take the pressure off.

New Orleans is coming off of a three-interception performance against Tampa Bay last week and could be in position for a similar showing in Week 7, facing a rookie QB in a hostile environment on a short week.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Green Bay Packers (49%): It was hard not to include Green Bay as a primary pick this week, but Houston is a tough matchup. Still, Green Bay is red hot and will follow this game up with a trip to Jacksonville.

Detroit Lions (12%): Fresh off a 20-point performance in a dominant win over Dallas, the Lions stay on the road to face the Vikings.

Los Angeles Rams (2%): The last time we saw the Rams, they were scoring a defensive touchdown to finish with 11 points against Green Bay. They’ll host the struggling Raiders in Week 7.

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