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Fantasy Defense vs. Position

Which defenses allow the most fantasy points to QBs, RBs, WRs, and TEs? All 32 NFL defenses ranked by position — the direct input for streaming pickups and start/sit calls.

On 2025 results, the most generous defenses are Dallas Cowboys against QBs (23.3 PPR per game), Carolina Panthers against RBs (36.3 PPR per game), Dallas Cowboys against WRs (39.3 PPR per game) and Cincinnati Bengals against TEs (20.9 PPR per game) — each rank 1 of 32, meaning the easiest matchup at that position rather than the best defense.

2025 season defense · updates as 2026 data accumulates

Position

Rank 1 = easiest to score against (most permissive) · Rank 32 = hardest · PPR scoring

RankDefensePts Allowed / GPPR · RBsGamesTier
#1CARCarolina Panthers36.3fppg2Easy
#1CINCincinnati Bengals28.3fppg17Easy
#2INDIndianapolis Colts34.2fppg2Easy
#2NYJNew York Jets28.0fppg17Easy
#3ARIArizona Cardinals26.2fppg17Easy
#3MIAMiami Dolphins31.7fppg2Easy
#4DENDenver Broncos30.4fppg2Easy
#4NYGNew York Giants25.7fppg17Easy
#5BUFBuffalo Bills30.1fppg2Easy
#5WASWashington Commanders25.4fppg17Easy
#6DALDallas Cowboys24.9fppg17Easy
#6NONew Orleans Saints28.9fppg2Easy
#7MIAMiami Dolphins24.9fppg17Easy
#7PITPittsburgh Steelers26.5fppg2Easy
#8CARCarolina Panthers24.1fppg17Easy
#8NYGNew York Giants25.8fppg2Easy
#9BUFBuffalo Bills23.9fppg17Easy
#9DALDallas Cowboys24.9fppg2Easy
#10CHIChicago Bears24.2fppg2Easy
#10SFSan Francisco 49ers23.6fppg17Easy
#11BALBaltimore Ravens23.1fppg17Easy
#11DETDetroit Lions22.9fppg2Easy
#12GBGreen Bay Packers22.9fppg2Easy
#12LVLas Vegas Raiders22.9fppg17Easy
#13PHIPhiladelphia Eagles22.8fppg17Easy
#13TENTennessee Titans21.8fppg2Easy
#14SFSan Francisco 49ers20.6fppg2Easy
#14TBTampa Bay Buccaneers22.1fppg17Easy
#15CLECleveland Browns21.9fppg17Easy
#15KCKansas City Chiefs20.4fppg2Easy
#16ATLAtlanta Falcons21.5fppg17Easy
#16BALBaltimore Ravens20.3fppg2Easy
#17GBGreen Bay Packers21.5fppg17Easy
#17TBTampa Bay Buccaneers19.5fppg2Easy
#18PHIPhiladelphia Eagles18.2fppg2Easy
#18TENTennessee Titans21.4fppg17Easy
#19CHIChicago Bears21.2fppg17Easy
#19CINCincinnati Bengals18.0fppg2Easy
#20JAXJacksonville Jaguars17.9fppg2Easy
#20NONew Orleans Saints20.7fppg17Easy
#21CLECleveland Browns16.9fppg2Mid
#21LALos Angeles Rams20.2fppg17Mid
#22HOUHouston Texans20.0fppg17Mid
#22LACLos Angeles Chargers16.5fppg2Mid
#23INDIndianapolis Colts19.9fppg17Mid
#23LVLas Vegas Raiders16.4fppg2Mid
#24LALos Angeles Rams16.4fppg2Mid
#24MINMinnesota Vikings19.6fppg17Mid
#25NENew England Patriots16.4fppg2Mid
#25PITPittsburgh Steelers19.5fppg17Mid
#26DETDetroit Lions19.4fppg17Mid
#26SEASeattle Seahawks16.1fppg2Mid
#27ATLAtlanta Falcons15.3fppg2Mid
#27KCKansas City Chiefs19.2fppg17Mid
#28MINMinnesota Vikings13.7fppg2Mid
#28NENew England Patriots18.8fppg17Mid
#29ARIArizona Cardinals12.9fppg2Mid
#29LACLos Angeles Chargers18.5fppg17Mid
#30HOUHouston Texans12.4fppg2Mid
#30SEASeattle Seahawks18.5fppg17Mid
#31JAXJacksonville Jaguars18.3fppg17Mid
#31NYJNew York Jets12.1fppg2Mid
#32DENDenver Broncos16.9fppg17Mid
#32WASWashington Commanders10.2fppg2Mid

2025 season defense · PPR scoring · updates as 2026 data accumulates

Common questions

What does defense vs. position (DvP) mean?
It ranks all 32 NFL defenses by how many fantasy points they allow to a given position. A defense ranked 1 against tight ends gives up more PPR points to tight ends than any other defense — so it is the best matchup to target, not the best defense.
Does rank 1 mean the best defense or the worst?
The most permissive. Rank 1 is the defense that allows the most fantasy points to that position and rank 32 allows the fewest. The ranking is built for finding favourable matchups, so the easiest opponent sits at the top.
What is 'opponent rank' in fantasy football?
The same idea under a different name — the rank of a player's upcoming opponent in fantasy points allowed to that player's position. A running back facing the opponent ranked 3rd against running backs has a soft matchup on paper.
How much does a matchup actually change a player's projection?
Meaningfully at the extremes and very little in the middle. The gap between the most and least generous defense at a position is worth several points a game; the gap between rank 12 and rank 20 is mostly noise. Use it to break ties among comparable players, not to bench a clear starter.
What season is this based on?
Full-season 2025 results, regular season only — 17 games per defense, with playoff weeks excluded so the twelve teams that played in January are not rated on a different number of games from everyone else.

How this ranking works

What it measures. For each fantasy position (QB, RB, WR, TE), every NFL defense is ranked by how many PPR fantasy points they allowed to that position per game in 2025. Rank 1 = most permissive — the easiest defense to stream or start players against. Rank 32 = most stingy. The fppg number is the direct 2025 seasonal average, so you can see exactly how permissive each unit was.

The complement to Strength of Schedule. SOS tells you which team's players face easy defensive schedules over the season. Defense vs. Position flips the lens: it tells you which specific defense a player faces and how much that defense has historically allowed. Use SOS for draft planning; use this for weekly streaming and start/sit calls.

Why per-position. A defense that suffocates wide receivers can still be porous against tight ends or running backs. A single "easy defense" number hides this split. Each position is rated independently, so the number is meaningful for the specific player you're evaluating.

Data provenance. Rankings are derived from week-by-week opponent-vs-position fantasy points allowed (nflverse CC-BY 4.0 data, the same source that powers the Start Score's matchup component), aggregated to a 2025 season average with weekly values rounded to one decimal before aggregation. This is a mean of rounded weekly averages, precise to roughly a tenth of a point. Ranks are stable across all 32 defenses.

Limitation — prior-season basis. These rankings reflect 2025 defensive performance. Coordinators, rosters, and schemes change over an offseason, so last year's soft defense may not be soft in 2026. Treat these as directional — they're the best citable primary-source signal available before current-season data accumulates. The rankings update in-season as 2026 box scores flow through the ETL.

Informational only — not betting, DFS, or lineup advice. Rankings reflect historical defensive permissiveness, not guaranteed future outcomes. PPR scoring assumed. Data via nflverse (CC-BY 4.0). Not affiliated with or endorsed by the NFL or any team.