If you’ve been keeping up with all the NWSL transactions their Fantasy NWSL impacts, you’ll know that two major moves recently caused a major shakeup in the landscape of FNWSL: Naomi Girma has moved from San Diego to Chelsea, and Jenna Nighswonger has left Gotham for Arsenal. Girma and Nighswonger were the most selected DFs in FNWSL last season by a relatively wide margin (in fact, Girma was the most selected player overall), so FNWSL managers may be scratching their heads planning for 2025.
Never fear, Nick is here! Today, we are going to review three potential strategies for revamping your FNWSL defender corps for the upcoming season. We won’t dive into prices quite yet, but we will cover specific recommendations for DFs that fit each strategy.
Replacing Girma: the “play-it-safe” option
Girma is a world-class defender who makes an impact all over the field, and from a fantasy perspective, her greatest value comes from the sheer number of overall touches and defensive actions she logs. This gives her a very high floor for fantasy points – and let’s be honest, if you are willing to spend $300k or more on a defender in FNWSL, you probably want to ensure that that player has a pretty high week-to-week floor. So if you’re looking for a Girma-esque player, you want to look for a defender that touches the ball A LOT.
This is probably the safest option for replacing Girma on your fantasy team, as good defenders can rack up defensive points regardless of the context of the game – meaning they can return significant fantasy value whether or not their team records a clean sheet or whether they are involved in the attack. FNWSL awards points for tackles, interceptions, and clearances, as well as successful aerial challenges and duels.
Madison Curry, who moved from Angel City to Seattle during the off-season, led FNWSL last season in defensive points and should see significant playing time immediately for the Reign. Paige Nielsen, Marie Muller, and Kate Del Fava are three other DFs that consistently racked up defensive points in 2024, while Kylie Strom was in the top five in both 2022 and 2023. Once we have full clarity on 2025 NWSL rosters we can be more specific, but for now, keep these players in mind!
Replacing Nighswonger: the attacking option
Nighswonger finished as the 7th overall DF in FNWSL last year despite being 18th in defensive points. The reason? She logged a goal, three assists, and 40 attacking points. So how do you replace her? Find another DF that has lots of involvement in their team’s attack! This is a slightly riskier option, but can lead to a very high reward in FNWSL.
Washington’s Tara McKeown is a perfect example of a player in this category. She’s on a high-scoring NWSL team, she played forward in college and at the start of her professional career, and consistently creates chances out of the back for the Spirit. Though she doesn’t score many goals, she excels at finding space in the attack – and it definitely doesn’t hurt that she has Trinity Rodman, Croix Bethune, and Ashley Hatch in front of her.
From a team perspective, check out North Carolina. Three starting DFs from the courage finished in the top 4 DFs in attacking points and in the top 6 overall for DFs: Ryan Williams, Malia Berkely, and Kaleigh Kurtz. They are very involved in set pieces, which means that they are less reliant on open play to return attacking value – a good way to mitigate the risk of investing in attacking DFs.
Replacing both: the clean sheet sleuth option
It’s worth considering that, while many of the elite attacking players in FNWSL (Chawinga, Banda, Bethune, etc.) were relatively inexpensive in 2024, their prices will go up in 2025. Therefore, you may not be able to afford multiple premium DFs on your team. So for a value strategy, consider focusing on maximizing your chance for clean sheets. A defender (or goalkeeper) that plays at least 60 minutes will earn 5 points for a clean sheet – regardless of touches or any other statistic. That means that you can get some very good, high-value fantasy production from lower-cost defenders on strong defensive teams.
For example, take last year’s primary starting DFs in Orlando: Strom, Emily Sams, Kerry Abello, and Cori Dyke, as well as defensive midfielder Haley McCutcheon (Hanson) who is also classified as a DF for FNWSL. Orlando tied with Gotham for fewest GA (20) and led the league in xGA (28.5), which led to 12 clean sheets. No other team finished with more than nine. This in turn led to huge fantasy point returns for all five players (as well as Carson Pickett, who got some minutes following her move from Louisville).
Dyke was perhaps the most valuable, as she played only the last 12 matches for Orlando but still logged 5 clean sheets at the minimum price point of $75k. Sams logged 65 total clean sheet points, and was the third highest scoring DF overall, for just $250k. Abello cost only $250k and was the 8th highest scoring DF.
So, if you want to save some money on your back line, look for the lower-cost options on teams with strong defenses! In addition to Orlando, I’d focus on Kansas City, North Carolina, and Washington.
Bonus option: Tatumn Milazzo
I haven’t yet gotten over Tatumn leaving Chicago, where she was the third highest scoring FNWSL DF in 2022 (her sophomore season). She joined Utah in the off-season, and should see immediate playing time for the Royals – who finished 13th in xGA last season and need some improvement on defense. Her performance in 2022 was primarily based off racking up defensive points, and I expect her to regain that form with consistent minutes in Utah.
What are your DF plans for 2025? Comment or tweet @MansersAnswers!