Eric Samulski releases Week 9 fantasy football DST rankings for 2026 season

Analyst Eric Samulski has published his Week 9 defensive unit (DST) rankings for the 2026 NFL season. He notes that his Week 8 predictions matched five of the top ten defenses, with his top-ten averaging 9.3 fantasy points compared with the FantasyPros consensus average of 8.6 points. The Jacksonville Jaguars, ranked first by Samulski, finished the previous week with 20 points, while the Pittsburgh Steelers, his third-ranked unit, posted 19 points.

Samulski acknowledges a few missteps, such as ranking the Buffalo Bills 24th despite their fourth-place finish after early injuries to Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley. He also points out that his top-ten selections of the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals underperformed, attributing the Bengals’ shortfall to an overvalued matchup and suggesting the Chiefs’ real-life defense may be stronger than its fantasy output.

Overall, Samulski reports that his defenses deviated an average of 7.2 spots from his rankings, the smallest gap since Week 4 and better than his season-long average of 8.2 spots. He continues to prioritize opponent implied totals as the strongest predictor, alongside seven defensive statistics: first-down allowance, points allowed, third-down conversion rate, pressure rate, passes defended, turnover rate and explosive-play allowance.

His updated Best Overall Defense (BOD) formula doubles the weight of the first three metrics and assigns a single weight to the remaining four, while also incorporating Vegas implied team totals and, when available, fantasy points allowed by opposing defenses.

In the Week 9 tier-one list, the Jacksonville Jaguars lead, followed by the Seattle Seahawks and the Houston Texans. Samulski highlights the Jaguars’ strong turnover rate, low points-allowed average and favorable matchup against a Baltimore offense weakened by injuries. The Seahawks are praised for their league-leading explosive-play allowance and pressure rate, despite a recent modest performance against the Bears. The Texans are noted for a low implied total against a struggling Los Angeles Chargers offense.

Tier-two defenses include the Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and New York Giants, each evaluated based on matchup strength and statistical rankings. Samulski continues with tier-three and tier-four units, providing brief assessments of each defense’s recent performance, injury situation and projected fantasy upside.

He concludes that while lower-ranked units may have niche value in deep formats, the top tiers offer the most reliable weekly fantasy options.