Let’s Stream Defenses: Week 10 (2025 Fantasy Football)

We’re in the thick of the bye weeks. This will be the fourth time we have 4 or more teams on bye, and there are still two more such weeks coming up. Fortunately none of the defenses on bye are teams I would be all that bothered to drop. Kansas City is the closest, but they have 3 pretty bad matchups in the old west after their bye, against the Broncos, Colts and Cowboys.

Quarterback situations have continued to evolve due to a combination of injuries and benchings. So let’s go over the teams that have changed recently and if they look like good defense matchups.

• The Arizona Cardinals: Jacoby Brissett has started a few times this season due to injuries to Kyler Murray, and the narrative has emerged that he’s the better quarterback. Murray is ostensibly still the starter when healthy, but I would not be shocked to see him officially benched or traded. Brissett is one of the more sack-prone quarterbacks in the league, however. Last year to start the season he was awful with an awful Patriots offensive line, before then-rookie Drake Maye took over. Brissett has played better in arizona so far, but he still takes a lot of sacks – 13 through 3 games. That should provide a strong floor for good defenses even when he plays well otherwise, which is what happened to the Cowboys last week, finishing as the #3 defense in fantasy despite giving up 27 points.
• The Houston Texans: C.J. Stroud is in concussion protocol, so I expect Davis Mills will start at least one game. The Texans have been struggling on offense already and a defense facing them runs less risk of getting blown up by Mills than Stroud. But Mills doesn’t significantly change the outlook for sacks and turnovers, like some backup QBs might.
• The New Orleans Saints: Last week was the first full game for rookie Tyler Shough following Spencer Rattler‘s halftime benching the prior week. Shough was uninspiring, recording one touchdown, interception and sack each. I expect this to continue to be a low-powered offense going forward with the usual potential for rookie mistakes. But Shough has not shown himself to be very susceptible to sacks yet, nor do I expect many from the defenses on their Saints’ schedule, outside of maybe Atlanta. The Saints are a good matchup, albeit one without a very high floor.
• The Washington Commanders: It seems likely that Jayden Daniels will be out for most or all of the season following last week’s elbow injury (I don’t recommend watching the video). Marcus Mariota will be the starter going forward, and has already played a few games due to a separate hamstring injury for Daniels. Mariota has displayed the full range in 4 games, from very good in a blowout win over the Raiders, to a mere 7 points against the Chiefs. The Commanders are very matchup-dependent – I’m happy to start good defenses against them, but not really interested for an average or below-average defense.

Streaming Defenses: Fantasy Football Waiver Wire & Start/Sit Advice (Week 10)

We have four teams on bye again this week: CIN, DAL, KC and TEN. The pool of good streaming options feels shallow, but it’s not really because of the byes. It’s just that only a couple of the juicy targets happen to be facing particularly good defenses. You might have to settle for a poor defense in a good matchup or a good defense in a sketchy matchup. Rostership numbers are from Yahoo. You can find me on Bluesky.

Matchups

1. DEN vs LV: Geno Smith had his best game of the season last week against Jacksonville, but I’m not worried for the Broncos. That was the first time since Week 1 the Raiders’ opponent hasn’t finished as a top-12 fantasy defense. Smith has been boom-bust in the sack department, recording 4+ in three games, but 2 or fewer in four games. The Broncos can certainly bring the boom. Last week was their first game without cornerback Pat Surtain II, the reigning defensive player of the year. Surtain’s quality in man coverage has earned him a lot of credit for the Broncos’ pass rush and ability to commit more personnel to the Blitz. Without him the Broncos were still able to record 4 sacks against the Texans, 2 each for C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills. I expect more of that against the Raiders at home.
2. CLE @ NYJ: I would not read too much into the Jets’ offensive explosion against the Bengals in Week 8 before their bye. Last week’s Bears matchup demonstrated that not only does Cincinnati have the worst defense in the league, they are contenders for the worst defense of all time. It will be quite the contrast this week when Justin Fields and company have to face the other Ohio defense, who happen to be among the best. In their own pre-bye matchup, the Browns recorded 6 sacks against Drake Maye, who is looking like a top-tier franchize quarterback lately. That game was a great example of how important sacks are – the Patriots dominated that game and put up 32 points, but the Browns still finished among the top 6 fantasy defenses. They’ll have a much easier time recording another great result this week.
3. CAR vs NO: The Saints have one of the weakest offenses in the league. In the game-and-a-half since rookie QB Tyler Shough took over for the benched Spencer Rattler, they’ve scored all of 10 points. The most notable change with that switch is the reduction in sacks – Shough has taken only 3 in that time. I don’t expect the Panthers to change that and record more than 2 or 3 sacks, but this should be a low-scoring slog. The Panthers have a favorable expectation for fantasy points this week, even if the floor is on the low side.
4. BAL @ MIN: J.J. McCarthy exceeded all expectations last week, upsetting the Lions to record his second win in just his third career game. Despite the 27 points, the Lions still ended up finishing as a top-12 fantasy defense thanks to an interception and 5 sacks. That brings McCarthy’s 3-game average to a sky high 4.7 sacks per game. The Ravens defense (and offense) were pretty horrible to start the season, but 3 weeks ago they flipped a switch. Shutting down the Dolphins last week doesn’t mean much, but prior to that they held the Rams and Bears to under 20 points each. They’ve done it without recording many sacks, but I expect them to record 3+ for the first time this season with this matchup.
5. DET @ WAS: The Commanders tragically lost Jayden Daniels for possibly the season to a bad elbow injury when last week’s game was already out of hand. Marcus Mariota has already played 4 games for the commanders due to a separate hamstring injury Daniels was dealing with. Those results have ranged from 44 points against the Raiders in Week 4 to a mere 7 points against Kansas City in Week 5. Mariota doesn’t take a lot of sacks (7 total with no more than 2 in a game), but he has had a turnover in every game. The Lions’ defense has been very good lately, finishing as a top-12 fantasy defense in 4 of the last 5 weeks (with the other one being Kansas City).
6. SEA vs ARI: Jacoby Brissett may have just taken Kyler Murray‘s job. He has played much better overall and picked up the win against Dallas last week. However he’s taken a lot of sacks in the process – 11 in his last two games. The Seahawks’ defense is excellent and should be able to record similar sack numbers, even if Brissett has another good game. The Seahawks should have have a high floor this week, albeit with limited upside due to Brissett’s aversion to interceptions.
7. NYJ vs CLE: This is a classic case of both defenses being viable for fantasy. For the Browns, rookie QB Dillon Gabriel has been uninspiring in his 4 starts. The team’s only performance over 17 points was week 6 when they dominated the Dolphins, football’s equivalent of the free square in the center of a bingo card. Like the Panthers, the Jets have a good overall outlook in what should be a low-scoring tussle between two bad offenses, but significant sack numbers are far from guaranteed. Gabriel took 6 sacks in Pittsburgh in Week 6, but not more than 2 in any other game. The Jets are not a premier pass rushing team, so another 2 is much more likely than 6.
8. HOU vs JAC: The Texans’ defense has been legit, holding the 7-2 Broncos to just 18 points in a loss last week. This is especially true against the pass, which matches up well against a Jaguars team that’s top-10 in pass rate. This is another one where the overall outlook is good but sack expectations are low. I would not be surprised to see the Jags lean heavily on the run game in the face of Houston’s pass defense, and a Houston offense that’s unlikely to take a big lead. When these teams met in Week 4, the score was just 17-10 in Jacksonville’s favor. I expect this to go better for Houston at home, but still be low scoring.
9. BUF @ MIA: The Dolphins are a fragile team on offense. They’ve had some good showings with 4 performances of 27+ points, but they’ve also been held under 10 points three times, including last week against the Ravens. They landed in the middle with 21 points when they played the Bills in Week 2. Given the way things have been trending for both teams, I expect this game to be more lopsided despite being in Miami.
10. JAC @ HOU: Texans QB C.J. Stroud suffered a concussion last week, so Davis Mills took over and I expect him to start this week. Mills started much of his rookie season for Houston in 2021 for depth chart reasons and was the starter in 2022 after Deshaun Watson was traded, but has been Stroud’s backup since then. Mills is not particularly sack and turnover-prone for a backup quarterback, but he is certainly a backup, and has a below-average offensive line to deal with.