Lance's 2022 Fantasy Sleepers: Defenses
I’m including this explanation for everyone that likes to pick and choose which articles of these they want to check out, if you’re someone that reads all them you can probably skip this area and jump down to my sleepers. The rules for my “top” pick and my “3 others” remain the same, they have to actually be sleepers. But I would like to elaborate on the rules behind my rookie and dark horse pick, for better understanding. For the rookie it has to be someone that wasn’t taken in the first round, and isn’t actively being hyped up by analysts. For the dark horse it has to be someone so far down most people's boards that they forgot that player even exists, or at least that’s the case for RBs, WRs and TEs. For QBs, Kickers and Defenses it just has to be someone you’ll typically find in the 20-32 range, and if they’re name isn’t being talked about, or if they are being talked about it negatively then that’s a bonus!
I’d consider it a successful pick if my “top” pick finishes top ten, my 3 others finish top 15, and my dark horse finishes top 20. Last year all three of my 3 others finished top 15, New England (2), Buffalo (4) and San Francisco (14). Alright, enough of that, here are my defensive sleepers:
Top: Philadelphia Eagles
The Philly defense had an excellent draft and offseason. They brought in Kyzir White and Nakobe Dean to shore up their weakest position group. They added Jordan Davis to their interior D-Line rotation that already included Javon Hargrave, Fletcher Cox and Milton Williams. And they added Haason Reddick to help rush the passer off the edge. They're a real threat to jump up the defensive fantasy rankings.
3 Others: Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens
Cincy had a solid season in 2021, but it wasn't perfect, so they went into the draft and shored up their biggest problem child, their secondary, by drafting Daxton Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt. It was a simple upgrade that probably won't get much attention by fantasy analysts, but I believe it's enough to take them from 18th to top 15.
The Chargers defense was potentially the biggest disappointment a year ago. They finished 27th, and were the biggest reason why LAC missed the playoffs. They shored up their run defense in a big way (literally) by adding Sebastian Joseph-Day and Austin Johnson to their D-Line. They also added Khalil Mack to the spot opposite Joey Bosa, and J.C. Jackson to their secondary. Mack should help boost their sack total and Jackson their pick total, both stats that help you out in fantasy football.
The additions of Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton to the secondary, along with a healthy Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters, is enough to push Baltimore back up the defensive rankings. Bonus, Odafe Oweh should take another step forward in year two.
Dark Horse: New York Jets
Last year this pick was Detroit and it didn't work out (though I did say it might be a couple years before that really pans out). With only 32 teams to pick from you really gotta dig deep when selecting a dark horse. I like the Jets this year. Robert Saleh made some decent headway a season ago. This year he'll have plenty of talent at each level. With Ahmad Gardner and D.J. Reed taking over at Corner, Jordan Whitehead sliding in for the oft-injured Marcus Maye at Safety, C.J. Mosely and Carl Lawson returning to the field, and Jermaine Johnson being added into the pass rusher rotation, this team is in very good hands.
