Fantasy Defense vs. Position

How this ranking works

What it measures. For each fantasy position (QB, RB, WR, TE), every NFL defense is ranked by how many PPR fantasy points they allowed to that position per game in 2025. Rank 1 = most permissive — the easiest defense to stream or start players against. Rank 32 = most stingy. The fppg number is the direct 2025 seasonal average, so you can see exactly how permissive each unit was.

The complement to Strength of Schedule. SOS tells you which team's players face easy defensive schedules over the season. Defense vs. Position flips the lens: it tells you which specific defense a player faces and how much that defense has historically allowed. Use SOS for draft planning; use this for weekly streaming and start/sit calls.

Why per-position. A defense that suffocates wide receivers can still be porous against tight ends or running backs. A single "easy defense" number hides this split. Each position is rated independently, so the number is meaningful for the specific player you're evaluating.

Data provenance. Rankings are derived from week-by-week opponent-vs-position fantasy points allowed (nflverse CC-BY 4.0 data, the same source that powers the Start Score's matchup component), aggregated to a 2025 season average with weekly values rounded to one decimal before aggregation. This is a mean of rounded weekly averages, precise to roughly a tenth of a point. Ranks are stable across all 32 defenses.

Limitation — prior-season basis. These rankings reflect 2025 defensive performance. Coordinators, rosters, and schemes change over an offseason, so last year's soft defense may not be soft in 2026. Treat these as directional — they're the best citable primary-source signal available before current-season data accumulates. The rankings update in-season as 2026 box scores flow through the ETL.