Fantasy Football: Between The Chains: Top Plays For Week 10
By Shaun Evans
Hey Guys! Back with another “Between The Chains” article where we dive deeper into each fantasy football position to find the top and value plays for Week 10. Lets dive in!
Fantasy Football Top Ten Plays for Week 10: Quarterback
Patrick MaGOAT has been one of the most consistent fantasy football players this season and he has no sign of slowing down. He does take the Kansas City Chiefs to battle with the Arizona Cardinals who can’t find a win, but their fans are probably okay with that at this time, but they do have a nice passing defense that ranks 7th, allowing 224 yards through the air.
But MaGOAT has the weapons with Tyreke Hills, Travis Kelce, and Kareem Hunt which always makes him a great play week in and week out. The Chiefs running game should open the window for the play action as the Cardinals do rank 31st against the run, allowing 142 yards per game.
Mahomes has 29 touchdowns thrown with only 7 interceptions on the season, completing 66 percent of the throws he makes. He should continue his dominance this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Phillip Rivers
Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers get to march into Oakland to face the Raiders who are a complete mess right now, coming off a huge loss against Nick Mullens and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Raiders have basically thrown in the white flag on the season with all the trades, releases, and players to IR so all signs point to another massacre by the Chargers. Phillip Rivers has Melvin Gordan III, Keenan Allen, and Tyrell Williams who should all have perfect opportunities this Sunday, giving Rivers a high stock.
Rivers has 19 touchdowns and an impressive 3 interceptions on the season, completing 67 percent of what he throws. While the Chargers aren’t the prettiest or impressive team on the season, Rivers has a bright spot on Sunday in Oakland.
Blake Bortles has basically been non-existent with the Jacksonville Jaguars this season and this Sunday may be good for Bortles. The Indianapolis Colts rank 23rd in passing defense, giving up 261 yards per game.
Bortles season stats aren’t pretty at all with 10 touchdowns, 8 interceptions and with just a 60 percent completion rate of what he throws.
But the bright side for Bortles is that the Colts struggle defending every position in the passing game, giving him the opportunity to return value, plus be a great help in salary relief with his price tag of $4,900.
Fantasy Football Top Ten Plays for Week 10: Running-back
Melvin Gordon III
Probably my favorite second running-back this season, Melvin Gordon III is in a great match-up this weekend with the Oakland Raiders. Gordon has been very consistent this season, only dropping below 20 fantasy points once and that was in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams, who rarely allow anyone to dominate them.
Now the Oakland Raiders are ranked 32nd against the run, allowing 144 yards per game. Gordon is used in the passing game also but the Raiders only give up around 5 receptions and 37 yards to the position. This season Gordon is averaging 82 yards on the ground and 41 yards through the air with 7 rushing touchdowns and 3 receiving touchdowns.
As mentioned earlier though, the Raiders are a complete mess and this game could get ugly quick but with that being said, the Chargers could turn to running more to kill the clock, giving Gordon the opportunity to dominate.
The Falcons are ranked 17th in the running game with 108 yards per game while giving up on average 10 receptions and 65 yards through the air to running-backs.
The Browns are in the middle of a face lift with new coaches and it does cause some confusion with the transition but don’t expect that to phase Chubb as he’ll be leaned on to help open up the offense.
If the Browns can get the run game going to open up play action, the Browns could be in a great spot as a whole. Chubb still isn’t a major factor in the passing game but he is averaging 44 yards on the ground with 4 touchdowns already in his short stint as the main running-back.
But like I said, the Falcons do struggle defending running-backs in the passing game and Chubb could finally see the opportunity to be more versatile but I said the same thing last week. Hopefully he doesn’t do me wrong again.
Once again Jordan Howard makes his way into the article. Coming off a multi touchdown Sunday, Howard has another nice match-up against the Detroit Lions. The Lions rank 30th in rush defense, giving up 142 yards per game.
But the bright spot comes with the Chicago Bears as their defense is top notch which gives the Bears more freedom with Howard and his running. He has only broke the 20 attempts mark twice this season but averages around 15 per game which is nice when he is able to find the end-zone. He is averaging 55 yards per game and has only found the end-zone five times this season.
He isn’t the prettiest running-back to roster but when you’re looking for salary relief, Jordan Howard is the one to use as long as his match-up is right.
Fantasy Football Top Ten Plays for Week 10: Wide Receivers
Coming off of a huge Week 9, Michael Thomas might officially be back as he had a unimpressive four week drought. Scoring 42.1 fantasy points last week against the Los Angeles Rams, which is a huge shocker, Thomas and the Saints get to face the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals rank 32nd in the passing game, giving up 319 yards per game which is dream match-up for Drew Brees and all of his weapons, Dez Bryant is soon to be one of those weapons.
The Bengals are giving up 10 receptions to the number one receiver, allowing them to get around 86 yards per game. 86 yards seems like an easy task for Michael Thomas this Sunday but he’ll probably exceed those yards and his value.
One of the hardest wide receivers to call each week, Jarvis Landry may break out this weekend. Facing the Atlanta Falcons, they rank 29th in pass defense, giving up 304 yards per game.
While Landry is the main focus of the offense, Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson may take the usage this weekend, similar to last weekend.
Landry is averaging 64 yards per game, but barely breaking pass the 50 percent mark of catching what is thrown his way. The Falcons give up 8 receptions and 81 yards though to the number one receivers so far this season, giving Landry a nice opportunity to break out in Week 10.
Tre’quan Smith
Joining his teammate in this article, Tre’quan Smith could have a good outing also unless Dez Bryant surprisingly shows up to play on Sunday with no playbook knowledge.
Being in a similar situation like Demayrius Thomas, Tre’quan Smith shouldn’t have to worry about Dez Bryant this weekend. Like mentioned above, the Bengals are ranked 32nd in the passing game, making all of Drew Brees weapons very available to be in play.
Smith is catching 60 percent of what is thrown his way but is only averaging 26 yards a game but he knows how to find the end-zone, finding it 3 times this season with little playing time.
As Bengals will give up the field to keep an eye on Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, Smith could benefit the most on Sunday, providing salary relief and value return.
Fantasy Football Top Ten Plays for Week 10: Tight Ends
Being the main factor to Ryan Fitzpatrick, “Fitzmagic”, O.J. Howard is in play once again. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers get to face the Washington Redskins who rank 20th in pass defense, giving up 254 yards per game.
They also allow tight ends to have around 9 receptions and 52 yards per game. Howard walked away with 2 touchdowns and 53 yards last week against the Carolina Panthers in the blowout.
But this is one game to watch as the Washington Redskins lost two of their starting offensive lineups, leaving their offense in trouble and giving the Buccaneers more chances to keep their offense on the field.
Being one of my “Lock Plays” of Week 10, Austin Hooper has a chance to return value and being a salary relief help. The Browns give up 8 receptions and 50 yards per game to the tight end position which looks like a positive for Hooper.
With Julio Jones finally finding the end-zone, the attention will be on him and Calvin Ridley, giving Hooper the benefit to be free in the red-zone and even more. Hooper has struggled to find the end-zone though, only finding it twice this season so that is a cause for concern already.
But with the attention being on his teammates, look for a good chance this weekend that Hooper exceeds his value.
The Washington Redskins are in a tough position this week as their offensive line has had to do a major over-haul, replacing two starting guards with season ending injuries. Now how does that roll into a positive?
Alex Smith is pretty good at check-downs and since he’ll most likely be under pressure a lot against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vernon Davis could be a major play in this game. He’s another risk play but at a good price of $2,800 on Draftkings.
He only has one touchdown on the season and is averaging just 29 yards per game. But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are garbage when it comes to facing tight ends and with Jordan Reed questionable for the Week 10 match-up, Davis is the high risk but high reward play of this week.
Next. DFS NFL Game-by-Game Breakdown Week 10. dark
Stay tuned to FantasyCPR for all of your Fantasy Sports and DFS needs this fall!