2025 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings: Broncos Rule, Eagles and Steelers In The Top 3

Trying to predict the value of defenses in the world of fantasy football can often times be an exercise in futility. With coordinators and players often changing place and the inevitable injuries that will occur, defenses can sometimes fail to meet preseason expectations.
Case in point … the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers defenses were ranked highly in fantasy drafts last season. The same went for the Cleveland Browns. None of those three defenses went on to finish higher than 14th in fantasy points, and neither the 49ers nor the Browns finished in the top 25 in standard scoring for the position. That’s a massive decline.
On the flip side, the Denver Broncos went from ranking 20th in 2023 to first last season. The Super Bowl champion Eagles went from 27th to eighth, and the Los Angeles Rams went from a bottom feeder (29th) to a borderline DST1 (13th) in the matter of just one season.
It’s a crap shoot folks, so having knowledge of how free agency, trades and the NFL Draft affected each defense is vital going into drafts. In many cases, so is a little bit of luck!
So without further ado, here’s my updated 2025 fantasy defense/special teams rank lists.
2025 Fantasy Football Defense Rankings
All Positions: Top 200 | QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | Ks
Rk | Player | Bye |
|---|---|---|
1 | Broncos | 12 |
2 | Eagles | 9 |
3 | Steelers | 5 |
4 | Texans | 6 |
5 | Lions | 8 |
6 | Vikings | 6 |
7 | Bills | 7 |
8 | Ravens | 7 |
9 | Chiefs | 10 |
10 | Packers | 5 |
11 | Chargers | 12 |
12 | Seahawks | 8 |
13 | Rams | 8 |
14 | Cardinals | 8 |
15 | Bears | 5 |
16 | Buccaneers | 9 |
17 | Cowboys | 10 |
18 | Colts | 11 |
19 | 49ers | 14 |
20 | Giants | 14 |
21 | Patriots | 14 |
22 | Commanders | 12 |
23 | Browns | 9 |
24 | Falcons | 5 |
25 | Bengals | 10 |
26 | Dolphins | 12 |
27 | Jets | 9 |
28 | Saints | 11 |
29 | Jaguars | 8 |
30 | Raiders | 8 |
31 | Titans | 10 |
32 | Panthers | 14 |

Michael Fabiano is a fantasy football analyst for Sports Illustrated. His weekly rankings and Start 'Em, Sit 'Em articles are must-reads for fantasy players. He is also the co-host of the Fantasy Dirt Podcast on SI. Before joining SI in August 2020, he worked for CBS Sports, NFL Network and SiriusXM. He also contributes to Westwood One Radio. Fabiano was the first fantasy analyst to appear on one of the four major TV networks and is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
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