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

Michael Fabiano | Jul 2, 2025

The Denver Broncos defense is the top unit in Michael Fabiano's new fantasy football defensive rankings for 2025. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

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