Fantasy Football Rankings: Five Must-Start Defenses For Week 13

Fantasy football defenses can make or break your week, and while it’s important to ensure you don’t have a D/ST unit that gives you negative points, it doesn’t hurt having a breakout performance from an unexpected source.

That said, here’s which defenses we think you must start in your Week 13 fantasy lineups.

Seattle Seahawks (vs. Carolina Panthers)
The Seahawks could see the return of defensive end Michael Bennett and safety Earl Thomas, which is bad news for Cam Newton and the Panthers’ offense, who have to travel across the country and play in front of the 12s at CenturyLink field.

Philadelphia Eagles (at Cincinnati Bengals)
The Eagles have been a surprise on defense this season, and they’ll get a struggling Bengals squad without A.J. Green or Giovani Bernard and a banged-up Jeremy Hill.

New England Patriots (vs. Los Angeles Rams)
The Rams have the worst offense in football, a rookie quarterback under center and are traveling across the country to face the Patriots in Gillette Stadium. This is a pretty safe play.

Denver Broncos (vs. Jacksonville Jaguars)
Even at home, we can’t see Blake Bortles and Jacksonville’s bottom-seven offense performing well against Von Miller and the Broncos’ defense.

Washington Redskins (at Arizona Cardinals)
We’ve been bullish on Washington’s D all season, which is why we think that, even traveling across the country, the Redskins have what it takes to put forth a solid fantasy performance against a Cardinals offense that has allowed four of its last five opponents to score in double figures.

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