Conforme documentação do RHEL7 :
In dynamic network environments, where mobile hosts are managed by NetworkManager, gateway information is likely to be interface specific and is best left to be assigned by DHCP. In special cases where it is necessary to influence NetworkManager's selection of the exit interface to be used to reach a gateway, make use of the DEFROUTE=no command in the ifcfg files for those interfaces which do not lead to the default gateway.
Portanto, a instrução DEFROUTE é usada apenas pelo NetworkManager.