2026 fantasy football DSTs with good early schedules: Jaguars and Chiefs could help early

Fantasy football draft season is kicking into gear, which means we’re all searching for rankings to help us with our drafts or collect insights to modify our rankings. Last week, I put out my pre-season DST rankings, but I wanted to put out a separate article just looking at early-season schedules.

A lot of the time, people will say, “Who cares? I just stream” or “Just take whoever’s left in the last round.” I do believe we can maximize the effectiveness of our drafts with just a touch of strategy. Drafting a D/ST doesn’t have the same make-or-break consequence as drafting your first-round wide receiver or your sleeper RB in the middle rounds, but it is still a decision with ripple effects that can cost you one week or potentially more during your season.

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Below, I’ll give you some of my favorite defenses to target in fantasy football drafts this summer, but I also wanted to touch on my general strategy for drafting defenses. This is a strategy discussion I had in my other article as well, so if you read that, you can skip to the early-season defenses section.

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Fantasy Football Defense Draft Strategy

Before I get into the specific teams, I did want to briefly mention my general strategy for drafting defenses.

For starters, I am never the first one to draft a defense. Last year, I went over a few years of previous data that has borne out that it’s very rare for a D/ST that was drafted first, second, third, or fourth, according to ADP, to finish as the top-ranked fantasy defense at the end of the season. My calculations from that article were that selecting one of the top three defenses by that year’s ADP gives you a 3.8% chance of landing the top overall defense in fantasy football. That’s simply not trying to jump your leaguemates and get the “safe” elite defense.

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That’s not enough to entice me to do that.

I also want to maximize my chances of having early breakout running backs and wide receivers on my team, so I will always take my defense and kicker as my last two picks. I will never draft two defenses, and I will always focus on the early season schedule when drafting a defense.

For me, that means looking beyond Week 1. I know targeting the top Week 1 defense is trendy, and I will give you some options just for Week 1 below, but I’d prefer to draft a defense that I can hold onto for at least three or four weeks. That will not only save me FAAB dollars in adding a brand new defense in Week 2, but it will also free up the time and energy to focus my waiver wire attention on the running backs and wide receivers who might pop off in the coming weeks. Also, with so little information heading into Week 1, I’d rather just play a defense that I think is talented and not focus too much on who we expected to be good or bad based on offseason moves and preseason reps.

So, who are those defenses that I’m targeting for their early-season schedule?

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Fantasy Football Defense Early Season Schedule Picks

Seattle Seahawks

FIRST THREE GAMES: PATRIOTS, CARDINALS, COMMANDERS

The Seahawks finished last year as the top-scoring defense in football, averaging 10.5 fantasy points per game, which is what Rhamondre Stevenson averaged in half-PPR leagues last year. They were also my top-ranked defense in my preseason rankings column, so it’s not a surprise that I like them as a draft target. They start the year against a good Patriots team, but one that I think over-performed last year. The Patriots have a middle-of-the-pack offensive line, and I don’t love their receiving options other than A.J. Brown. I’m certainly not saying the Patriots are bad, but I think this Seahawks defense is talented and one average matchup isn’t going to scare me off. As of now, Vegas has the Patriots with an implied team total of 20.5 points in this game, which is the 7th-lowest point total on the entire Week 1 slate.

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Then, after that matchup, the Seahawks get the Cardinals in Week 2 and the Commanders in Week 3. Right now, I don’t expect Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love to be ready for Week 1 (or at least at 100%) with his high ankle sprain, and the Cardinals have the 23rd-ranked offensive line, according to preseason consensus rankings. You pair that with a below-average quarterback room, and I like targeting the Cardinals with opposing defenses. In Week 3, the Seahawks get a Commanders offense that will be without starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil. The consensus offensive line rankings now have the Commanders as the 26th-ranked offensive line in football, and PFF even ranked them as the worst in the league. The team signed Stefon Diggs this offseason, and people got excited, but it seems they are only playing him in the slot, which is a role that limited him to about 50% of the snaps last year in New England. This isn’t a Commanders offense that really scares me.

Philadelphia Eagles

FIRST THREE GAMES: COMMANDERS, TITANS, BEARS

The Eagles are another talented overall defense that I’m happy to target early. They finished 7th last season, averaging 7.9 fantasy points per game, and start the season against the Commanders and Titans. I just mentioned the Commanders above, and this is an opportunistic Eagles defense that I think will create some turnovers in that game. Then the Eagles face a Titans team in Week 2 that may be one of the worst offenses in the NFL this season. I think Cam Ward looks overmatched at the NFL level, but even if he does make some big plays, he’s going to take some bad sacks and force some bad passes down the field. The Titans’ offensive line is ranked 31st by consensus rankings, and I think their running back room is solid but not great. So far, through two preseason games, they can’t seem to get any targets to Carnell Tate, and this is just not a team I think is going to move the ball well at all. I don’t love the Week 3 matchup with the Bears, but let’s get there first before we worry about it.

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Jacksonville Jaguars

FIRST THREE GAMES: BROWNS, BRONCOS, PATRIOTS

Last year, the Jaguars finished as the 3rd-ranked defense with 8.6 points per game. I’m generally not that high on them because they had a shaky 3rd-down defense, a poor pressure rate, and not many sacks, but were heavily reliant on turnovers, which are not sticky year-over-year. That being said, Travis Hunter should be more impactful on defense, and their entire starting defense is returning players, so there is a case for optimism. However, the reason they are here is that they get the Browns in Week 1 with Deshaun Watson at quarterback. The Browns have the lowest implied team total on the slate in Week 1 at 16.5 points, and they have the worst offensive line in football, according to the consensus rankings linked above. Their rookie wide receivers look solid, but it usually takes rookie wideouts a few weeks to really adjust and adapt to the NFL game, so I don’t think they’ll come out as true difference makers, especially with such bad QB play around them. I think the Jaguars are a smash in Week 1 and then I could be convinced to hold onto them against the Broncos and Patriots, who are two offenses I think are solid but maybe not actually elite.