The new kickoff rules still haven’t made a huge impact on the defense/special teams fantasy landscape through the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season, but we still have some units that have delivered dominating performances that you should be taking note of.
Here is a closer look at my defensive rankings for your fantasy football team entering Week 3.
Top 30 Fantasy Defense Rankings
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1) Cleveland Browns (vs. NYG)
2) San Francisco 49ers (at LAR)
3) Seattle Seahawks (vs. MIA)
4) Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. LAC)
5) New York Jets (vs. NE)
6) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. DEN)
7) Chicago Bears (at IND)
8) Buffalo Bills (vs. JAX)
9) Baltimore Ravens (at DAL)
10) Kansas City Chiefs (at ATL)
11) Indianapolis Colts (vs. CHI)
12) Las Vegas Raiders (vs. CAR)
13) New England Patriots (at NYJ)
14) Houston Texans (at MIN)
15) Cincinnati Bengals (vs. WAS)
16) Los Angeles Chargers (at PIT)
17) Tennessee Titans (vs. GB)
18) Dallas Cowboys (vs. BAL)
19) New Orleans Saints (vs. PHI)
20) Jacksonville Jaguars (at BUF)
21) Philadelphia Eagles (at NO)
22) Green Bay Packers (at TEN)
23) Detroit Lions (at ARI)
24) New York Giants (at CLE)
25) Atlanta Falcons (vs. KC)
26) Miami Dolphins (at SEA)
27) Arizona Cardinals (vs. DET)
28) Minnesota Vikings (vs. HOU)
29) Carolina Panthers (at LV)
30) Denver Broncos (at TB)
The Top Defenses To Start in Week 3
Las Vegas Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t exactly been a fantasy juggernaut through the first two games of the year, but they did manage to hold Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens to just 23 points in Week 2. Now, they draw a matchup against a Carolina Panthers offense that has scored a total of 13 points through the first two games of the 2024 NFL season.
Maxx Crosby is one of the elite pass rushers in the league and should heat up Andy Dalton to the tune of either generating sacks or forcing the veteran quarterback into some big mistakes with receivers who have failed to create much separation to start the year.
Ultimately, this Panthers offense simply hasn’t done enough to suggest that you shouldn’t start any defense they face in 2024.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Denver Broncos’ offense has shown very few signs of life through their first two games in the Bo Nix era under center.
Nix threw two more interceptions on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in his home debut, which could be problematic for a rookie quarterback facing off against an aggressive Todd Bowles defense that managed to derail a high-powered Detroit Lions offense at Ford Field on Sunday by keeping Jared Goff out of the end zone despite being without the services of Antoine Winfield Jr. and Calijah Kancey.
The play of Zyon McCollum, Jamel Dean, and Christian Izien at corner combined with the impact of Jordan Whitehead at safety has immediately helped this unit improve drastically from what we saw from them last year.
I don’t see the trio of Courtland Sutton, Josh Reynolds, and Marvin Mims Jr. having much success beating these DBs consistently, which means Nix could be in for another learning experience if the Broncos offense can’t get the running game right after a pitiful 2.1 yards per carry on 19 rushing attempts from Javonte Williams through the first two games of the 2024 NFL season.