Top 12 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings for Week 17 Fantasy Playoffs

The Dallas Cowboys' defense delivered another stellar performance, recording a whopping 25 points against an overmatched Washington Football Team. Dallas has been the best defense in fantasy this year, scoring 31 more fantasy points than the second-place New England Patriots.

Fantasy Football Playoffs Advice

But against Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas will be more of a fringe top-10 play than the top-five unit they've been all season.

If you need help breaking down the rest of this week's matchups, here are our top-12 fantasy football defense rankings for Week 17.

Fantasy Football Defense Rankings Week 17

12. Green Bay Packers (vs MIN)

11. Miami Dolphins (at TEN)

10. Los Angeles Chargers (vs DEN)

9. Dallas Cowboys (vs ARI)

Dallas, as mentioned above, has been the best defense in fantasy this season. But a matchup with the Cardinals is a tough one, even if Arizona is in a bit of a slump right now. The Cardinals haven't topped 16 points in back-to-back weeks, but it hasn't resulted in huge fantasy production for the opposing defense. Arizona has only turned it over once and Kyler Murray has only taken 2 sacks in that span. Dallas should be a fine play this week, but the Cowboys probably don't have the elite ceiling they've had this year.

8. Indianapolis Colts (vs LVR)

7. Chicago Bears (vs NYG)

6. Philadelphia Eagles (at WAS)

5. New Orleans Saints (vs CAR)

4. San Francisco 49ers (vs HOU)

3. Buffalo Bills (vs ATL)

The Buffalo Bills have managed to weather the storm after losing star cornerback Tre'Davious White to injury. Buffalo just held Mac Jones and the Patriots to 145 passing yards with 2 interceptions and no touchdowns last week. Now they face Matt Ryan and the fledgling Atlanta Falcons' passing attack. Ryan has been sacked 3 times in back-to-back games and Buffalo pressures opposing offenses at a top-five rate (27.0%).

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at NYJ)

1. New England Patriots (vs JAX)

The New England Patriots' defense has started to show some cracks in recent weeks. But this looks like the best bounce-back spot imaginable. Trevor Lawrence has been a human turnover machine, sitting tied for the league lead with 14 INTs while also putting the ball on the ground 9 times. Few defenses can capitalize on that like New England, as the Patriots force turnovers at a top-three rate (17.1%). Expect a long day at the office for Lawrence and the Jaguars.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. 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.