Hey gang!

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to see my Reddit post, with analysis about pairing D/STs and opposing offensive players.

As promised, here are some top options for Defenses and Kickers this week.

I spent some extra time comparing against other rankers, so I could present the different views together:

Defensive Maneuvers

First of all, if you’re a member on this site, I hope you’ve used the look-ahead features to plan your stashes. If you weren’t lucky enough to already own the Texans, Buccaneers, or Seahawks, then hopefully you picked up a top option like the Eagles already last week.

Tier 1

Most top options are similar to other rankers:

• Ranks 1 - 6: Seahawks, Eagles, Texans, Jaguars, 49ers, Bears

My model likes Eagles better than other sources; same with Bears. The other 4 options should be viewed as a toss-up.

Tier 2

The next grouping of 5 options is also matching to other rankers:

• Ranks 7 - 11: Buccaneers, Chiefs, Steelers, Panthers, Cowboys

My model likes these 5 more like from right-to-left, whereas other lean towards left-to-right.

Tier 3

Outside of the top 11, this is where more noticeable disagreements start.

• I’m higher on Ravens and Chargers.

• Others are higher on Broncos, Packers, and Browns.

I’m looking into why I seem so much lower on Broncos. It seems to be rooted in Jordan Love providing few chances for turnovers.

Here’s the Kicker

The last several weeks have continued been quite predictable, and last week was another great one (covered on my front page article). Hopefully this continues in these crucial weeks, where we depend on kickers to continue having strategic power.

Tier 1

This week, I see a kind of crazy amount of agreement so far:

• Ranks 1 - 5: Aubrey, Fairbairn, Myers, Little, McLaughlin

Tier 2

The next 8 options, though, I have in a bit different order:

• Ranks 6 - 12: Mevis, Boswell, Pineiro, Bates, Loop, Butker, McPherson, Santos

The other rankers really like Mevis this week— they’d put him in tier 1. My model is lower on him, but higher on Bates and Santos.

I’m higher on Pineiro, but I suspect other rankers will catch up as they react to the news of Gay being dropped.

Tier 3

Outside of the top 12, more of a mix.

• Dicker, Elliott, Reichard, McManus, Gonzalez.

• Others have Prater high; I’m lower on him.

• Others have Fitzgerald low; I’m higher on him.

Good luck!

/Subvertadown