Let’s revisit the color-coding system before we start:
Red – A For lower-level players,
a red matchup means they should not be used in fantasy that week.
For a second- or third-tier player, drop your expectations for them
at least one grade that week (i.e. from WR2 to WR3). For elite players,
expect them to perform one level lower than their usual status (i.e.
RB1 performs like a RB2).
Yellow – For lower-level
players, he is a borderline start at best. For a second- or third-tier
player, they can probably overcome the matchup if things fall
right. For the elite players, expect slightly better than average
production.
White – This one that could
go either way. In some cases, I just don’t feel like I have
a good feel yet for this matchup. Generally speaking, these matchups
are winnable for all levels of players.
Green – For non-elite players,
the stage is basically set for said player to exploit the matchup.
For the elite player, this matchup should produce special numbers.
“SD” refers to schedule
difficulty. In short, here is how I scored each matchup:
Green - 1 point Grey - 0.5 Yellow – minus-0.5 Red – minus-1
As you can tell, the defenses were not ranked based entirely
on schedule difficulty. It was a strong consideration, however.
Defense/Special
Teams
Rk
Team
SD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
1
Cardinals
4.0
2
Seahawks
2.5
3
Chiefs
1.5
4
Vikings
0.0
5
Chargers
4.0
6
Broncos
1.5
7
Texans
1.5
8
Eagles
-0.5
9
Ravens
-1.0
10
Giants
-2.5
11
Falcons
-2.0
12
Steelers
1.0
13
Panthers
-1.5
14
Patriots
1.0
15
Jaguars
4.0
16
Titans
1.5
17
Bengals
0.5
18
Packers
-1.0
19
Buccaneers
-3.5
20
Browns
-0.5
21
Rams
-2.5
22
49ers
-4.5
23
Redskins
-5.5
24
Bears
-4.5
25
Dolphins
-6.0
26
Saints
-2.0
27
Lions
-0.5
28
Bills
-6.5
29
Cowboys
-4.0
30
Raiders
-2.0
31
Colts
2.5
32
Jets
-6.0
Some potentially good "fits" among the top 12 D/STs that stand out
to me (I only considered matchups and did not account for bye weeks):
Cardinals - Texans, Ravens, Eagles
Seahawks - Chargers, Patriots, Jaguars
Chiefs - Texans, Ravens, Giants
Vikings - Chargers, Steelers, Jaguars
Chargers - Eagles, Ravens, Falcons, Jaguars
Broncos - Ravens, Panthers, Bengals
Texans - Jaguars
Eagles - Steelers, Patriots, Jaguars, Titans
Ravens - Patriots, Jaguars, Titans, Packers
Giants - Jaguars
Falcons - Steelers, Panthers, Jaguars, Titans
Steelers - Titans, Bengals
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| Non-PPR Big Board Doug Orth has written for FF
Today since 2006 and been featured in USA Today’s Fantasy
Football Preview magazine since 2010. He hosted USA Today’s
hour-long, pre-kickoff fantasy football internet chat every Sunday
in 2012-13 and appears as a guest analyst on a number of national
sports radio shows, including Sirius XM’s “Fantasy Drive”.
Doug is also a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
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