Full disclosure, I almost didn’t put the Las Vegas Raiders on last week's list. I wrote them down in my top 5, but didn’t write a blurb. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I needed to commit to the Raiders as a play. I’m glad I did. The Raiders proved what we say every week in this article: play the D/ST against the Tennessee Titans. It doesn’t matter if it’s a divisional opponent, a dumpster fire like Vegas, or a high school team in Nashville on a field trip. Just start them.
Teams against Tennessee are averaging nearly four sacks per game. Four of six units have scored double-digits. Cam Ward, behind this dreadful offensive line, has taken 25 sacks through six games. That’s tied for the most in the NFL with the Jets. The hidden piece to playing against the Titans is that they simply don’t score. Most fantasy leagues have a scoring system that includes points against. The Titans have scored just 83 points. Only 26 in the past three games. It’s not hard to see why head coach Brian Callahan was let go on Monday.
So we know the playbook. Find teams against Tennessee (Hi, New England), but not everyone will be able to add the Patriots. Luckily, we’ve been hot identifying low-owned D/STs like last week when we nailed three of the top four scoring units. Let’s dig in and find Week 7’s best plays.
TEAMS ON BYE IN WEEK 7: BAL and BUF
Based on D/STs owned in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues
Drake’s Top 5 D/ST Targets for Week 7
- New England Patriots (NE 50%) @ TEN
- Seattle Seahawks (SEA, 49%) vs HOU
- Kansas City Chiefs (KC, 50%) vs LV
- Carolina Panthers (CAR, 1%) @ NYJ
- Cleveland Browns (CLE, 38%) vs MIA
Higher-owned Options
Pittsburgh Steelers (PIT, 94%) vs CIN — They aren’t available in your league, so it’s not really a big deal. But I’m always interested in D/STs against immobile 40-year-old QBs. While Joe Flacco and friends allowed only 2 fantasy points to the Packers last week, I fully expect the Steelers to rough up their divisional opponent.
Top Targets
New England Patriots (NE, 50%) vs TEN — Did you read the beginning of this article? The Titans' offense is an abomination. Tennessee totaled 160 yards last week while turning the ball over three times and taking six sacks. It’s hard not to go off against the Titans. Even the Raiders — THE RAIDERS — went off for 16 D/ST points. If they can do it, imagine what a defense with actual talent like New England could do? The Pats haven’t gotten after the quarterback with much success since a five-sack outing in Week 2. Bet your mortgage that Vrabel has his boys all over Cam Ward on Sunday.
Seattle Seahawks (SEA, 49%) vs HOU — Talk about a defense that can get after the quarterback; Seattle sacked Trevor Lawrence seven times last week. Now, they’ll face the swinging gate that is the Texans' offensive line, which has given up at least two sacks in every game. Houston, to their credit, hasn’t turned the ball over since Week 3. I like Seattle to get its hands on the ball thanks to its ability to pressure the quarterback. Seattle is third in the league with 55 QB pressures and second in sacks (20). They do that with the lowest blitz percentage (11%) of all defenses. That means more players dropping into coverage. I’m smelling a pick-six for Seattle’s no-name secondary (partially because most of them are hurt).
Going Deeper
Kansas City Chiefs (KC, 50%) vs LV — KC will welcome the Raiders to GEHA Field on Sunday. The Raiders allow the third most points to D/STs. Vegas also employs Geno Smith. I’m all about the Chiefs for these reasons. The last four defenses to play the Raiders (excluding the Titans, who aren’t a real team) all scored double-digit fantasy points. If Vegas doesn’t pull Geno Smith at some point during this game, I’ll be shocked. Smith has been brutal this year. Pick a stat, he’s terrible at it. Six picks over the last three weeks. He has six sacks over his last two games. It’s a joke. KC blitzes at a top-5 rate in the league. Geno has struggled with pressure thus far. There is no chance the Chiefs don’t put up at least a 10-spot this week.
Carolina Panthers (CAR, 1%) vs NYJ — You won’t see many D/ST articles pumping up the Panthers, but folks, we’re talking about the Justin Fields-led New York Jets offense. An offense that is likely without Garrett Wilson for Week 7. This is a ballsy play. Maybe more for DFS, but either way, I can’t write an article and not tell my readers to shy away from a team going against an offense that last week had net negative passing yards. Justin Fields is awful. If the Jets are going to win, it has to be on the ground. The Panthers allow 4.1 yards per carry, which is top-15 in the league.
Cleveland Browns (Cle, 38%) vs MIA — The wheels are coming off in Miami. While I fully expect Mike McDaniel to lose his job at some point soon, he’s still orchestrating a good offense. Miami has scored at least 20 points every week since Week 1. The Browns will be a popular play, but I didn’t include them in my top-5. For as good an NFL defense as the Browns are, they don’t really do much for fantasy. Last week, the Browns goose egged us! It’s a team that struggles to create turnovers (only four so far), so they aren’t an exciting click. I’m looking elsewhere for Week 7.
Place Kickers
Higher-owned Options
Chris Boswell (Pit, 53%) — Boswell is just over our rostered threshold, but worth listing here. In three of his four games this season, he converted multiple field goal attempts. Eight of his nine field goals in 2025 have been from the bonus range. What is eye-popping about this is that Boswell has three field goals from 50 or more yards. His opponent this week, Cincinnati, has allowed two field goals in three of its last five games.
Top Targets
Eddy Pineiro (SF, 23%) — Since taking over the kicking duties in Week 2, Pineiro has been on fire. He has multiple field goal conversions in all five of his games and three or more field goals in three of his last four outings. Over half of his field goals made are from the bonus range, and four of those are from 50 or more yards.
Going Deeper
Blake Grupe (NO, 1%) — We brought him to your attention last week, and hopefully you jumped on board the Grupe express. He has four field goal conversions in back-to-back outings. Three of those eight field goals are from the bonus range. Grupe has multiple field goals in five of his six games this year. Chicago is a tough opponent, and they have not allowed many field goals in their first four games (six total). So, there is some risk in grabbing Grupe.
Tom Simons contributed the PK writeups.
