Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles' defense entered 2025 as the reigning best unit in football, but the offseason loss of interior pass rusher Milton Williams and a shakier start have made this year's edition a less dominant, more matchup-dependent fantasy option than the Super Bowl-winning 2024 group.
Role
This is a full-unit DST play, not an individual player: it scores off the whole defense/special teams' points allowed, sacks, takeaways and (if your format counts them) return touchdowns. Vic Fangio's scheme still runs the show, with rookie first-rounder Jihad Campbell added at linebacker to help offset the loss of Williams up front; the back seven, anchored by a talented secondary, remains the strength of the unit.
This is essentially the same defensive infrastructure that shut down Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, with continuity at coordinator and a young secondary that analysts expected to keep improving and generate more turnovers in 2025.
Losing Milton Williams' interior pass-rush pressure is a real subtraction, and if the front four can't consistently collapse the pocket the way it did in the title run, sacks and disruption-based fantasy points could come in below last year's elite pace.
Where analysts split
Preseason analysts were split on whether the defense's 2024 form was sustainable given personnel losses up front, or whether Fangio's scheme and secondary talent would be enough to keep this unit performing as a top-five fantasy defense regardless of the pass-rush changes.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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