Sneaky fantasy football defenses you can stream in Week 8 to win your matchup

Week 8 is an UGLY week for us in the fantasy football streaming biz. A bunch of the offenses that we’ve been fading are playing defenses that are owned by a lot of people, and the available defenses are either bad or playing good offenses.

But when you joined the Stream Team, you knew this kind of week was going to end up happening … and to be fair, it’ll probably happen again before the end of the season. Hopefully, you took my advice last week and grabbed the Jags during the bye. If you didn’t, or if you’re new here, I got you covered: we’re hunting for DSTs that are rostered in fewer than 30% of leagues. I think I found some gems, more or less.

Washington Commanders

vs. Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8
Eagles TT O/U: 18.5 (4th lowest)
Rostered in 3% of leagues

You saw Saquon Barkley on Monday night, right? He was simply outstanding, but he was also super hurt by some combination of a hamstring and a back thing. You have to think that he’s not going to be good to go on Sunday night (we’ll find out when we start seeing the injury reports).

And if he is? He’s not going to be nearly as good as he was against a gut-wrenchingly terrible Cowboys defense.

Without Saquon, the Eagles offense was rough and largely toothless. Tanner McKee to Makai Lemon for a handful of yards? You’ll take that … and you definitely won’t expect it to happen with the consistency that it happened against that Dallas defense, which again, is one of the absolute worst in the NFL.

If DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks play, the Eagles offense will obviously be more dangerous … But not enough to avoid them. It’s still a bad unit that lacks talent, and it’s still being led by a backup quarterback who gets sacked a lot.

If you’re not an Eagles fan, stop reading and go to the next section.

We all know how bad this team is, and we’re not going to find any joy from watching them. The only thing we can do is use our knowledge for our benefit. Unfortunately, that means rostering the Commanders this week. If that’s a bridge too far for you, that's totally fine; I get it … But if you’re in a high-stakes league and you’re in trouble with your DST, you shouldn’t feel bad for fading them and using Washington. Go Birds.

Chicago Bears

vs. Seattle Seahawks in Week 8
Seahawks TT O/U: 24.5 points (19th lowest)
Rostered in 25% of leagues

This is the ultimate boom-or-bust play, so I think the only reasons you’re using the Bears defense this week are if you’re a big-time underdog or if you are in a big hole after Thursday night.

The Bears defense has had a couple of games (Week 3 vs. the Eagles and Week 6 vs. the Falcons) where they crushed and got you double-digit points …

But they also had a couple of weeks where they were a complete liability and scored less than five points (Week 5 vs. the Packers and Week 7 vs. the Patriots).

The Seahawks offense is pretty much the same thing: They’ve had three weeks where they allowed defenses to score double-digit points. That’s not super surprising because Sam Darnold leads the league in interceptions thrown, and he’s one of the more sackable quarterbacks.

If you’ve got nothing to lose, the Bears should be your DST this week.

Las Vegas Raiders

vs. New York Jets in Week 8
Jets TT O/U: 23.5 points (16th lowest)
Rostered in 8% of leagues

The Raiders are gross, but the Jets are grosser.

If you’re using Vegas’ defense in Week 8, you’re really banking on them getting back to the level they were playing at in the first three weeks … And I think that there might be a chance of that happening.

In Weeks 1 through 3, the Raiders DST averaged 13 fantasy points per game. In Weeks 4 through 7, they averaged .66 points per game. Is this a case of a team flaming out early, or was it something else?

In those first three weeks, they played the Dolphins, the Chargers, and the Saints. Every single one of those offenses has severe problems. The next group of teams was the Chiefs, the Patriots, the Bills, and the Rams. All of those offenses are pretty buttoned up and rolling.

You know what you’re signing up for if you get the Raiders: a defense that bullies the weak kid. I think the Jets are a weak kid … especially compared to the teams the Raiders have played over the past four weeks.

If you’re one of those people who refuses to use a defense that’s playing against any of the people on your team, the Raiders are a decent-enough option. (If they can't get back on track here, I promise I'll stop recommending them).

Looking ahead:

You shouldn’t be rostering two defenses unless your team is as perfect as it can be. If that’s the case and you have that kind of freedom, then by all means, go out and grab one of the defenses that’s on a bye this week. Those four teams are the Texans, the Giants, the Saints, and the 49ers.

We’re absolutely never going to use the Saints defense this year, but the Giants and Texans have some pretty solid matchups in Week 9.

The Texans are getting the Chargers, and the Giants are getting the Eagles; those are both auto-fade offenses. Go ahead and grab either of those if you can.

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