Fantasy Football: Emerging blitz trends and scheme rates

• Base and nickel pressure metrics show strong efficiency: Defensive playcallers are generating success by attacking with heavier personnel packages, shortening execution windows to allow fewer yards per pass play across base and nickel blitz options.

• Brian Flores sets the absolute pace for schematic aggression: Operating as a massive positive outlier, the Minnesota Vikings defense paced the NFL with a 63.40% blitz rate in nickel sets while simultaneously suppressing chunk plays.

• Dime package pressure strategies face heavy execution regression: Squeezed by heavier offensive groupings, light six-DB dime pressure schemes hit severe multi-year efficiency lows by surrendering 6.94 yards per rush attempt while blitzing.

NFL defenses are increasingly returning to heavier personnel packages as teams devote more resources and snaps to their defensive lines and linebacker units. Defensive playcallers are capitalizing on that shift. Blitz rates in both base and nickel packages are increasing, while yards allowed per blitz are decreasing.

Those trends could have significant implications for offenses in 2026. Teams capable of consistently generating answers in the quick passing game should be better positioned to handle increased pressure, making offensive scheme and quarterback play important considerations in fantasy football drafts. This article examines the recent blitz-related trends, successes and failures shaping that landscape.

Since 2023, NFL defenses have increased their base-package rate by 8.42% while decreasing their nickel-package rate by 8.12% and their dime-package rate by 0.51%.

At the same time, defensive coordinators are blitzing more often out of base and nickel packages, while dime packages have become more coverage-oriented.