Hello and welcome to the Week 9 waiver alert!
Another weekend of NFL action is in the books and congratulations, you’ve survived the bye… or so we hope. It really wasn’t a great week for the defense on the fantasy front, with only a few units putting up more than 10 points while six units ended in the negative.
We’ll go over some D/ST teams you should consider removing from the waiver pool before Week 9, and as always, we’ll classify a waiver adder as someone who is enrolled in at most 50% of leagues.
Week 9 breaks: Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Chargers D/ST (38.1%)
The Chargers defense has been a middling unit through the first half of the 2025 season, but they had a chance to score 11 points for fantasy managers in last Thursday’s 37-10 win over the Vikings. Here’s what facing Carson Wentz can do for you, as they finished with seven passes defended, five sacks, one interception and one forced fumble.
Once again, Los Angeles is appealing this week just for the fact that it will visit a Tennessee team that ranks at or near last in the league in every offensive category. Like the Vikings team they just faced, the Titans have an over 10% sack rate and that could mean another big day for defensive tackle Justin Eboigbe. Cam Ward, good luck.
Los Angeles Rams D/ST (29.2%)
Sticking with Los Angeles, the Rams are fresh off their bye and have a favorable matchup when they host the Saints this Sunday. The Rams’ D/ST has averaged 8.7 fantasy points per game and has been surprisingly underrated given his roster percentage across all leagues. They have been elite at creating chaos, as they are second in the league in sacks with 26 and also rank in the top 10 in forced fumbles and fumble recoveries.
This makes their matchup against New Orleans even more appealing, as the Buccaneers almost exclusively roasted the Saints on defense in a 23-3 rout on Sunday. Tampa Bay’s D generated 26 fantasy points with five sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two picks, one of which was lodged by Anthony Nelson for a pick six. The struggling Saints offense is now at the point where rookie Tyler Shough is starting to get reps, so the Rams have to be licking their lips after a break.
Jacksonville Jaguars D/ST (6.0%)
The Jags are also coming off their bye week and will visit the Raiders this Sunday. As a refresher, Jacksonville’s D is averaging 7.3 fantasy points per game and has emerged as one of the most effective and chaos-causing units in the league with 10 interceptions and five fumble recoveries heading into Week 9. And to their benefit, they face Geno Smith, who is coming off the break tied with Tua Tagovailoa for the most interceptions thrown with 10.
Something to keep in mind as well is that Smith only has a 41.98% success rate this season and that not staying on schedule creates more passing situations, which leads to more interceptions. The Jags have a chance to take advantage of this and set the tone for the second half of the season.