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Top Fantasy Football Streaming Defenses for Week 5

By Jason Schandl

Top fantasy football streaming defenses for Week 5, including the Arizona Cardinals.
Top fantasy football streaming defenses for Week 5, including the Arizona Cardinals. / Grant Halverson/Getty Images
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Few defenses are true every-week starting options in fantasy football. That's why "streaming" the position, picking defenses off the waiver wire as needed every week, can be such a useful strategy.

These three defenses, rostered in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! fantasy football leagues, are the top waiver wire streaming options in Week 5.

3. Houston Texans (vs Jacksonville Jaguars)

The Houston Texans are obviously having a rough season so far, but they're still 6-point favorites over the Jacksonville Jaguars on FanDuel Sportsbook. The Jags have looked surprisingly competent, but Gardner Minshew does still have 4 interceptions through 4 games, getting sacked at least twice in each outing (13 times total). The Texans rank No. 7 in the NFL in sack rate (8.1%), and they shouldn't have too much trouble getting to Minshew this week — especially if they're playing with a big lead.

2. Dallas Cowboys (vs New York Giants)

Another defense that gets a huge boost because they're heavy favorites, the Dallas Cowboys have admittedly been a terrible real-world defense in 2020. Their pass rush hasn't been totally egregious, sitting tied for 20th in pressure rate, and they will really get to pin their ears back against the 9.5-point underdog New York Giants. Pro Football Focus has the Giants ranked No. 30 in the NFL in pass blocking grade, and that has translated to 14 sacks and 5 interceptions for Daniel Jones.

1. Arizona Cardinals (at New York Jets)

If we could just get "the defense against the New York Jets" as one fantasy defense, they'd be a top play every week. The Jets rank dead-last in pass-blocking grade, as well as 30th in overall offensive grade. Making things even sweeter, an injury may force the Jets to sit Sam Darnold in favor of Joe Flacco. The statuesque Flacco is not tough for opposing defenses to bring down (sacked 26 times in 8 games in 2019), and he hasn't averaged more than 6.6 adjusted yards per pass attempt in a season since 2014. The Jets are giving up 11.3 fantasy points per game to opposing defenses.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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 his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.