We have reached the double digit weeks! Usually I would say something like this season is flying by, but it absolutely isn’t. It is crawling. Maybe it’s the injury bug that has taken the NFL by storm. Pretty hard to fill out a lineup every week with healthy players that have a good chance to score. But we have to do what we have to do because a championship in 2020 still counts if they make it 7 more weeks! A fantasy title in this season could carry more weight than in seasons’ past depending on how you look at it. On one hand, the difficulty level is extremely higher, but luck also plays a factor so maybe the manager with all of the injury luck takes the ship this year. It’s hard to imagine anybody not running into a problem with at least one of their first picks in the first few rounds though. Here are the starts and sits for week 10 of the most interesting fantasy football season we’ve had to this point.Â
Start
I mentioned on Tuesday how impressive Tua was in his 2nd NFL start and another week of practice with the first string should only benefit him. The Charger’s defense is incredibly average at this point. They have given up at least 26 points in each of the past 5 weeks. Drew Lock’s first huge game of 2020 happened a couple of weeks ago against the Chargers and the following week, Derek Carr was efficient and even though the yardage total was low, he threw a couple of touchdown passes. The Dolpins don’t have much of a running game without Miles Gaskin. Against the Cardinals, Miami RBs carried the ball 18 times for a combined 56 yards. I could see Flores and company calling more designed runs for Tua this week, leading to a QB1 day.
J.D. McKissic
One simply doesn’t leave a running back on the bench that received 14 targets in the passing game the week before. Classic Ron Rivera offense! The Washington football team travels to Detroit this weekend with Alex Smith under center. That’s where a lot of those targets came from in the passing game for J.D. McKissic hasn’t carried the ball much this year, but when he does tote the rock, he has been picking up yards in chunks. In his last 16 carries, he’s averaged well over 5 ypc.
Duke Johnson
It’s sounding more and more like David Johnson won’t play on Sunday. Cleveland had previously been pretty solid against the run until they gave up 209 yards on the ground against the Raiders a couple of Sundays ago. It’s not that I particularly love this matchup for Duke, but if you can get the volume that he’s going to get, you have to roll him into your flex spot.Â
I’m hopping right back on to the Mike Williams train this week after a 5 catch for 81 yard performance. His receiving yards prop against the Raiders last week was o/u 45.5 yards. Easy money! Mike has had big games in 3 out of his last 4. Miami is better than they have been in the past on defense, but this is still a pretty solid matchup for Herbert. I expect more of the same that we have seen recently from the Herbert/Williams combo.
Mike Evans has done very little to return fantasy value this season, but this is a great matchup in a bounce back spot for the Bucs. Tom Brady bounced back well against the Chargers following the emBEARassing loss against Chicago earlier this year by throwing for 5 touchdowns. I expect more of the same against the team that gave up 372 passing yards to Mahomes and co. last Sunday. The WR room is crowded in Tampa, but this feels like a “get Mike Evans right” game.Â
Hooper could catapult up the tight end tiers by the time Sunday is all said and done. With Odell out of the picture and Landry banged up, it’s Hooper’s time to shine as Baker Mayfield’s safety blanket. Cleveland is more balanced than most teams but you can throw all over Houston, even Jake Luton did some damage last Sunday. Hooper should have a monster week.
SitÂ
You all know that I love Burrow. Hell, I love all of these rookie QBs. They’re all so good that it’s hard to choose just one to swoon over. Yes, the Pittsburgh defense looked human against Dallas. Yes, the Bengals have had two weeks to prepare for their division rivals. But there are likely better options out there this week. I think it will be tough for Burrow to get the two touchdown passes that he would need for a justifiable fantasy score even if he piles up some yards. I’d try to stream someone like Derek Carr this week.Â
Mark Ingram
It sounds like Mark will be back in the fold against New England on Sunday night. Why the hell is this the Sunday night game? Is the slate really this bad? I doubt it.. Anyways, this is a 3-headed monster that Baltimore has in the backfield. The most yardage that Ingram has gained on the ground this season in a single game is 57 yards. The Ravens have gotten a chance to take an even closer look at Dobbins and Gus the bus over the past two weeks and I expect them both to still get a lot of work.Â
Justin Jefferson has had two massive games this season. Unfortunately they were both against soft secondaries. The Chicago Bears keep things a lot tighter than the Falcons and Texans do. Monday night should bring a fairly tight division rivalry to our TV screens. I’m not expecting much out of either Jefferson or Thielen on Monday so adjust accordingly if possible.
Sorry if this seems redundant. It’s pretty difficult to find a tight end to hate on when there are so few productive or healthy ones. The volume just hasn’t been there for Smith and I don’t think that he will find the end zone tonight. I’d look for a higher upside play this week like Logan Thomas or Mike Gesicki.Â
