The New England Patriots' offense might be weary, but Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones are leading the team's defense to victory. Those might be two steals after their performances in the first two weeks of the 2013 NFL Season. Of course, it depends on your fantasy football league type, but if you depend on individual positions on defense, these two guys could be probably still be available heading into Week 3 of the season.
Most fantasy leagues have owners pick an entire team's defense, but not all work this way. With Ninkovich and Chandler, you can fill the linebacker position. You normally have guys like Patrick Willis, DeMarcus Ware or Terrell Suggs get picked up first in drafts for linebackers, as these are the game's most dominant players for this position. However, if you find yourself in need of linebackers, Jones and Ninkovich are go-to guys as the season will roll on.
Ninkovich was everywhere on Monday against the New York Jets. He was either pressuring the quarterback or tackling players all over the field. Ninkovich's stats don't reflect his effort as the eight-year defensive end finished with nine tackles. If he continues playing this hard, things will happen for Ninkovich. Chances are a quarterback might not get rid of the ball in time and Ninkovich could pick up a few sacks or he forces/recovers a fumble.
Ninkovich is currently third in the Patriots with 14 tackles and has forced one of the team's four fumbles this season.
Fourth on the Patriots' list is his compatriot, Jones. Jones, the second-year man out of Syracuse, has also been everywhere on the field, especially in the back field terrorizing quarterbacks. Jones had two sacks last night against the Jets as he brought down Geno Smith in pivotal third-down plays. Jones was the Patriots first-round draft pick in 2012 and they are seeing great results. It's only Week 2 and Jones has a quarter of the amount of tackles totaled in 2012 and one third of the amount of sacks totaled in 2012.
If you can't pick individual players in your draft and for some odd reason the Patriots' defense is still up for grabs or if you have the chance to trade for the Patriots' defense, do so immediately. Think about it, the Patriots have no offense, meaning they will rely heavily on their defense to win ball games. Last time we checked