BPN's Fantasy Football Files: Picking your D/ST and Kicker

By Brett Neal

ESPN's Top 10 D/ST's

1. Seahawks (103)

2. 49ers (113)

3. Texans (122)

4. Bears (130)

5. Broncos (133)

6. Bengals (139)

7. Patriots (143)

8. Steelers (148)

9. Rams (149)

10. Packers (150)

I'm not going to argue too much about where each Defense/Special Teams should be ranked, but I will let you know when you should pick your defense. One thing that can kill a fantasy draft is reaching for a D/ST three rounds ahead of their projected spot. 

Lets say its the middle of the 10th round, a guy drafting two spots in front of you is on the clock. He has drafted all of his starting position players and a couple back ups. With the 90th pick the Seahawks D/ST looks tempting, but the St. Louis Rams starting RB, Daryl Richardson, is still on the board. He makes the call to take the Seahawks D/ST, probably a 50-50 move. Spades have been broken. The guy drafting directly in front of you starts freaking out with the clock winding down and the top defense off the board, he takes the 49ers D/ST. You have already selected 2 QB's, 3 RB's, 3 WR, and a TE. You are now left with a choice: you can take the Texans D/ST, from your hometown, or you can take a starting RB who could wind up on your bench all season.

Boom goes the dynamite, you take the Texans D/ST with the 92nd overall pick, 30 spots ahead of where they should have gone. Even if the Texans did end up being the 3rd (or even 2nd) best D/ST on the year, you cannot be overly cautious with how fragile running backs and can be. In 2011, 5 starting running backs saw their year come to an end by tearing their ACL's: Adrian Peterson, Jamal Charles, Knowshon Moreno, Rashard Mendenhall, and Tim Hightower. Those are just the knee injuries, several others missed time with broken bones, cracked ribs, back ailments, concussions, and turf toe. Its wise to have 4 starting RB's on your team, just in case this happens to you. Best case scenario, everyone stays healthy and you end up with trade bait. 

The Dallas Cowboys D/ST is my underrated defense of the year. They really aren't that bad ever, but Tony Romo is. His turnovers have always put the defense in a bad position, giving them the bad rap they don't necessarily deserve. However, Head Coach Jason Garrett is no longer calling the plays. The play calling duties have been handed over to Bill Callahan, whose background is an offensive line coach. This means two things: the Cowboys will run the football with DeMarco Murray a lot more, and the O-line will hopefully do a better job protecting Romo. If these things happen, the Defense can stay off the field a lot longer, boosting their fantasy point total exponentially. I slotted them into my number 8 spot. Of course, I could've just jinxed them. (4 days after I wrote this, the Cowboys had 6 turnovers in their 2nd preseason game. Sorry Dallas fans.)

BPN's top 10 D/ST's

1. Seahawks

2. 49ers

3. Texans

4. Bears

5. Broncos

6. Bengals

7. Packers

8. Cowboys

9. Steelers

10. Ravens

ESPN's Top 10 Kickers

1. Stephen Gostkowski

2. Blair Walsh

3. Matt Bryant

4. Justin Tucker

5. Matt Prater

6. Phil Dawson

7. Randy Bullock

8. Josh Brown

9. Sebastian Janikowski

10. David Akers

My advice is that your league take ESPN's top 15 kickers and make a random drawing. Or better yet, write everyone's name down and... spin the wheel!

Everyone loves spinning a wheel!

I'm not even going to rank my top kickers; just don't draft this guy (or girl).