Fantasy Football Streaming Defenses for Week 2

Fantasy production for defenses comes down to matchups and situations. That's why many fantasy managers opt to lean on the waiver wire and "stream" the position by readily adding and dropping defenses every week to find a new starter. It's a strategy that has been used time and time again.

If you're one of those managers, The Duel is here to help with three of our top fantasy football streaming defenses for Week 2.

Fantasy Football Defenses

1. Cincinnati Bengals (@ DAL)

It wouldn't usually be a recommendation to stream a defense facing the Dallas Cowboys, but the injury to quarterback Dak Prescott changes everything. Prescott will not be suiting up on Sunday and has a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks. The starting job will now go to Cooper Rush, a player that has thrown for just 488 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in his career (11 games, 1 start). The Bengals held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 17 offensive points in Week 1 and the Cowboys' shaky offensive line allowed 4 sacks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All signs point to a big day for Cincinnati's defense.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (vs NE)

The Steelers were the top scoring fantasy defense in Week 1 thanks to 7 sacks, 4 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery and 1 blocked kick. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick's pick-six really brought the house down for Mike Tomlin's defense. Pittsburgh now matches up against quarterback Mac Jones, who tossed a costly interception in Week 1 and was strip sacked for a scoop and score as well. Jones dealt with back spasms against the Miami Dolphins and could be limited in practice this week. Even without TJ Watt out with a torn pec, the Steelers won't be rostered in under 50% of fantasy leagues for long.

3. Cleveland Browns (vs NYJ)

As mentioned above, streaming defenses comes down to matchups. The Browns' defense didn't look stellar in Week 1, but it still managed to rack up 4.0 sacks and 1 interception. That bodes well for a favorable matchup against a dismal New York Jets' offense. The Jets mustered up only 4.8 yards per play on Sunday (T-No. 24 in NFL) after finishing 25th in that same statistical category in 2021 (5.0). All it'll take is one or two big plays from All-Pro Myles Garrett for the Browns to post double-digit fantasy points. Not too bad for a defense rostered in only 28% of leagues.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.