Top 12 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings for Week 3 (2022)

Defenses are usually just an afterthought in fantasy football. That's leaving points on the board though. Savvy fantasy managers will be scouring the waiver wire to capitalize on the best defensive matchups each and every week.

With that in mind, here are the top-12 fantasy football defenses for Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season.

Fantasy Football Defense Rankings Week 3

12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs GB)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the best-scoring fantasy defense through the first two weeks of the season, in part because of their terrific six turnovers forced. Add in a league-leading 10 sacks and that's a recipe for big defensive points. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay faces a stingy Packers squad that excels at hanging onto the football. Aaron Rodgers and co. have coughed up three turnovers thus far, but led the league with the fewest offensive turnovers (13) last year. Expect a defensive battle, but not on ripe with turnovers. Tampa Bay's pass-rush and ability to keep points off the board keeps them fantasy relevant even against a tough opponent.

11. Cincinnati Bengals (at NYJ)

10. Kansas City Chiefs (at IND)

9. Los Angeles Rams (at AZ)

8. Buffalo Bills (at MIA)

7. Chicago Bears (vs HOU)

6. Denver Broncos (vs SF)

The San Francisco 49ers have done a solid job holding onto the football thus far, only losing 2 turnovers. While the dynamic of the offense slightly changes (for the better) with Jimmy Garoppolo under center, this poises to be a defensive battle. The two sides rank in the bottom-half of the league in terms of points scored while each allowing just 13 points per game on defense, the second-fewest points allowed by teams with two games played. Denver's defense is more trustworthy because of the opposing quarterback.

5. Los Angeles Chargers (vs JAX)

4. New Orleans Saints (at CAR)

3. Baltimore Ravens (at NE)

2. Dallas Cowboys (at NYG)

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (at CLE)

Pittsburgh's defense is off to a ferocious start, very similarly to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They rank second in the league with 6 forced turnovers while their 7 sacks is the third-best in football. That's exactly why they rank as the second-best scoring defense in fantasy thus far, and that trend continues against the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland has done a decent job scoring at 28 points per game, but against a pair of bad defensive units in the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets. The decent start comes to a screeching halt against their division rivals in Week 3.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. 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.