10-Team Leagues
Baker Mayfield (QB – Cleveland Browns; FAAB Bid: 15%) – It’s been a rough few weeks for Mayfield, but on Sunday he finally showed some promise. His 297 passing yards were his highest since Week 5, and for the third straight game he tossed a pair of touchdowns. Cleveland gets another great matchup on Sunday with the Falcons coming to town. Expect Cleveland to be trailing similar to this past week and look for Mayfield to air it out quite often. He’s a fine streaming option in shallower leagues.
(RB Mike Davis – Seattle Seahawks; FAAB Bid: 30%) – We’re hitting our stride toward the fantasy playoffs and prior to this week I had no interest in Davis unless you owned Chris Carson . With Carson possibly not playing in Week 10, Davis needs to be rostered and started with RB2/Flex appeal. Davis was about 40% owned in CBS leagues, but just 18.5% owned in ESPN leagues so hopefully you’re playing on ESPN where he’s more widely available. Davis has a tough matchup in Week 10 on the road against the Rams, but the workload and opportunity will be there for him.
Duke Johnson (RB – Cleveland Browns; FAAB Bid: 20%) – Johnson’s certainly more valuable in PPR formats and he needs game script to go his way. But on Sunday when the Browns needed to be aggressive and abandon the run, Johnson brought in all nine of his targets for 78 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. A Week 10 home matchup against Atlanta could see a similar game script for Johnson. The Falcons offense is rolling and in position to put up points against Cleveland. The Browns should be playing from behind which bodes well for Johnson’s fantasy prospects.
Tyrell Williams (WR – Los Angeles Chargers; FAAB Bid: 15-17%) – The Los Angeles passing game was quiet save for Keenan Allen who had a big game. The good news for Williams is that he managed to catch his fourth touchdown in his last three games. The gamble with Williams is that he needs the big play. He has just 22 catches on 30 targets over eight games. He’s averaging 20.5 yards per catch, but he also has five touchdowns on the season and a pair of 100-yard games. The Chargers draw Oakland next week so it’s not necessarily a projected game script that benefits the Chargers receivers, but Williams has proven he can return value even with just three catches.
Jack Doyle (TE – Indianapolis Colts; FAAB Bid: 20%) – Doyle has a nice track record and in his first game back from injury he had six catches on 70 yards and a touchdown. His ownership hardly spiked because of his bye week, but the Colts are about to have three straight home games against the Jaguars, Titans, and Dolphins. Andrew Luck looks as healthy as ever and will be looking Doyle’s way in the coming weeks.
DST to Stream – The Jets win the Buffalo Bills sweepstakes this week and will host Buffalo at home in Week 10. It’s hard to imagine the Bills letting Nathan Peterman start another football game. It would be pure comedy if they did though. Regardless, Buffalo’s offensive line is still awful, and the Jets have the potential to get double-digit points in this matchup.
12-Team Leagues
Joe Flacco (QB – Baltimore Ravens; FAAB Bid: 12-20%) – I might be willing to spend up on Flacco if you’re still in contention or just outside the playoffs and need quarterback help. Flacco’s ownership may dip this week as the Ravens enter their bye week, and because he has just 398 passing yards and just one touchdown over his last two games. But look at Flacco’s schedule from Week 10-17: vs. Cincinnati, vs. Oakland, at Atlanta, at Kansas City, vs. Tampa Bay, at Los Angeles (Chargers), and vs. Cleveland in Week 17 if your league will even be playing that long. It’s a fantastic schedule for Flacco and the offense needs to make some changes if they want a run at the playoffs. The Ravens looked great to start the year and have fallen off track. Their schedule could mean big things for Flacco if he can be the competent quarterback we saw in Weeks 1-4.
Elijah McGuire (RB – New York Jets; FAAB Bid: 20-25%) – McGuire made his long-awaited season debut and with Bilal Powell done for the year there’s an opportunity for him to get a good amount of carries. Isaiah Crowell led the team in carries in Week 9 with 13 but totaled just 49 rushing yards. McGuire at least had 30 yards on seven carries to go with three catches for 37 yards. Crowell has failed to come close to sniffing the kind of performance he had back in Week 5. The Jets have a decent matchup at home next week before hitting their bye week. It would be nice to see McGuire cut into Crowell’s workload just a little bit more.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR – Green Bay Packers; FAAB Bid: 15%) – MVS was the beneficiary of a Geronimo Allison inactive status as it opened the door for him to be quite involved in the offense Sunday night against New England. MVS brought in three of six targets for 101 yards. He now has two 100+ receiving yard performances over his last three games. Hopefully he’s done enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff so that he can remain involved with the offense. He’s certainly a flex option if Allison’s out an extended period.
Adam Humphries (WR – Tampa Bay Buccaneers; FAAB Bid: 12%) – As long as the Bucs keep falling behind, Humphries could stand to benefit if the team has to throw the ball so much. Honestly the Bucs should just spot the opposing team two or three touchdowns to start each game because Tampa seems to figure out its offensive woes when they’re down multiple scores. Humphries has 27 targets over his last three contests and on Sunday against Carolina he caught all eight of his targets for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
DST to Stream – The Chargers head out on the road in Week 10 to visit their division rivals, the Oakland Raiders. Over their last four games the Chargers defense has allowed opposing offenses to score just 60 total points. The Chargers are also good for a turnover or two per game and maybe two or three sacks. They’re not as sexy of an option as they would be if Joey Bosa was active, but still they’re in play as a streamer. It’s also worth mentioning the 49ers sacked Derek Carr eight times last Thursday night so maybe the Chargers strike gold and can get their hands on Carr next week.
Deeper League Options
Nick Mullens (QB – San Francisco 49ers; FAAB Bid: 8-10%) – If you need a streaming quarterback, or just a quarterback in general, Mullens finds himself in a good matchup before San Francisco goes on bye. Mullens was quite efficient in his first start against Oakland in Week 9. He threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns. The game against the Giants has a mild over/under of 43.5 and the 49ers are three-point favorites as of right now. But he’s not an awful streaming option with Keenum, Cousins, Watson, and Flacco on bye.
Josh Adams (RB – Philadelphia Eagles; FAAB Bid: 15%) – This is a gamble in deep leagues, but it’s Week 10 and you have to start taking some chances. Adams was mentioned in last week’s piece, but his ownership needle hardly moved because he was on bye in Week 9. So since he’s coming off bye with a home matchup against Dallas it’s only fair to bring him up again because he was gradually seeing more work prior to Philly’s bye week and in his last game he averaged just under 7.00 yards per carry. The committee aspect to Philadelphia’s running game is far from ideal, but Adams is worth acquiring for depth.
Cordarrelle Patterson (WR – New England Patriots; FAAB Bid: 8%) – I wouldn’t recommend going too crazy chasing Patterson, but there’s some intrigue in deeper leagues. The New England backfield is running fairly thin right now. Sony Michel is still dealing with an injury and didn’t play Sunday night, James White even had to leave for a little bit so Patterson found himself getting double digit carries for the second week in a row and he even scored a rushing touchdown. He’s a very unique talent that’s used scarcely in the passing game and occasionally on special teams. He’s strictly a deep league option for depth if the New England backfield continues to deal with nagging injuries.
Tre’Quan Smith (WR – New Orleans Saints; FAAB Bid: 22%) – Sure I crapped on TQ Smith in this week’s Hot Takes article because the targets have been minimal. However, he logged the second most snaps out of all Saints wideouts last week and you get the sense the Saints want to get him involved. He has a lot of upside, though he’s only shown it in one game. He’s a great stash in 12-team leagues because once he has another big game it’ll be hard for the Saints to not continue to feed him.
Chris Herndon (TE – New York Jets; FAAB Bid: 10%) – In deeper leagues it’s not such a terrible idea to pick up Herndon especially if you’re desperate for a tight end. Coming into Sunday he had three straight games with a touchdown and while he didn’t find the end zone against the Dolphins, he did bring in four catches for 62 yards. Herndon has a tough matchup next week against Buffalo who have only given up three touchdowns to opposing tight ends all season. Don’t bid too much because he is on bye in week 11, but if he manages to score on Buffalo he’ll be worth stashing.
DST to Stream – They’ll need to force a few turnovers, but the 49ers are an okay option in deeper leagues. Obviously the big concern for the 49ers will be containing Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley and it’s highly unlikely they can stop both of them. But with how poor the Giants offensive line is, and how bad Eli has looked the 49ers could surprise some people and get some sacks similar to last Thursday’s game against Oakland.