Week 10 gave us a ton of fantasy production, with several dozen touchdowns recorded, leading to some massive fantasy football outings. Let’s recap some of the most notable games that took place before diving into our Wee 10 studs and duds.
The first two games were starved for offense. Carolina and Chicago was a 16-13 grind on Thursday night between a struggling Bryce Young (QB – Panthers) and second-string Tyson Bagent (QB – Bears) under center, followed up by a 10-6 defensive battle overseas in Frankfurt, Germany during Sunday’s early morning game. Not an ideal start for many fantasy managers.
Then, the 1 p.m. ET slate provided tons of explosive matchups, leading to massive fantasy outings for blue-chip players and fringe prospects alike. C.J. Stroud (QB – Texans) marched into Paycor Stadium and beat Joe Burrow (QB – Bengals) and the Cincinnati Bengals 30-27 with a walk-off field goal, building off momentum from a comeback win over Tampa Bay in Week 9. Now, the Texans carry a 5-4 record into Week 11 and find themselves contending for the AFC South. The 49ers made an emphatic statement with a 34-3 road win over Jacksonville, ending their three-game losing slump with everyone except Christian McCaffery (RB – 49ers) scoring a touchdown, ending his 17-game streak of finding the end zone.
Josh Dobbs (QB – Vikings) continues to captivate the league with his play in Minnesota, recording impressive touchdowns with his arm and legs, while showcasing his mobility inside and outside of the pocket, extending the Vikings win streak to five games in a great win over the Saints. Cleveland and Deshaun Watson (QB – Browns) erased a two touchdown deficit to come back and beat Lamar Jackson (QB – Ravens) and the Baltimore Ravens, with Jerome Ford (RB – Browns) and Amari Cooper (WR – Browns) performing well in a huge divisional road win. Nearly every game had drama, but the Lions and Chargers gave us a high-scoring 41-38 shootout at SoFi Stadium, with Dan Campbell’s decision to go for a fourth down conversion deep in Chargers territory to ice the game with a walk-off field goal improving Detroit’s record to 7-2 to strengthen their Super Bowl aspirations.
Due to the action we saw unfold across the league on Sunday, there’s a ton of fantasy studs and duds to assess and recap in Week 10. NFL fantasy analyst Matt MacKay is here to share a few of his latest Week 10 studs and duds using half-PPR scoring to figure out if the production seen in Week 10 is sustainable or fraudulent moving forward.
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Studs
Justin Herbert (QB – Chargers)
The Chargers’ franchise quarterback dazzled despite the loss, finishing Week 10 as the QB2 with 28.42 fantasy points. Herbert completed over 74 percent of his throws for 323 yards and four touchdowns against the Lions, whose defensive unit is the 12th most favorable fantasy quarterback matchup this season. Herbert’s inconsistency is the only thing holding him back, as he sits at QB3 in fantasy points per game (20.5) through nine games played. A Week 11 matchup against a depleted Packers secondary keeps Herbert in mid-range QB1 territory.
Brian Robinson Jr. (RB – Commanders)
Another running back with a high ceiling from time to time can be found in Washington’s backfield, as Brian Robinson Jr. started his production early against Seattle, ripping off a 51-yard touchdown reception to immediately reward fantasy managers with 11.6 fantasy points. Robinson’s role in the passing attack remained throughout the game, finishing with six receptions on six targets for 119 yards and a touchdown, plus eight carries for 38 yards as a ball carrier. Robinson is RB13 in fantasy points per game (13.2) with two games tallying 24 or more points. He’s guaranteed ten touches per week and an upcoming game against the Giants run defense in Week 11, which is a top-ten matchup, keeps Robinson at fringe RB1 value with top-five upside.
Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – Lions)
The only running back who reached Robinson at 24.7 fantasy points in Week 10 was rookie Jahmyr Gibbs. Despite David Montgomery (RB – Lions) returning and scoring a 70-plus yard touchdown run, Gibbs still managed to go 14-77-2 and added three receptions for 35 yards on five targets. Dan Campbell continuously fed Gibbs at the goal-line, which was where he was previously limited, so the Lions rookie running back is looking like a set-and-forget top-five running back rest of season.
Brandin Cooks (WR – Cowboys)
The majority of Dallas’ offense feasted in the passing attack, including Brandin Cooks, who was largely ineffective this season until facing the Giants in Week 10. Cooks went ballistic, hauling in nine receptions on 10 targets for 173 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 17.3 yards per target, which is incredibly encouraging, as Dak Prescott (QB – Cowboys) has found his confidence being aggressive as a passer downfield. It helps playing alongside CeeDee Lamb, who put up even better numbers than Cooks to finish as the overall WR2, one spot ahead of Cooks, but Tony Pollard’s (RB – Cowboys) inefficient play in the Cowboys’ backfield could signal a philosophical scheme change toward a more pass-centric offense for the remainder of 2023. If this winds up being true, then Cooks is a strong mid-range WR2 with low-end WR1 upside. If false, he’s a boom-or-bust WR3. It’s worth investing in Cooks based on his current trajectory.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – Lions)
Another Detroit Lions skilled player finished in the top-five at his position during the Lions high-octane 41-38 road win over the Los Angeles Chargers. It was none other than Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has been surging lately. St. Brown has logged 24.4 points or more in two of his past four games played, while managing to record 11.2 points as his baseline this season. He now has four consecutive games with over 100 receiving yards and as long as Jared Goff (QB – Lions) continues slinging the football effectively, St. Brown is looking like a bonafide league-winner with soft upcoming matchups against the Bears and Packers.
T.J. Hockenson (TE – Vikings)
The NFC North had a ton of players produce in Week 10, including T.J. Hockenson, who hasn’t missed a beat with Josh Dobbs filling in for an injured Kirk Cousins (QB – Vikings). Hockenson was TE1 in Week 10 with a whopping 15 targets converted to 11 receptions for 134 receiving yards and a touchdown. He’s drawn 27 targets in the past two weeks, and will obviously take a bit of a hit with Justin Jefferson (WR – Vikings) set to come back in the next week or two, but Hockenson has been delivering double-digit production for four straight weeks, so he’s a top-three tight end rest of season at this rate.
Duds
Trevor Lawrence (QB – Jaguars)
The Bye Week may have been the opposite of helpful for Jacksonville, who had won five consecutive games and seemingly cooled off during their off week. The 49ers had a three-game losing skid going into their Week 9 Bye, so they were much more motivated than Jacksonville during a 34-3 rout in Week 10. These excuses still don’t justify Trevor Lawrence’s performance against what was previously a 49ers defense leaking points and explosive chunk plays. Lawrence finished Week 10 as QB30, going 17-of-29 for 185 yards and two interceptions, adding two carries for seven yards. Tennessee’s porous defense gives Lawrence a much-needed bounce-back spot, but he’s still QB24 in fantasy points per game this season (13.7), sitting behind Baker Mayfield (QB – Buccaneers) (QB19) and Jordan Love (QB – Packers) (QB18), so tread cautiously with Lawrence, as Travis Etienne (RB – Jaguars) has been the focal point of the Jaguars offense.
Tony Pollard (RB – Cowboys)
An RB34 finish against a bad Giants run defense is the last thing fantasy managers wanted out of Tony Pollard in Week 10. The Cowboys began shifting touches to Rico Dowdle (RB – Cowboys), who looked more explosive and finished at the goal-line in garbage time to log 13 fantasy points, while Pollard turned 15 carries into 5.5 fantasy points, while failing to earn a single target on a day Dak Prescott threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns. The panic meter is at 10 and Pollard’s trade window has closed for now, so maybe in a top-two matchup against the Panthers in Week 11, we’ll see Pollard crack 20 fantasy points for the first time since Week 1.
Adam Thielen (WR – Panthers)
Adam Thielen remains WR11 in fantasy points per game (14) despite an awful outing from Bryce Young in a plus-matchup against Chicago’s pass defense in Week 10. Thielen caught six of ten targets for 42 yards, finishing with 7.2 points. Thielen has now gone back-to-back games with under 7.5 fantasy points and the Panthers’ offense is trending in the wrong direction. Dallas’ defense in Week 11 is further reason to fade Thielen, whose regressed significantly since a 23-point outing against Miami in Week 6. Thielen is a fringe WR3 against a bottom-two fantasy wide receiver matchup against Dallas in Week 11.
Jonnu Smith (TE – Falcons)
After popping against Minnesota in Week 9, Jonnu Smith all but disappeared in Week 10, recording one reception for one yard on two targets in a bottom-ten matchup against Arizona’s pass defense. Atlanta’s season has begun to spiral downward, with multiple quarterback changes and enigmatic play-calling preventing any reliability from trusting most of the Falcons’ offense. Smith has three games between 11.6 and 18.5 fantasy points this season, to his credit, so it’s not like we haven’t seen some solid ceiling performances. Atlanta goes on Bye in Week 11 and Smith gets two top-13 matchups against the Saints and Jets afterward, but he feels like an unreliable dart throw in mid-range TE2 territory. Fantasy managers don’t have to cut Smith necessarily but his upside isn’t encouraging rest of season.
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Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.