Lance's 2021 Fantasy Sleepers: Defense

Top: Cleveland Browns

I’m not going to tout Jadeveon Clowney here because personally I think he is way overhyped for really no reason. No, the Browns are in this section because of their other offseason moves. They snagged John Johnson, Troy Hill and Greg Newsome II to make big improvements to their secondary. And they added Anthony Walker Jr. and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to the Linebacker corps, a group that desperately needed help. Cleveland’s defense is primed for a big leap.

3 Others: San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills

All three of these teams are coming off down years after having phenomenal 2019 seasons. For the Niners it was injuries, but players are healthy and ready to go once again. Their secondary and the loss of Robert Saleh are the biggest concerns for me, but if they can get a couple of Corners to step up and if DeMeco Ryans is ready to call the shots, they should get back to their 2019 form.

For the Patriots the drop off in play was largely due to poor offensive play and a couple COVID opt-outs. Donta Hightower is back, they added talent to their front seven, and their offense should be much improved with better Receiving play and a rookie QB ready to step in if Cam Newton continues to struggle.

The reason for Buffalo’s step back was a little less obvious, but I think it was due to the amount of attention their front office had been paying the offense. They were so focused on helping Josh Allen get to where he needed to be that they neglected the other side of the ball. That was not the case this offseason thanks to the first two rounds of the draft where the Bills addressed their biggest defensive need, Edge Rushers. Gregory Rousseau and Carlos Basham will give Buffalo an influx of youth coming off the edge. I think their presence will help push Buffalo back into the top ten in fantasy land.

Dark Horse: Detroit Lions

This is very much a massive dark horse, so please do not go out and draft them as the fifth, sixth or tenth defense off the board. I really like what Detroit has done this offseason. Defensively they landed Michael Brockers, Levi Onwuzurike, Alim McNeill, Quinton Dunbar, Ifeatu Melifonwu and Derrick Barnes. And the addition of Jamaal Williams on offense should allow them to lean more on the run and try to control the clock (always an important asset for a defense). It’ll probably be a year or two before we see measured improvement from this unit, especially since most of the guys I listed are rookies, but the talent boost and the new coaching staff could potentially start to force it this year. Just something to keep an eye on.