NFL Fantasy Football: Top Sleeper Defenses
What exactly makes a sleeper defense?
Besides the obvious bone-crunching, spine-jarring hits that are routinely delivered by the team throughout the season, a sleeper must not be thought of too highly.
The public perception of the squad must be below the team's own perception of itself.
So for this slideshow, the defense must be in the lower tier of the ESPN 2010 Fantasy Football Rankings.
Let's take a look at five defenses that will perform better than expected in the upcoming NFL season.
Indianapolis Colts
1 of 5
Now, you may ask how a team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl last season has a sleeper defense. But somehow, the ESPN rankings have the Colts at a drastically underrated No. 21 spot on their list.
Defensive Stars
The Colts have one of the best safeties in the league in Bob Sanders, but he needs to finally remain healthy. Joining him in the secondary is Antoine Bethea, who created six turnovers and made 95 tackles last season.
Another excellent piece of the secondary is second-year cornerback Jacob Lacey. In his rookie season Lacey recorded 85 tackles and three interceptions.
Indianapolis also boasts the services of premier defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis while utilizing standout linebackers Clint Sessions and Gary Brackett.
New Additions
The Colts used all three of their top picks on the defensive side of the ball last season.
They added the versatile defensive end/linebacker Jerry Hughes, linebacker Pat Angerer, and cornerback Kevin Thomas
Tennessee Titans
2 of 5
ESPN ranked the Tennessee Titans just slightly behind the Colts in the No. 22 spot. But just like their AFC South counterparts, they should be higher up in the rankings.
Defensive Stars
Stephen Tulloch is one of the most underrated players in the NFL and he becomes the defensive leader of the team after replacing standout middle linebacker Keith Bulluck.
The secondary has a great pair of safeties in Chris Hope and Michael Griffin. Together they form one of the more potent safety duos in the league.
Cortland Finnegan, a Pro Bowl cornerback, joins the other two Pro Bowl members of the secondary in creating a defense that will be very difficult to pass the ball against.
New Additions
The one key addition to the squad is outside linebacker Will Witherspoon.
He will try to help the Titans regain their 2008 form, when they were second in the league in scoring defense.
Detroit Lions
3 of 5
The Detroit Lions come in to the season with a lowly ranking of No. 25 for their defense, at least according to ESPN. In reality, their team will perform much better
Key Players
Third year defensive end Cliff Avril may end up being a name to know. He's never played quite as well as he has been expected to, and this may finally be the year that he does.
Two linebackers of note for the linebackers are Deandre Levy and Julian Peterson.
However, the real reason for the Lions' sleeper status is the myriad of additions they've made to the unit.
New Additions
The Lions made a killing in free agency, signing the ex-Titan Kyle Vanden Bosch along with the ex-Falcon Chris Houston and the former-Lion Dre Bly.
They also landed one of the best defensive tackle prospects of all time in Ndamukong Suh.
Expect these new players to make their names known in Detroit rather quickly.
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Seattle Seahawks
4 of 5
The Seattle Seahawks were ranked a lowly 28th by ESPN in the defensive rankings. But if they can improve their awful pass defense from last year, they'll shoot up the rankings.
Defensive Stars
The secondary has enough good players that one would think they'd start to perform better. The trio of Jordan Babineaux, Deon Grant, and Marcus Trufant performed well statistically last season, combining for 231 tackles and seven interceptions. But the Seahawks would love to see more interceptions and fewer tackles because of more incompletions forced this year.
The linebackers are very solid. The unit is led by second year player Aaron Curry, who has the potential to become one of the best defensive players in the NFL. They also have third year player David Hawthorne, who is coming off a season in which he recorded 103 tackles.
New Additions
The biggest addition is standout safety Earl Thomas. The Texas product should have an immediate impact on the pass defense and make this unit much more dangerous.
Oakland Raiders
5 of 5
The Oakland Raiders hold the 30th rung on ESPN's ladder of defenses but they hope to perform at a much higher level. There aren't very many new additions, but there are plenty of parts already in place for Al Davis' team.
Defensive Stars
The line is partly made up by the massive bodies of defensive ends Richard Seymour and Greg Ellis. The two veterans combined for 11 sacks last year and hope to improve upon that total.
They will be helped by two improving linebackers, Thomas Howard and Trevor Scott, who combined last season for 112 tackles and nine sacks.
In the secondary is the unbelievably good cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. With a certain Jet holding out, Asomugha is undoubtedly the best at his position in the entire NFL.
New Additions
While the Raiders did lose the services of middle linebacker Kirk Morrison, they gained two great defensive players in the draft.
The first is Lamarr Houston, a defensive tackle who hopes to help improve the 29th ranked running defense from last year.
The second is NFL-ready linebacker Rolando McClain. The Alabama product should have an immediate impact while replacing Morrison.
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