Ten Things We Learned for Week 10 (Fantasy Football)
Well Footclan, we’ve made it to the double-digit weeks of the NFL. It hasn’t been easy but we’ve stuck through it and our goal remains the same: win a fantasy football championship. And we’re here to help you on this journey! Tune in to the daily podcast where the fellas share with you their insight and analysis. The fantastic writing and editing staff keeps you up to date with the latest in news, trends, injury updates and so much more. And keep it locked in here, because although we’re moving on to the next week, there’s still so much information to glean from the previous week’s games. Here are some of the key points we learned from Week 9.
Cowboys Won’t Repeat 2023 Success
Last year, the main contingent of offensive pieces for the Cowboys, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, and Tony Pollard, were all better in the second half of the season. The Prescott and Lamb combo was a league-winning duo in many instances. The way the schedule looked this year, that same sort of uptick in fantasy production during the back half of the season felt not only possible but probable. But even before Prescott and Lamb got hurt on Sunday (Prescott is likely headed to IR), the Cowboys’ offense looked abysmal. Lamb might not miss time, but he’ll be difficult to trust as an elite WR option with Cooper Rush starting at quarterback. And Rico Dowdle takes a hit too, despite him looking like the leader of the backfield over the last several games. Overall, fantasy managers who were banking on a second-half rise for Cowboys players on their roster might want to look elsewhere.
Skyrocketing to the Mooney
Darnell Mooney is the WR12 in half-PPR scoring so far through nine weeks. Let that sink in. Even fantasy managers who had faith in Mooney couldn’t have predicted this outcome. Mooney has shown flashes throughout his career, and in 2021 had over 1,000 yards receiving and finished as the WR24. And Kirk Cousins has proven he can support two high-end WRs in the past with Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen both finishing in the top eight in 2020. He is now supporting two WR1s in Drake London and Mooney. I thought Mooney was a valuable late-round selection in drafts and had confidence he could be a weekly flex start, as many in the fantasy community believed. But a WR1? Even the most hardcore truthers have to be shocked.
Drake Maye Enters Streaming Conversation
Despite an uninspiring supporting cast, Drake Maye has been a beacon of light in the games he’s started this season for the Patriots. In three full games, he scored 18.7, 20.8, and 22.5 fantasy points. And he’s running, too. That extra cherry on top makes him a safer option than you’d expect. The Bears this week isn’t a great matchup, but after that, the Patriots play the Rams, Dolphins, Colts, and Cardinals. Maye is a viable streamer for fantasy teams lacking options at the quarterback position.
Waddle’s Woeful Season Continues
Cover your eyes Waddle managers. The talented fourth-year wideout is currently the WR68 in half-PPR scoring this season. This is coming off 2023 where he finished as the WR34. His first two years in the league he finished as the WR16 and WR7. So what’s going on? He’s always been a player who gets banged up during games but has only missed four games in four seasons. And it’s hard to trust him when Tua Tagovailoa is out, but even in games Tua’s played he’s been a shell of himself. His downfall this year is unexplainable. With the Dolphins struggling to win games and a brutal schedule ahead, unfortunately, it might be a lost season for Waddle. Sure, there are a couple of favorable games against the Rams and Raiders coming up, but the Dolphins close the year against the Jets twice, the 49ers, and the Browns. In redraft leagues, you might want to get out if he has a good game over the next two weeks while you still can.
Trade for Tyrone Tracy Jr. If You Still Can
With Devin Singletary out for a couple of games, the backfield belonged exclusively to Tyrone Tracy Jr., but I was curious to see how the opportunities would shake out when Singletary returned. In three games since Singletary came back, Tracy maintained the lion’s share of the work with 67%, 57%, and 72% of the snap counts. This remains Tracy’s backfield and it should stay that way for the rest of the season. With the exception of a game against the Ravens, the Giants have a favorable schedule for running backs the rest of the season, including a matchup against the Colts in the fantasy championship week. Tracy has real RB2 appeal and if you can trade for him I’d recommend it.
C.J. Stroud Concerns
There were high hopes for C.J. Stroud this season after the masterful rookie campaign he put together. So far, the second-year QB hasn’t looked like he did last year, despite having more offensive players to work with like Stefon Diggs, Joe Mixon, and a healthy Tank Dell. Stroud struggled out of the gate and was the QB16 through three weeks. It didn’t get better from there with Nico Collins out and now Diggs will miss the rest of the season. It’s going to be tough sledding for Stroud if he couldn’t put up top-10 QB numbers with all his weapons and now has fewer options on the field. At this point, it’s fair to drop him and consider him a streaming option only in favorable matchups.
Bijan’s Bizarre Usage
Jason Moore pointed this out on the podcast recently and the information comes from friend of the show JJ Zachariason – Bijan Robinson‘s running back shares keep fluctuating week to week. He goes from a 70% rushing share in one week to 47% the next then back to 67% followed by a 46% share. It’s happened over the last seven weeks and he’s coming off a 76% share on Sunday. You’re starting Bijan every week, but if the pattern holds that means next week will be a lower percentage of rushes. Maybe that means Tyler Allgeier becomes a flex option during those off weeks, or at the very least it should be considered to avoid Bijan in DFS formats on those weeks.
TE Needy? Look To Mike Gesicki
First, we have to double-check that Jason added Mike Gesicki‘s new nickname to his profile. Yup, he’s “Sticky” now. Gesicki has been a favorite target for Joe Burrow in games when Tee Higgins is out, which has been a lot recently. In games without Higgins, Gesicki is seeing a nearly 20% target share. He is the TE12 on the season and is coming off his best game, a 24.5-point fantasy point performance. Higgins will likely be out at least another game and Gesicki has a good matchup against the Ravens on Thursday, who despite being a great defense against the run, can be thrown on. With three every-week starting tight ends on bye this week, Brock Bowers, David Njoku, and Tucker Kraft, Gesicki makes for a good spot start and potentially a starter for the rest of the year.
Taysom Hill Time
The Saints are an absolute dumpster fire right now, but there’s still fantasy treasure to be had. Alvin Kamara is a sure start every week of course, but with Rashid Shaheed out and now Chris Olave potentially missing an extended period of time, someone else has to step up for the Saints’ offense. Enter Taysom Hill, everyone’s favorite QB/RB/TE. Hill is always a favorite to get goal-line carries; there are packages built for him where he is under center at quarterback and now he’s running more routes than he ever has before. Hill had a 17.9% target share on Sunday, a season-high, and ran a route on 47% of dropbacks, also a season-high. Usually a risky fantasy play, Hill feels more secure now than he ever has, and like Gesicki, could be a great fill-in option at tight end with bye weeks and other TE struggles.
Keep An Eye On Ja’Tavion Sanders
We’ll cap off our Week 9 lessons learned with another look at the tight end position, as Ja’Tavion Sanders is starting to make a name for himself. You might need a pair of Mike Wright’s steel underpants for this one, but Sanders could be in play in redraft leagues in the coming weeks. The rookie TE has seen a 20% target share in two of the last three games and finished as the TE12 and TE9 those weeks. He saw 85% of the snap count on Sunday, a season-high. And with Diontae Johnson and Jonathan Mingo both gone via trades and Adam Thielen still out with injury, the targets have to go somewhere. Well, that somewhere could very easily be Sanders.
Comments
Can I drop Laporta for gesicki