Fantasy Football

In an NFL week filled with fantasy joy (Justin Jefferson is a KING) and fantasy tragedy (Cooper Kupp), Watson put his stamp on the week and potentially the season moving forward. This is why we constantly grind the waiver wire. Change happens in this league, and it happens quickly. All it takes is one Sunday, and the outlook for a player can rise and fall more sharply than in any other sport. How do Rachaad White managers feel on Monday morning? How heavy of a weight was lifted off the backs of Jonathan Taylor dynasty managers? Meanwhile, Kupp managers are entirely gutted.

The worst part of our beloved game is the frequency of injuries. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of such a fast-paced, contact-heavy sport. It’s something that is important to remember as we approach the first full week of the preseason. Luckily for the NFL players, they have access to some of the best doctors in the world and can usually return to form at least by the next season. Unfortunately for us fantasy players, it’s not always easy to know when a player will get hurt. To another degree, sometimes your roster isn’t big enough to plan ahead for an injury. This series, the Infirmary Report, will give you advice on the injuries that have happened every week during the season. Without further ado, here is the Infirmary Report: Post Week 10 of regular season action.

As we approach the end of the season, our strategy on Prediction Strike shifts towards finding guys that not only can make money in the next 3-4 weeks, BUT also will grow in future seasons. Enter George Pickens.

This is Betting the Spread: Week 10 in the NFL. Just because we were approaching .500 didn’t mean we wanted to go .500. After a scorching 10-4 week in Week 8, Week 9 didn’t treat us as well. A 5-5-2 mark puts us at 59-64-4 on the season. We still have plenty of time to get back to .500, but we’re also past the mid-point of the NFL season. Hopefully, we get there this week. Let’s get Week 10 rolling!

We are halfway through the regular season already. Welcome back to my written series on the NFL’s best pick ‘em player props: Week 10! As usual, I will review selections from the previous week, then give out my favorite player prop pick ‘ems for the upcoming weekend on the DFS pages of Underdog Fantasy and Sleeper.

Yes, Terry McLaurin has seen 8+ targets in each game since Taylor Heinicke took over at quarterback while facing touch matchups and secondaries in the Packers and Colts, but the Heinicke-McLaurin pairing went 0-2 against Darius Slay and the Eagles last season on its attempts to get McLaurin to finish inside the top-30 at his position.

I’m fading Josh Palmer and recommending his teammate, DeAndre Carter. Obviously, monitor Keenan Allen’s status, but he didn’t practice on Thursday and not trending toward playing at the time of this writing. In the past two games, Carter has been forced into play. He’s responded with snap shares over 80-percent, over 6 targets per game, and over 70+ Air Yards per game.

Amari Cooper returns from a bye week as the undisputed target hog on the Browns. He has topped 100 Air Yards in three of his past four games including a 126 Air Yards showing in Week 8 in which he finished as the WR7. Look for Cooper to continue his fantasy dominance against an exploitable Dolphins secondary this week.

Marcus Mariota’s middle name must be ‘miracle’ because not many predicted he’d be the Falcons starting quarterback this long. Despite 30 (No. 12) Deep Ball Attempts, he throws one of the worst deep balls in the league. He missed Kyle Pitts for a walk-in long ball by a mile on Sunday. He’s the poster child for an inefficient backup, yet he produces 0.64 (No. 5) Fantasy Points per Dropback. While the Falcons run near a league-low in pass attempts, it’s worth noting that Mariota has thrown for over 300 air yards in two straight close Game Scripts, including a game vs Carolina. It might be ugly, and there will be low points, but Mariota is a QB2 with a big-play upside and a rushing role. I expect a QB2 performance in what should be a slower grudge match on a slow week.

The Dolphins were No. 9 in fantasy points allowed to receivers entering Week 9, where they allowed seven receptions and a touchdown to Darnell Mooney. Miami has allowed at least 24 points in six games this season, with teams passing often in shootouts against the Dolphins’ fast offense. If Cleveland finds itself in a shootout, Cooper will be utilized exponentially more.

The Packers have not allowed over 220 passing yards since Week 3, snagging four interceptions over their last three games. Green Bay’s secondary has shown an ability to contain opposing receiving corps well this season. They do have some injuries on the defense, but Jaire Alexander and company have the secondary locked down. Expect the Cowboys to instead attack the Packers’ suspect run defense. Prescott has a tough fantasy matchup this week.

Welcome in to the Week 10 edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to RB! No special intro today, just some cold hard running-back talk. IF you are new to the column, this is the place we talk all things running back streaming. Each week we discuss running back usage, matchups, and waiver opportunities to convert the least amount of capital into a playable running back position on your fantasy teams.