Fantasy Football Forum Week 10 - Byepocalypse Now!

This is a rough one boys and girls. 6 teams, count them 6 TEAMS are on bye this week. Chances are you’ve got at least one player on bye this week, most likely more with Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, New England, Philadelphia and Washington all getting the week off. That’s a ton of fantasy production just sunning it’s self on a beach somewhere. No Courtland Sutton. No Deshaun Watson. No Leonard Fournette. No Pats D. No Jordan Howard. No… um… Washington players.

Hopefully you were able to pick up some solid bye week fill-ins, or better yet, you planned in advance and already had guys on your roster. If not, then try not to panic. We’ll go over a few waiver wire targets that may still be out there.

QB - Daniel Jones, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Sam Darnold

Daniel Jones has been hit or miss, but has flashed play making ability here in his rookie season. For that reason, I think you can count on him as a bye week fill in vs a Jets team that just allowed Ryan Fitzpatick put up a top 5 week at the position. Speaking of Fitz, there’s nothing sexy about him (other than his beard), but he can be an adequate bye week fill in if you’re in a pinch. Indy isn’t exactly a GREAT match up, but it’s not a terrible one either. He’ll get you some points if your QB is on a bye. And that brings us to one Samuel R. Darnold. I suggested picking him up a couple weeks ago due to his excellent back half schedule. Well, that didn’t start off great. I will say this though, he was a questionable overtuned TD pass away from a pretty solid fantasy week vs Miami. Because of that, and just the absolute cake walk schedule he has over the next 4 weeks, I still think he’s usable. Fire him up if you have no other options as a boom or bust guy in what SHOULD be an easy match up with possibly the worst pass D in the league in the Giants.

RB - J.D. McKissic, Jaylen Samuels, Ty Johnson

Let’s not kid ourselves, there isn’t much out there right now at RB. That said, McKissic is kind of interesting. He’s the only Lions RB post Kerryon to really show anything, and even had a role carved out before Johnson went down. If I were going to bet on one guy in that backfield moving forward, it’d be him. And he gets a Bears D that’s struggling against the run without Akiem Hicks, and has generally been soft against the short passing game. McKissic could have a solid outing in Week 9, and should be usable in a week where so many teams are on bye. Jaylen Samuels is about the only healthy back on the Steelers roster with James Conner, Trey Edmunds, and Benny Snell all on the injury report. The Rams are a middle of the road run D, and Samuels should see plenty of work both on the ground in in the pass game. If he’s on your wire, scoop him up if you need a fill-in. Ty Johnson is more of a desperation add. If you have no other option, you can throw him in and hope the Bears issues in run defense are bad enough that he can get you some production. He’ll have his chances, but I wouldn’t expect him to get more than 10 carries, so use at your own risk.

WR – Ted Ginn Jr., Auden Tate, Russell Gage

With Drew Brees back Ted Ginn should resume his usual boom or bust ways, and with the Saints facing off against the terrible Atlanta pass D, odds are leaning toward boom for this week. If you’re short at WR, he’s not a bad option. Auden Tate has been relatively solid this year. Nothing spectacular, but a consistent WR4 since taking over a starting role in Cincy. It’s hard to say what his production will look like with Ryan Finley at QB, but a 6’5” 230lb WR might be just the type of security blanket a young QB looks for. If you’re in a pinch, you could do worse than Tate. Russell Gage is interesting. He stepped into Mohamed Sanu’s slot role after he was traded to the Pats, and soaked up 9 targets against Seattle. With Matt Ryan likely returning, and with the Falcons perpetually in catch up mode, Gage could continue to see a high target rate. If you’re in bye week hell, Gage could help you out.

TE – Jacob Hollister, Jonnu Smith, Jason Witten

Jacob Hollister was another guy I suggested everyone pick up back in week 8. Yes, he disappointed that week, but he blew up in Week 9 snagging 2 Tds from Russell Wilson. That’s the thing. He’s fairly involved in a high powered offense. Will he drop 17 fantasy points for you every week? No. But a boom or bust TE in a Russel Wilson led offense is a good guy to gamble on, especially in this TE climate. Jonnu Smith looks to be getting another start with Delanie Walker still out. Yeah, he struggled last week vs Carolina, but that’s just how it goes at TE. He’s worth taking a shot on in what looks to be a high scoring game vs KC who seem to be getting Mahomes back. If you need a TE, you could do worse this week than Jonnu. Jason Witten is far from exciting. But he is steady. He has exactly one double digit fantasy performance this season (depending on your league settings), and yet, he’s the TE 12. He’s never going to get you 15 points in a week, but he will get you 6-9 points EVERY week. If you just need something, he’ll give you exactly that. Something.

Hopefully that helps out anyone who’s in a tough spot heading into this mother of all bye weeks (fix it NFL!). Now, let’s take a look at the WCG League of Champions, shall we?

After clawing my way into 1^st place last week, I suffered an embarrassing loss and surrendered the top spot to my WCG cohort Jeff Berckes (who should be back for next week’s fantasy article!). Sam Householder is currently in 8^th place, and surely biding his time for an inevitable playoff run. It’s a super competitive league, just as you’d expect from a league made up of the Division Champions and top scorers from last years WCG Fantasy Tournament.

That brings us to the WCG Daily League, where 55 WCG members compete in a daily league where you set a completely new lineup each and every week. The player who scores the most points at the end of the season, wins. Here’s a look at the current top 10:

BoomShakUrlacher (who I THINK is Sam) is in the lead, where he’s been nearly the entire season. Jeff is holding down 5^th, and I am currently in 8^th after a few “questionable” decisions the past couple weeks (I’ll never forgive you Sam Darnold!). That ends this week (or at least it better, if Kyler Murray knows what’s good for him!).

Anyway, share your thoughts in the comments, ask any start/sit questions you may have, or just shoot the fantasy breeze. This is your Week 10 Fantasy Football Forum. Bear down y’all.

Jeff Berckes is the Fantasy Football writer for Windy City Gridiron, co-hosts the podcast Bears Over Beers, and can be found on twitter @gridironborn. WhiskeyRanger is a freelance graphic artist and Windy City Gridiron Contributor at not-so-large. You can find him on twitter @WhiskeyRanger29.