Kansas City finished last year as the top-ranked fantasy defense, and they were pretty good in the most important NFL area as well: points allowed (6th). But they were pretty soft (24th) in terms of yards allowed, and it's also a defense that, like the team itself, was much better in the first half of the season.
The table below shows Kansas City's per-game defensive numbers in the first eight games compared to the last eight games. Kansas City also scored 7 of its 11 D/ST touchdowns in the first nine games, compared to 4 in the last seven. There's no comparison, and little reason to think this defense will be particularly good in NFL terms, or an elite group for the second straight season in fantasy terms.
Capable return teams and a couple of good pass rushers; that's why we still see this maybe sneaking up into the top 10 fantasy defenses. Fantasy coaches who rely only on where it finished in most fantasy leagues last season will select this defense too early.
| KANSAS CITY DEFENSE, 1ST 8 GAMES / LAST 8 GAMES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Statistic | Games 1-8 | Games 9-16 |
| Pts allow | 12.3 | 25.9 |
| TD pass allow | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| TD run allow | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| TD (total) | 1.3 | 3.0 |
| Yds pass allow | 205.8 | 289.5 |
| Yds run allow | 103.8 | 137.1 |
| Yds (total) | 309.5 | 426.6 |
| Sacks | 4.5 | 1.4 |
--Andy Richardson