This game we play every Wednesday is not particularly easy. There is a reason that the guys we share in this article are rostered in less than 40% of fantasy football leagues. And, in Week 8, pretty much all of us in the Reddit/X comments, including myself, whiffed on our picks. 

But last week in Week 9, we had some commenters hit (which I will shout as always over on Reddit). And I had Justice Hill in the article who finished as the RB7 on the week. Alexa, play “The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy. 

Alexa, that’s enough celebrating. It’s time to move on to Week 10, which is a minefield of bye weeks, injuries, and guys who may or may not play a bunch of snaps after just getting traded to a new team. We need sleepers right now more than ever - at least until next week when six teams are on bye. 

Week 10 Quarterback Sleepers

Geno Smith, QB, New York Jets

It sure would be a lot more fun if these rookie quarterbacks were getting their start in better matchups, wouldn’t it? But Fernando Mendoza goes up against the Seattle Seahawks and Carson Beck gets the Los Angeles Rams. Yeesh. So we need to look elsewhere for our sneaky QB play this week. JJ McCarthy was in consideration here, but the final verdict goes to Geno Smith.

Smith has actually pretty reliably been good vs. the easy defenses and bad against the tough ones. Geno put up 20+ fantasy points in most formats against the Lions, Dolphins, and Raiders. Against the Chiefs, Browns, and Bears - not so great. But the Bills have quietly allowed the fourth-most passing yards per game so far this year, so maybe Geno could put up another 250+ yard game with multiple touchdowns? If he has Garrett Wilson back to go along with Omar Cooper Jr., Adonai Mitchell, Breece Hall, and the tight end pairing, it’s not so crazy. 

 

 

 

Week 10  Running Back Sleepers

Dylan Sampson, RB, Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns seem to have settled into a familiar split with their running backs. We see it with teams like the Baltimore Ravens or Tennessee Titans. When the run game is working, or they are playing out front, Derrick Henry and Tony Pollard carry the load for each team, respectively. When they play from behind, we get Justice Hill or Tyjae Spears. And the latter backs will actually outsnap the starters on occasion if it gets bad early.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s going to “get bad early” in this game. But the Browns clearly like this split ever since Dylan Sampson returned in Week 7. Over the last three games, Sampson has played 46%, 56%, and 64% of the snaps, meaning that, in the most recent two of those games, he’s actually played more snaps than Quinshon Judkins. The Texans are a solid run defense and are favored by nearly five points even on the road here, so it could be a Sampson game. Over the last two games, he has 13 targets, and he even got 8 carries last week. 

Lan Larison, RB, New England Patriots

Sure, Corey Kiner is the chalk pick here off the waiver wire as he’s been on the roster all year and moved into the RB2 role. But it feels like the Patriots will likely revert to the old Josh McDaniel system to some degree. That should see an early down back (Corey Kiner). A pass down/two minute drill back (Lan Larrison). And what they call a “five-minute” back who closes out the game in late leads (Terrell Jennings, who should be called up from the practice squad before the game).

In a game where the Pats are heavily favored, we might lean into Jennings as a sleeper. But with the Lions favored here and the Patriots hurting for pass-catchers, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Larison active in the pass game. He may not be James White or even Danny Woodhead, but would it be crazy to see him possibly get 4-5 targets and a few carries in that role? It’s not that much different from the Sampson call of the Justice Hill/Samaje Perine ones that have worked for us in the past. Just deeper and scarier and probably not going to hit.

Week 10 Wide Receiver Sleepers

Savion Williams, WR, Green Bay Packers

Yes, we are going back to the Savion Williams well. This time, though, there will be no Josh Jacobs. That actually means a little something to us even though Savion Williams is a wide receiver. And that’s because he’s no normal wide receiver.

Since returning from his own ankle injury, Savion Williams has been playing the Jayden Reed slot role. But folks familiar with Williams’s profile from college know that he was a bit of a hybrid running back, which saw him comp’d to Cordarelle Patterson by draft pundits. Since returning, he’s actually gotten 8 carries in his four games. His return overlapped with the return of Josh Jacobs, so now that Jacobs is out with the finger injury, I’m wondering if maybe Williams will get a couple extra gadget plays against a Vikings defense that is tough on the outside. It’s risky because the Vikings defense is just tough in general, but this guy has gotten a couple targets and a couple carries virtually every week, which makes for some interesting upside. 

Reggie Virgil, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Let’s get deep here with this one. The Cardinals famously traded away Marvin Harrison Then they proceeded to lose Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne, and Jalen Brooks to injury. That has left them dangerously thin at wide receiver to the point where we may see a lot of two- or even three-tight-end sets (more on that later). But we still need to bet on one of these wide receivers to lead the team, right? 

I have seen enough of Devin Duvernay and Semi Fehoko in their time floating around this league. And it has not really moved the needle. So I’m going with the wildcard upside play in rookie Reggie Virgil. He did make the impressive one-handed catch last week - that has to count for something. We also know that sometimes these younger players can get on the same page via the rookie camps or practicing down the depth chart on scout team, so maybe Virgil and Carson Beck have a couple of tricks up their sleeve. The Cardinals did not make a move for pass-catchers at the deadline, so let’s see what happens here. 

 

 

 

Week 10 Tight End Sleepers

Chig Okonkwo, TE, Washington Commanders

We don’t really like to retread players that we’ve already had in this article before. But the whole point of this article is to call attention to players who need to be rostered in more leagues. Before waivers ran this week, Chig was only rostered in 22% of leagues on Yahoo. After waivers ran? 23%. I am taking that personally, as it seems only 1% of folks know what they are doing out here. 

When Terry McLaurin went down, the Commanders told us that Stefon Diggs’s role was not going to change. And they were actually right about that. Even after the injury, he has yet to play more than 66% of the snaps in any game (and that 66% game came back Week 4 before the big injury to McLaurin). Since the injury, Antonio Williams has led the Commanders in routes run in each game. And you know who has been second? Chig Okonkwo. He’s had some tough matchups lately but the next four are pretty good. There are a couple leagues where I plan to roll Okonkwo for now and then figure out what I want to do for fantasy playoffs when his matchups get a little tougher (specifically, the Green Bay and Jacksonville matchups). 

Elijah Higgins, TE, Arizona Cardinals

With all the wide receiver injuries in Arizona, we are going to double down here on ARI pass-catchers. If it’s not WR Reggie Virgil that pops this week, maybe it can be TE Elijah Higgins? There’s a lot to like about Higgins, which is why he’s been one of our top TE handcuffs behind Trey McBride, but he may get some looks of his own here.

Folks might forget that Higgins actually played wide receiver at Stanford - it was only at the NFL level that he was converted to a tight end. Last week with all the WR injuries, Higgins actually ran 20 of 35 routes. And he lined up at WR (19) for more snaps than he did inline (16). What if the Cardinals use Teagan Quitoriano inline and let BOTH Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins line up at WR for a good chunk of snaps? McBride led all tight ends in broken tackles in 2025, but Elijah Higgins was quietly third behind only McBride and Harold Fannin per Pro Football Focus. So either the guy who charts the broken tackles over there for the ARI games is super generous, or Higgins can actually play. I’ve seen enough plays from him to take a stab. 

Where Do We Rank The Fantasy Football Breakout Sleepers This Week?

The toughest question, week in and week out, is whether you should just start the “safe” guys you have or whether you can just throw a dart at this week’s possible breakout. Lucky for you, we rank every one of these guys for PPR, half PPR, and standard rankings every single week. So check out the Fantasy Alarm Weekly Rankings to see exactly where these guys fall compared to the other options out there. If it’s anywhere close, it’s always more fun to throw in that sleeper!