Best DST Streaming Options For Week 8 Fantasy Football: Falcons, Jaguars, Chargers

All of my picks did well last week, although I can't claim it all went just as I predicted. The Commanders and Giants game went about as expected, with Sam “Sacks” Howell taking another six, Tyrod Taylor taking four of his own, and the defenses finishing with eight and 15 points. The Browns, however, went from historically great to giving up 38 points to Gardner Minshew … luckily they got some of that positive turnover regression I talked about, racking up four takeaways and a defensive touchdown en route to a 12-point finish. 

This week is interesting, as a lot of the defenses with the best matchups are just above the 50% rostership threshold. The Chiefs, Jets, Lions, and Dolphins won’t appear here, but there is a good chance at least one of them is available in your league, and they are all solid options with good matchups this week. If you can’t land any of them, never fear; there are still a few more options with plus matchups that we can take advantage of. 

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Week 8 Fantasy Football Defense Streaming Options

Atlanta Falcons @ Tennesse Titans

This is only a play if Ryan Tannehill isn’t able to suit up on Sunday. With Tannehill, the Titans are a good matchup, but not a great enough one to rush to start Atlanta. But without him, they are arguably the worst offense in the league. Malik Willis took Tannehill’s place after he exited the Titans’ Week 6 game and managed to get sacked on a third of his dropbacks, a number even Sammy Sacks could only dream of. Yes, it’s a small sample size so far in 2023, but Willis looked just as bad in his rookie year, finishing with three interceptions and zero touchdowns on an atrocious 4.5 yards per attempt. There is a chance that the Titans will roll out some mixture of Willis and rookie second-rounder Will Levis, but just the fact that they’re considering a two-QB system should tell us everything we need to know about how that is likely to go. 

While this pick is mainly about the matchup, the Falcons’ defense has been decent in its own right, allowing the fifth-fewest yards per play in the NFL. Our Week 8 Projections have them as the third-best defense, and they are owned in under 20% of leagues, making them a classic streaming option in a week that is mostly lacking them. 

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Pittsburgh Steelers

While their actual numbers aren’t great, the Jaguars have been better than their numbers suggest on the defensive side of the ball this season. Despite ranking average or even well below average in terms of points and yards allowed, they rank fourth in DVOA and 10th in overall PFF grade. They are also the eighth-highest-scoring defense in terms of fantasy points, with an average of 8.0 points a game. This number is largely carried by their Week 4 domination of the Falcons, but that’s just the nature of DST scoring: Points come in bunches.

This week could be another boom week for the Jaguars, as they face off against a Steelers offense that has been bad enough that you probably know their offensive coordinator’s name. The Steelers are averaging just 273.5 yards per game, the second-lowest number in the NFL. They are slightly better in terms of yards per play and points scored … but only slightly, ranking seventh-worst in both categories. 

This may be more of a floor play than a ceiling play, as the Steelers haven’t been too generous in terms of turnovers or total sacks, but their 7.8% sack rate allowed is still the league’s ninth-highest. This is reflected in our Week 8 Projections, which have the Jaguars as just the 12th-highest projected team but also assign them the highest trust rating of any DST with 77. This means they have a 77% chance of either meeting or exceeding their projected seven fantasy points. When you’re streaming defenses, that’s just about all you can ask for, so I recommend snagging the Jaguars if you are in one of the 60% of leagues where they are available. 

Los Angeles Chargers vs. Chicago Bears

Ranked as the second-best defense of the week in our Week 8 Projections and rostered in under 5% of leagues, you had to know the Chargers would feature on this list. This is risky, as the Chargers have been one of the worst fantasy defenses (and real-life defenses) so far this season, but they’ve had a rough schedule, with only two truly easy matchups, both of which they handled solidly. 

This week, they get a dream matchup against the Bears, who were already one of the league’s worst offenses and are now starting a rookie UDFA under center in Tyson Bagent. To his credit, Bagent was shockingly effective in the Bears’ Week 7 win, completing 72.4% of his passes, taking just one sack, and not turning the ball over. But he’s going to have to prove himself more than once (and against someone other than the Raiders) before I stop considering him a great target when streaming defenses. Again, this is a deep-league play, but sometimes simple logic really is the best, and I don’t hate starting a defense at home against a guy who was playing DII football just last year.

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