After looking through some Average Draft Position lists as well as my rankings, it's proven difficult to come up with a list of five underrated defenses. In my opinion, the top ten drafted defenses are the right ones to draft. Some may be a spot high or low, but there are no surefire starters out there that are underrated.What I want to talk to you about today, class, is the ill-conceived strategy of drafting defenses in the middle rounds. In the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh rounds, you need to concentrate on adding quality value picks before turning to your defensive selection. All it takes is one injury to turn your supposedly-great draft into a mess, so use these middle-round picks to fortify your QB, RB and WR starters. Because in the end, you don't even need to draft a good defense. It's much more cost-effective to cycle through defenses playing at home against inferior offenses.
But leaving you with that would eliminate the fun, so here are a couple of defenses that you should consider adding at the end of the draft.
Washington Redskins
The Skins finished 2008 with the sixth-best scoring defense, allowing fewer points than such high picks as the Vikings, Chargers, Patriots and Cowboys. This offseason, they spent a ton of money to bring in Albert Haynesworth to upgrade the interior line. The team then used its only premier draft pick (13th overall) on Brian Orakpo, the best pass-rusher available in the draft.
The team has a very easy schedule at the outset, starting at the Giants, a one-dimensional offensive team. In the next three weeks, Washington plays St. Louis at home, Detroit on the road, and Tampa Bay at home. The Redskins then travel to Carolina before Kansas City and Philadelphia at home, and then comes their bye. In the span of the first seven weeks, they have maybe two tough matchups. In Weeks 14-16, they're at Oakland, then at home against the Giants and Cowboys. I would definitely use the Redskins defense for the first half of the season at the very least.
Indianapolis Colts
Checking in right behind the Redskins as the No. 7 scoring defense in 2008 are the Colts. Featuring Dwight Freeney, who brought his sack total back to double-digits last year with an 10.5-sack campaign, and the talented Robert Mathis, the line is highly capable of pressuring the QB. Cornerback Kelvin Hayden and safety Bob Sanders lead a strong secondary that was racked by injuries in 2008.
Take a look at the Colts' schedule: Jacksonville (home), Miami (road), Arizona (road), Seattle (home), Tennessee (road), bye, St. Louis (road), San Francisco (home), Houston (home), New England (home), Baltimore (road), Houston (road), Tennessee (home), Denver (home), Jacksonville (road), and in Week 16 the Jets (home). There are only a few scares on the road and plenty of low-powered offenses to thrive against. I especially like them in the second half of the season (throwing out Week 17, six of their final nine games are at home), so if you can afford using two roster spots on the position, a Redskins/Colts combination should do very well.
Buffalo Bills
To me, the Bills have the best shot of leaping from fantasy obscurity to an every-week starting defense. The secondary should improve significantly, with Leodis McKelvin taking the starting spot vacated by Jabari Greer, along with the return of Bryan Scott and the drafting of Jairus Byrd. The Bills spent their first-round pick on an excellent pass-rusher, Aaron Maybin out of Penn State, who will join Aaron Schobel at defensive end. Schobel missed most of last season with a Lisfranc injury, but when healthy is an elite pass-rusher.
The meat of the Bills' schedule falls in the middle. They only have one or two tough contests between Week 4 and Week 14. With the Patriots coming to town in Week 15 and a trip to Atlanta on tap for Week 16, I wouldn't count on the Bills in your fantasy playoffs. However, they have a great shot of getting you to those playoffs, and they come at the cost of a last-round pick.
