Fantasy Football Week 2: Defense rankings
Not only did the Cleveland Browns end up the victors during new Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield's "revenge game" in Week 1, but they made him look bad in the process. Mayfield salvaged his fantasy day thanks to a rushing touchdown, but he looked a lot worse on the field than the final stat line revealed, and that's because of the Browns' ferocious defense.
Myles Garrett and company forced Mayfield to commit a whopping five turnovers (four fumbles, one interception) while sacking him four times.
Talk about no love lost.
While the Panthers were able to fight back through the turnovers to come within two points, the Browns' D/ST should be able to not only cause a few more turnovers but also prevent points in Week 2, when they take on a Jets team that could only muster nine points against the Ravens in Week 1.
[Week 2 Fantasy Rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | FLEX | DST | Kickers]
Young Jets quarterback Zach Wilson will likely miss the game, so it remains to be seen if the Jets roll out Joe Flacco again (who was sacked three times, threw a pick and needed 59 attempts to get to 307 yards) or if they turn to Mike White (who had some heroic moments last season but, let's be honest, no one is up terrified about game-planning for Mike White).
It's why the Browns' defense leads our D/ST rankings for the action ahead, with the 49ers and Bills coming in behind them. While the 49ers and Bills might have more talent in their respective stop units on paper, sometimes you just gotta play the matchup in fantasy, and few matchups are as juicy as facing the Jets right now. The Browns' defense should do well in Week 2.
Here are the defenses below — check out where Cleveland and the rest of the D/STs landed in our analysts' rankings for Week 2:
2022 Fantasy Football Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ - Expert Consensus Rankings
