Fantasy Soccer Advice

Fantasy: Ranking the top 20 defenders for 2020

Omar Gonzalez - Toronto FC - celebration

One of my favorite mechanics of MLS Fantasy game is that players are rewarded for their actions during games, not just goals and assists.


For defenders, this means that they are made or broken by their ability to generate bonus points. Usually, when youā€™re picking defenders, itā€™s important to look beyond clean sheets because players who generate a high number of tackles, interceptions, clearances and blocks per game tend to be the most consistent point producers.


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If you prefer your defenders to be more offensive-minded, youā€™re not alone and will see several on my list below. These players can be a bit boom or bust so youā€™ll want to focus on the crossing and passing stats or find someone whoā€™s consistently lining up out-of-position in midfield.


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Top 20 defenders


The below is my list of top defenders for the first six weeks of the season. While making this list, I tried to consider a playerā€™s history of point generation, preseason performance, quality of overall defensive unit and strength of schedule.

Rank
Player
Team
Price
1 
Omar Gonzalez
TFC
$6.0
2 
Eddie Segura
LAFC
$6.0
3
Miles Robinson
ATL
$6.5
4 
Andrew Farrell
NE
$5.5
5 
Aaron Long
RBNY
$6.5
6
Roberto Puncec
SKC
$5.0
7
Frederic Brillant
DC
$6.0
8
Steven Birnbaum
DC
$5.5
9
Reto Ziegler
DAL
$6.0
10
Ike Opara
MIN
$6.5
11 
Romain Metanire
MIN
$6.5
12
Ryan Hollingshead
DAL
$5.5
13
Jonathan Mensah
CLB
$6.0
14
Florian Jungwirth
SJ
$6.0
15
Jack Elliott
PHI
$6.0
16
Anton Tinnerholm
NYC
$6.0
17
Maxime Chanot
NYC
$6.0
18
Keegan Rosenberry
COL
$5.5
19
Lalas Abubakar
COL
$6.0
20
Francisco Calvo
CHI
$5.5