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Arizona defense

Peterson suspension won't help sorry takeaway numbers

Patrick Peterson has been suspended for six games, due not only to using PEDs but trying to hide it, apparently. Oops. It's a blow to an Arizona defense that not so long ago was one of fantasy's better groups, but has slipped dramatically in recent years.

From 2012 through 2016, Arizona had a top-10 fantasy defense all five seasons, in a scoring system giving 1 point for sacks and 2 for takeaways. It was the takeaways that were key; they were 6th or better in four of those five seasons. Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu were roaming the secondary for some of those seasons, which helped.

But in 2017 they slipped to 16th in takeaways. And last year they were 29th, and only San Francisco had fewer interceptions. That was with Peterson playing all 16 games.

DEFENSIVE TAKEAWAYS, 2018
TeamFumIntTake
Chicago92736
Cleveland141731
LA Rams121830
Houston141529
Miami72128
New England101828
Kansas City121527
Denver101727
Buffalo111627
Seattle141226
Washington111526
Indianapolis111526
New Orleans121224
Carolina91322
NY Giants51621
NY Jets71320
Minnesota81220
LA Chargers71320
Dallas11920
Atlanta41519
Cincinnati61218
Baltimore51217
Jacksonville61117
Tennessee61117
Philadelphia71017
Tampa Bay8917
Oakland31417
Arizona9716
Pittsburgh7815
Green Bay8715
Detroit7714
San Francisco527

The Cardinals did have a good pass rush last year (49 sacks). It's not a valueless defense, fantasy or otherwise. But being without Peterson for the first six games will definitely hurt the back end, and it wasn't a group that could afford to lose a key starter. Kliff Kingsbury's offense might need to be putting up plenty of points this year, because the defense might be serving them up.

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index