Taking the reigns this week for our analyst Scott Rinear, welcome to the Week 10 edition of In-Between Media‘s “Fantasy Football Winners & Losers.”
Who showed up, and who left us on read for the first double-digit week of the NFL season? Our winners, losers and panic meter below highlight crucial value changes to note moving forward!
Fantasy Football Winners & Losers: Week 10
Fantasy Football Winners
Jahmyr Gibbs (RB, Detroit Lions)
A shootout against the Los Angeles Chargers led to Jahmyr Gibbs rushing for 77 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, adding three receptions for 35 yards on five targets. Pending “Monday Night Football,” Gibbs is the Points Per Reception (PPR) RB2 on the week. This makes it three-straight RB3 overall-or-better performances for the Detroit rookie.
What makes Gibbs a significant Week 10 fantasy football winner is that this was the first game for Gibbs north of 13 PPR points while David Montgomery was active. Returning from injury, the former Bear also had himself a game, rushing for 116 yards and a TD. Still, Gibbs out-touched Montogemry 19 to 12. In addition, Gibbs saw six red zone touches to Montgomery’s four and multiple carries inside the five-yard line.
With four plus matchups in the next five games for the Lions, Gibbs now has a league-winning trajectory, playing for the 7-2 Lions.
Jaylen Warren & Najee Harris (RBs, Pittsburgh Steelers)
The Steelers’ offense seems to be turning the corner, and it came on the back of 205 rushing yards in Week 10. Najee Harris went for 96 total yards and a score on 20 touches. His 18.6 PPR points marked a season-high and the Alabama product’s fourth-straight game with double-digit PPR points.
Meanwhile, Jaylen Warren set new career highs in rushing yards (101) and PPR points (19). Warren will finish as an RB1 this week. More importantly, it’s the sixth time in nine games Warren has crossed the double-digit PPR point mark. He’s been a sneaky solid RB2 option all season.
With Harris and Warren pacing as the PPR RB9 and RB15 over the last month, their fantasy stock is on the rise. After facing Cleveland next week, it should be four straight solid matchups for the Pittsburgh backfield. Either ride the wave or use these performances as trade leverage.
Sam Howell (QB, Washington Commanders)
Despite Ron Rivera‘s best efforts to sabotage this team, Eric Bieniemy has the Commanders’ offense humming, making second-year Sam Howell look like a franchise quarterback. The former North Carolina Tar Heel provided another gunslinging performance, ripping 44 attempts for 29 completions, 312 yards and three TDs. It was good for his sixth QB1 performance of the season and fifth in his last six games, making him a clear Week 10 fantasy football winner.
Howell is now the fantasy QB3 on the season and is currently on pace for 4,731 yards and 29 TDs. That would have ranked him second in passing yards and tied for fifth in passing TDs a season ago. While part of that has to do with Howell’s play, more than anything, it’s a product of his volume. He’s averaging 39.7 passing attempts per game, including four straight games of 42+ attempts.
With Washington’s defense easier to cut through than a sheet pan and forcing Howell to throw, there is a short list of QBs I would rather roster than him the rest of the way. That includes Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, C.J. Stroud and maybe Justin Herbert.
Fantasy Football Losers
Trevor Lawrence (QB, Jacksonville Jaguars)
The third-year regression continued Sunday for Trevor Lawrence, as he completed 17 of 29 attempts for 198 yards and two interceptions, totaling 2.1 fantasy points. The dud performance could be chalked up to rust coming off the bye or a vaunted 49ers’ pass rush, but it was still a continuation of a disappointing season for Lawrence. He has now scored nine total touchdowns to six interceptions this season and has yet to hit even 19 points in a game.
Lawrence profiles as a Week 10 fantasy football loser because, with the ascension of other signal-callers like Howell, Jared Goff, Joshua Dobbs and Baker Mayfield, No. 16 is borderline droppable in 12-team, 1QB leagues. Unless Doug Pederson decides to take over playcalling from Press Taylor, I have no interest in starting Lawrence in divisional games in Weeks 11 or 12 or against tough defenses in Cleveland or Baltimore in Weeks 14 or 15.
Tony Pollard (RB, Dallas Cowboys)
The Dallas Cowboys have averaged 40 points per game over their last three contests. Yet, Tony Pollard has averaged 7.1 PPR points per game in that span. As often with complimentary backs who take over a lead role, Pollard’s efficiency has cratered, averaging just 3.9 Yards Per Carry (YPC) this season. He hasn’t hit paydirt since Week 1 and saw no targets in a game on Sunday for the first time since Week 3 of last season. Pollard is now closer to a FLEX play than he was as the lock-and-loaded RB1 he was drafted to be.
Still, the light could be at the end of the tunnel. Pollard remains seeing an absurd snap share with the Dallas starters and has three more plus-matchups on deck.
Khalil Herbert (RB, Chicago Bears)
Though Khalil Herbert was inactive, he still serves as a Week 10 fantasy football loser. Not only did he miss a smash spot against the Carolina Panthers on a short week, but D’Onta Foreman continues to impress. The seventh-year veteran clawed his way to a PPR RB13 finish, pending “Monday Night Football.” Foreman has totaled 351 rushing yards and four TDs while “looking like one of the Bears’ best offensive players this season,” as Mags put it on our Friday Podcast episode.
With Roschon Johnson continuing to take a lot of the pass-catching duties in the Chicago backfield, it is hard to figure out where Herbert factors in moving forward. In addition, only one-plus matchup is left on the schedule for the Bears’ backfield, plus a Week 13 bye.
Not What It Seems: Fantasy Football Panic Meter
The following players were fantasy disappointments in Week 9, but my concern is low moving forward:
- Travis Etienne (RB, Jacksonville Jaguars)
- Diontae Johnson (WR, Pittsburgh Steelers)
- Terry McLaurin (WR, Washington Commanders)
- James Conner (RB, Arizona Cardinals)
The following players were disappointments in Week 9, and I am concerned about moving forward:
- Lamar Jackson (QB, Baltimore Ravens)
- Saquon Barkley (RB, New York Giants)
- Derrick Henry (RB, Tennesee Titans)
- Christian Watson (WR, Green Bay Packers)
- Calvin Ridley (WR, Jacksonville Jaguars)
Thanks for reading my Week 10 fantasy football winners and losers. And for more fantasy football and uplifting content, especially start/sit advice, you can find me on Twitter @Between_SethFF.
*Photo Credit: Junfu Han – USA TODAY Sports*