Possibly the most fascinating thing to me in observing Fantasy Football Draft preparation is the dichotomy of people laboring over a decision between one RB versus another RB, or WR versus WR, and the hours of study, philosophy, theory and prep they put into the "glamour" positions. Then, when asked about selecting a Team Defense; it's crickets chirping.

There is often little or no preparation concerning Team Defense and it's, "oh, who can figure out Defenses", or even worse they make the 1980's or 1990's rewind picks of former great past Defenses like the Bears (Buddy Ryan is not walking through that door...), or the Giants (Parcells and Belichick have been gone awhile), or the Ravens (Rex Ryan is not walking through that door...); just to name a few. The point being -- no preparation and/or no study on any position/situation is an amazing miss playing Fantasy Football. If you are just going to "shoot from the hip" and hop around Defense-to-Defense all season, you are always likely to be one week too late taking the "hot" Defense. If you don't subscribe to studying for your Defense and/or don't want to use an early pick for one, or even if you do study the Defenses --  have you considered the San Diego Chargers Defense?

I know Antonio Cromartie is gone, and Shawne Merriman is no longer an elite player. Which is pretty much like it was in 2009 (Cromartie gone mentally). The Chargers GM A.J. Smith has been an elite evaluator of talent in the NFL for awhile now, I trust that he would not leave the "cupboard bare". But, this isn't about the Chargers personnel (for the most part). It is about their 2010 schedule, actually it is about their first 6 weeks of schedule in 2010.

Personnel and scheme matter, but a talented opposition can neutralize the best Defenses; as well a weak opponent can enhance a mediocre Defense. Take the 2009 San Diego Chargers, not particularly great at anything on Defense; not awful either. Their key NFL Team Defense rankings from 2009:

• 16th overall in total yards allowed
• 11th most passing yards allowed
• 20th most rushing yards allowed
• 11th least amount of Points per Game given up
• 13th most sacks
• 20th most interceptions
• 16th most recovered fumbles

To go along with the mediocre theme, the 2009 San Diego Team Defense scored 7.2 FF PPG (traditional scoring, no KR points, Games 1-15 only). That was 15th best in the NFL/Fantasy Football. The Chargers did, however, excel at something on Defense in 2009.

The Chargers posted 9.4 FF PPG (same scoring parameters mentioned prior) when facing the lowest level QB's (KC 2x, OAK 2x and Cleveland) in 2009. Any team that averaged 9.4 FF PPG for an entire season for Team Defense would be Top-5 FF scoring production. As opposed to the same Chargers Team Defense scoring only 5.0 FF PPG against the Top-Tier QB's they faced in 2009 (Roethlisberger, Eli, McNabb, Romo). A +4.4 swing per game facing the bottom level QB's versus the Top-Tier QB's.

Increased scoring against lower level QB's is not a special phenomena, it's 90+% true of all NFL Team Defenses for Fantasy Football. The key of this entire article being, the Chargers come out the gates avoiding any Top-QB's but catching a lot of lower level ones for 6 straight weeks..

WEEK 1 = @ KC, Matt Cassel was barely over 50% completions vs. SD last season with 2 TD's and 4 INT's. The Chargers Team Defense racked up 14.5 FF PPG in 2 meetings against Cassel in 2009.

WEEK 2 = vs. Jacksonville, the Jags and David Garrard have not been particularly exciting against anyone offensively. All NFL Team Defenses averaged 8.1 FF PPG versus Jacksonville (overall NFL/FF Team D avg PPG was 6.8).

WEEK 3 = @ Seattle, the Seahawks are not an offensive juggernaut. NFL Team Defenses scored 7.9 FF PPG against them in 2009.

WEEK 4 = vs. Arizona, Matt Leinart or Derek Anderson....need I say more?

WEEK 5 = @ OAK, will be a little trickier now with Jason Campbell but Oakland likely to be good (upgraded from awful) on Offense, can't classify them as a power-house at this point.

WEEK 6 = @ STL, you have to love a Team Defense when it faces a rookie (assuming Sam Bradford by now). Team Defenses against Josh Freeman and Matt Stafford pulled 9.9 FF PPG, and 8.0 FF PPG against Mark Sanchez in 2009. Facing rookie QB's offered a higher proportion of times the Team D grabbed 15+ FF points scored in a game.

WEEK 7 = vs. NE, head for the exits by now. Matt Schaub and Peyton Manning are looming in the next few weeks too.

6 weeks of likely above average, Top-5 Team Defense level scoring perhaps. Possibly leaving you with trade value as well? All this, and not to mention that if Kick Returns is a scoring consideration in your league you then have a top return man in Darren Sproles that might pop a return TD in there as well.

San Diego is a nice option the first 6 weeks, or even a backstop/occasional substitute for top rated Fantasy Defenses. A few possible uses of the San Diego D as your "back up" Defense (first 6 weeks):

• Jets D, Week 2 vs. NE
• 49ers D, Week 2 vs. NO and Week 5 @ PHI
• Bengals D, Week 1 @ NE, and Week 6 BYE
• Steelers D Week 5 BYE
• Saints D, Week 1 vs. MIN

Squeezing/creating an extra 3-4-5+ points per game is what we should do at every turn as Fantasy Football GM's. We will have total anxiety over not getting (example) Drew Brees, or anxiety over trying to get any "Big 3" QB...yet (example) Donovan McNabb scored only 2 FF PPG less than Brees in 2009 (trad. scoring, Games 1-15).

Two points separated Brees and McNabb (also 2 FF PPG points separated Brees from Big Ben, Rivers, Brady, Favre, Schaub, Romo), yet Brees will go Round 1 this year and McNabb will go 6th Round? 8th Round? 10th Round? All the others mentioned will all go later than Brees. People would lose sleep without a Top-3 QB and yet in 2009 it was only a 2-4 FF PPG difference versus the next tier of QB's. A waste of a high draft pick in my estimation. Team Defenses and their schedule matchups can give you those 2-4 FF points back and then some, but for most people...Team Defense = yawn.

The San Diego Chargers Defense looks like it could provide an excellent opportunity to cherry pick some Fantasy points, or be a mainstay starting Defense.

....for just 6 Weeks.

 

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