Fantasy Football Insider: Which Defenses could be the Top Fantasy Defenses of 2011?

With the NFL lockout still looming large over everything there hasn’t been much aside from the draft to give teams a shot at trying to improve themselves for next season. Along with that, it will be difficult for teams to restock and reload making it much more difficult to predict which teams might be better next season.

NFL defenses, like kickers, are kind of a forgotten part of a good fantasy football team. A good defense can score just as much or more than a quarterback or running back can at times and pretty soon defenses will become one of the most sought after positions in fantasy drafts. Some people have even drafted defenses as high as number one in a few fantasy drafts.

But are defenses worthy of such a high pick? Probably not but they do have some value and could deserve some middle round consideration.

So what teams are going have the best defenses next season? Is it even possible to tell with the lockout going on?

Let’s make an attempt to try to figure out which defenses could be at the top of the fantasy football rankings for 2011.

In no particular order, here are five NFL defenses that you should look at drafting in your fantasy draft later on this summer.

Pittsburgh Steelers-The Steelers always seem to have very good defenses and you can expect them to have another good one next year as well. With the same group of guys returning, including such stars as safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison this unit will be one the most sought after in fantasy football this year.

Chicago Bears-The Bears will be bringing back many of the same guys from last season and have even made an upgrade on their defensive line (by drafting Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea) so things are looking up for the Bears. They will definitely be one of the top defenses selected late this summer.

San Diego Chargers-The Chargers may not have had the best record in the NFL last year and they even failed to make the playoffs but what a lot of people don’t know is that they had the best defense statistically last season. The Chargers shouldn’t take a step back in that category this season as there shouldn’t be too many changes (in fact they made some upgrades during the draft to help make some improvements) and their defense will be one of the hottest defenses in fantasy football drafts this summer.

Green Bay Packers-The Packers had one of the best defenses in the NFL last season and with some of their top players coming back from injury this year their defense should be even better in 2011. This unit is filled with talent at each position and has the capability of putting up a lot of points in every game.

There will be a lot fantasy owners trying to pick up Green Bay’s defense early on in fantasy drafts.

New York Jets-The Jets have gone out and changed some things on defense for the 2011 season and it promises to be another good year for the Jets. Head coach Rex Ryan is going to make sure that his defense remains one of the top defenses in the NFL so if you need a solid defense for your fantasy football team you might want to take a look at the Jets “D”.