The Fab Five

By: Josh Frey-Sam

Part of the winning formula isn’t a secret.

There are certain teams that we need to have a piece of, not just because of their prolific weapons on offence, but because of their lacklustre defence.

Look at last season, for example, and the four worst defences by points allowed were gold mines for fantasy production.

The Dallas Cowboys: Dak Prescott (QB6), George Pickens (WR5), CeeDee Lamb (WR15 in PPG), Javonte Williams (RB11).

The Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow (QB3 overall after returning from injury in Week 13), Ja’Marr Chase (WR4), Tee Higgins (WR12).

The New York Jets: Garrett Wilson was the WR6 before injury.

The Arizona Cardinals: Trey McBride (TE1) and Michael Wilson (WR13).

Most of these players were always expected to be important contributors to any fantasy team, but what made them especially pleasant to own was that their defence consistently put them in track meets, where they needed to score out of necessity.

As fantasy owners, one of the most basic strategies we can have is targeting favourable situations just like that.

This is a general list of which teams you should look to have a piece of, but there are a ton of variables that make other teams (and their players) appealing.

For example, the Los Angeles Chargers defence will probably be a solid unit, and it’s projected to play the fourth-easiest schedule of opposing offences. If you believe that the Chargers will, in fact, be leading a lot and in run-heavy game scripts, that probably boosts Omarion Hampton’s stock.

We can get into the nitty-gritty of things later on, though.

For now, here are five teams (defences) that you’ll want to target this season.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals went shopping in free agency to upgrade their porous defensive line from a year ago, bringing in Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen, and making their biggest splash by trading for Dexter Lawrence. So while this unit should be at least slightly improved from 2025, the Bengals still project as a team that will need to put up big numbers to win games.

Las Vegas’ lookahead lines have Cincy in seven games where the projected total is at least 48 points, including each of the team’s first four games.

Chase is deservedly the first WR off the board in drafts, and Higgins and Chase Brown remain in the top 10 conversation at their respective positions, while it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Joe Burrow leading the league in passing touchdowns this season.

Dallas Cowboys

Credit to Jerry Jones & Co., the Cowboys made a collective effort to improve their defence this off-season, notably trading for Rashan Gary, signing Cobie Durant and drafting Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence.

Even with those additions, the Cowboys figure to be in some high-scoring bouts this season. Dallas’ defence is projected to have the most difficult schedule in fantasy this season.

The Cowboys actually trump the Bengals in projected totals above 48 points, owning eight on the lookahead lines.

You can confidently run it back with Prescott, Williams, Pickens and Lamb this season.

Chicago Bears

The Bears’ defensive shortcomings remained quiet for the first half of last season because they were taking the ball away at an unsustainable rate. Once those turnovers subsided even a little bit, this unit’s true colours came to light.

The Bears finished bottom-10 in points allowed and were tied for the third-most yards per play allowed last season.

Chicago was selective about where to address its defence. Most notably, it signed Coby Bryant and drafted Dillon Thieneman to try and stop the bleeding on the backend. There is also hope that this unit will be even more comfortable in Year 2 of Dennis Allen’s scheme, but there’ no doubt that they have their work cut out for them.

The Bears defence is projected to face the fourth-most difficult schedule this season, and the team as a whole is projected to play in seven games with a points total of at least 48.

Pair all that with their uber-talented crop of playmakers and a wizard play-caller in Ben Johnson, and we have something special cooking in the Windy City.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals defence wasn’t good last season, but it wasn’t as bad as you probably thought for much of the campaign.

Credit for that can go to former HC Jonathan Gannon for getting his unit to punch above its weight until things went off the rails late in the season.

But now Gannon is gone, and it’s up to fourth-year DC Nick Rallis to restart with this group.

There are yellow flags on the Cardinals offence, such as how many games Jacoby Brissett will play this season and, as a result, how long the team’s offensive weapons will have value.

But I’m buying into this team is simply because I don’t see a world in which the Cards defence doesn’t struggle this season. The defence is projected to face the eighth hardest schedule, and it could turn out to be worse than that.

I promise I’m not being hyperbolic when I say I’m not sure if Arizona wins a game before December.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if Josh Sweat was dealt by the trade deadline, which would only make this unit worse.

We can worry about who is throwing the ball later, but for now, the Cards will be slinging it, and McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jeremiyah Love are all sound investments.

San Francisco 49ers

I think there is legitimate reason to be concerned for this defence.

The biggest change is the play-caller, as Robert Saleh left for a head gig in Tennessee and Raheem Morris replaced him after a failed tenure as HC in Atlanta.

Morris’ defence over two seasons in Atlanta got slightly better last season, but was really never more than a middling unit on its best days.

This is a clear downgrade from Saleh, though most coaches would be a downgrade from him.

Next is that this unit is laden with question marks. Can Nick Bosa fully bounce back from his ACL? Can Mykel Williams stay healthy and take the next step, living up to his 11th overall draft billing? Does Dre Greenlaw still have juice in the tank? Can this secondary hold up its end of the bargain?

Perhaps the answer to all these questions is yes, but I’m a bit more pessimistic because it’s not Saleh who is motivating this unit to punch above its weight.

San Fran’s defence will have a middling schedule in difficulty, but the Niners are among the highest projected game totals this season, scheduled for seven contests with at least a 48-point total.

Brock Purdy, in particular, projects as a strong value. Of course, CMC is always a potential home run, and Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall and De’Zauhn Stribling all have strong upside.

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh