KFC’s Fantasy MLS Defender picks – Week 5

Just like keepers, defenders had a pretty good this week thanks to several clean sheets. That’s always a good result when your team is worrying about loosing players to International duty. But everyone should be back for week 5, unless injured, and this should help defenses perform more to expectations.  Keep in mind that Columbus and DC are not playing next week. I know some people have been happy with the returns some of their players have provided. Oh and Chicago is on a bye too….but I guess that just concerns Berry owners.

Big 3
Aurélien Collin (SKC v MON), Omar Gonzalez (TOR vs LA), and Jeff Parke (NY vs PHI).

Keep reading for the rest.

Matt Hedges (Dallas) vs New England
Price: $5.0m
Owned by: 7.2%

For being one of the highest scoring defenders in the league right now, Hedges is owned by a surprisingly low number of managers. I count most of this up to an injury flag for a couple of weeks. He has 2 clean sheets to his name as well as the 2^nd highest number of CBIs and a respectable number of recoveries. They are playing a New England team that has been more successful at not giving up goals than last year (just 1 so far), but with players like Cooper, Ferreira, and Jackson, they will be tested.

Matteo Ferrari (Montreal) vs Kansas City
Price: $5.0m
Owned by: 14.2%

I’m not going to try to sugar coat it, this is going to be a tough game for both sides, and could very well result in no clean sheet for either team. But Montreal is in excellent form, and that is hard to ignore. There are actualyl 2 players that we like from the back line. Ferrari stands out to us because he is a solid canter back and that means bonus point generation to us. He’s in goof form and has had decent returns even when giving up a goal (the other option being Matteo Ferrari [$5.0m @ 4.0%]). As entioned before, it’s a bit of a risky pick against SKC at home, but could pay off.

Todd Dunivant (LA) vs Toronto
Price: $5.2m
Owned by: 16.9%

If you are looking for a way into the LA defense (before the bye week) then Dunivant is a good option. He was $5.0m last week and has already gained .2 in value. This means that he’s also a guy that could add some value to your team. LA are playing an away gam to Toronto this week, and that did work out well for Toronto against SKC, but with a defense at full strength again, LA should be a tough opponent.

Differential

Andrew Baptiste (Portland) vs Colorado
Price: $4.5m
Owned by: 2.5%

If you are looking for a cheap defender this week, Baptiste could b your man. Portland’s defense started out full of holes, but they have been getting better each game letting in first 3…then 2….then 1 goal. Perhaps the away game to Colorado will let them finish the pattern and grab their first clean sheet. Colorado has not had much luck scoring, and perhaps they are hoping for some lucky snow themselves. So Portland has a good chance here. If not, Baptiste is a center back and has a respectable number of CBIs and Recoveries (when you consider they have only played 3 games).

These are my picks, if you think there should be more names on this list, please leave a comment or come to r/FantasyMLS and comment on the post. You can also leave a message on our Facebook page. Keep checking back for more updates through the week for other positions.