We are in Week 10 of the fantasy football season and the playoff races are now getting serious. There are also a handful of bye week teams owners still have to account for. These next few weeks will make or break your season, so choose your starters wisely.
Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 10: Quarterbacks
With the playoff races heating up, fantasy owners have little margin for error left in their starting decisions.
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This week’s bye week teams are the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, and Oakland Raiders. That leaves the quarterback position precariously thin, with Andrew Luck, Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford, and Tyrod Taylor all unavailable. So which QBs should fantasy owners plug into their lineups, and which ones should they be avoiding? Let’s take a closer look.
Start
Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. Atlanta Falcons)
Wentz continues to take his rookie lumps, but he piled up the yardage against the New York Giants last week, throwing for 364 yards, his highest total of the season. Wentz is hard to trust on a week-to-week basis in fantasy, but he’ll have one of his best matchups yet against the Falcons’ 31st-ranked pass defense. In a game oozing with shootout potential, Wentz will be on the QB1 borderline.
Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans (vs. Green Bay Packers)
Mariota has been quietly impressive ever since his bad start prompted fantasy owners to drop him in standard leagues. Over the past three games, he has seven touchdown passes to just two interceptions (the picks were his only blemishes in an otherwise solid performance against the San Diego Chargers). His fantasy floor has stabilized and he offers immense upside against the Packers’ middling defense.
Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears (@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Who knows what version of Cutler will show up every Sunday. He could either be as efficient as he was against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 8, or devolve into a turnover machine without warning. At age 33, this is who Cutler is and he’s not going to change. That said, there’s a real chance we’ll see Good Cutler this week when he faces the Bucs’ bottom-tier defense. He’ll be a worthy streamer if you’re in a bye week squeeze.
Sit
Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. Houston Texans)
The King of Garbage Time is padding his stats enough to stay on the fantasy radar, even if he’s nigh unwatchable on the field. Bortles probably won’t have as much luck against the Texans, who have the second-best pass defense with just 190.5 passing yards allowed per game. With new offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett doubling down on the run game, Bortles is hands-off outside of two-QB leagues this week.
Kirk Cousins, Washington (vs. Minnesota Vikings)
The Vikings’ offensive struggles are well-documented at this point, but they still boast a top-shelf defense that’s fourth in passing yards allowed per game. They’re also tied for second in the league with 17 takeaways, which spells trouble for Cousins, who already has seven interceptions this year. Washington will be without DeSean Jackson, leaving the receiving corps even thinner. Cousins has little-to-no shot of repeating his 458-yard performance from London two weeks ago.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins (@ San Diego Chargers)
On paper, Tannehill should have a good matchup with the Chargers’ 26th-ranked pass defense, so it might be tempting to stream him as a QB2. However, he’s been thoroughly marginalized in the game plan -- this is Jay Ajayi’s offense now, and Tannehill is a supporting player at best. That leaves him with an awfully low fantasy ceiling, and a floor that isn’t good enough to help out owners in 12-team leagues. Tannehill can be ignored for the time being.
