The 2024 Fantasy Football season is upon us. Another season of exciting and action-packed football is nearing.
The fantasy managers are on their toes with the preparation for the fantasy football draft, which usually takes place in the last week of August or the first week of September.
The fantasy managers are closely watching players in the training camp and the preseason games as they prepare plans and strategies for their fantasy team.
All of this is completely normal for the fans who follow the NFL and play fantasy football regularly. But in any case you’re a newbie in this world of fantasy football, this might be overwhelming at times. And there are chances that you’ve come across terms like IDP, D/ST thrown around in fantasy circles.
These are important concepts to understand while playing fantasy football. This page will give you a detailed explanation on the concept of D/ST and its role in fantasy football.
What is D/ST?
As we said earlier, if you’re just starting out in the world of fantasy football, understanding the terms and abbreviations are really crucial. And D/ST is one term which leaves a lot of fans confused.
In fantasy football, D/ST stands for Defense and Special Teams. What this essentially means is that as a fantasy manager, you’re drafting an entire team’s defense and special teams, who will essentially occupy a starting spot on your squad.
Generally, a player’s individual performances fetch points. However with D/ST, the entire defense and special team earns you points in a game.
Also Read: What is Flex in Fantasy Football?
When to draft D/ST in fantasy football?
Fantasy football managers usually wait till the last rounds during the draft to pick defense and special teams. This usually happens because of the value the other positions provide in fantasy football.
There are more chances of you drafting a Justin Jefferson or Christian McCaffery on a higher position over defense and special teams as they account for more consistent points in fantasy football.
Fantasy football managers tend to draft the defense and special teams late to ensure that all the starters are first picked and filled.
Waiver wire plays another crucial role drafting D/ST late in drafts. This gives an opportunity for fantasy managers to pick defense based on individual matchups during the season from the waiver wire as a part of the strategy. This is also called streaming a defense.
Fantasy managers pick defenses based on the matchups and the type of offense they go up against on a weekly basis. For example, you may take the Eagles defense one week when facing the Jets. You may then drop them and pick the Cowboys defense next week if the opponent they’re facing has a poor offense.
With the 2024 fantasy football season on the horizon, be sure to check out our free Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer to lock down your squad for the year.
How does scoring work in D/ST?
As we mentioned earlier, the performance of the D/ST is taken into consideration while calculating points.
Every blocked kick is worth two points. Sacks, safety, and interceptions are worth two points each as well. Fumble recovery and forced fumble account for one point each.
10 points are given if the defense allows zero points. Eight points are allowed if the defense allows one to six points. Seven to 13 points allowed account for six points. 14-20 points allowed are worth two points. 21-27 points allowed account for 1 point. No points are given if the defense allows over 28 points and below 34 points. Two points are reduced if the defense allows 35-41 points and four points are reduced for 42 or more points allowed.
FAQs
A. The reason why D/ST are drafted as team offensive players account points for individual performances while defensive units together perform to stop the opponent from scoring.
A. Defense and Special teams are usually drafted in the later rounds by the fantasy managers once the other roster spots are filled.
A. The NFL teams with strong defensive units in 2023 include the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills to name a few. Note that these teams are ranked in no particular order.
A. The positions that make up the defense in fantasy football are the defensive tackles, defensive ends, outside linebackers, linebackers, middle linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties.
A. Special teams include punter, kickers, gunner, punt returner, kick returner, holder and long snapper.
