Thursday night wasn’t the prettiest matchup for both teams’ backfields as we saw Adrian Peterson carry the ball 21 times only to accumulate 29 yards and a fumble. He was also tackled for a safety and watched Andre Ellington get a fourth quarter touchdown from one yard out. On the other side of the ball, Thomas Rawls was the lead back, but only had 10 carries for 27 yards. On the bright side, if you’re a Jimmy Graham owner or are somehow a Jermaine Gresham owner, then you had a fantastic start to Week 10.

Whatever boat you’re in, there’s still more football to be played on Sunday and Monday. The lineup decisions you make from now until then may be simple if you’re stacked don’t have any bye week issues. If that’s not you, then take a look below as we ask our featured experts to identify potential sleepers that could give you a boost, and see which higher ranked players could disappoint.

If you don’t see any of your players listed below, be sure to check out our Who Should I Start? tool. You can also import your team into My Playbook for instant advice specific to your team.

Q1. Give us a player outside of our top 100 Flex that represents a deep sleeper start and tell us why you think he has upside this week.

Martavis Bryant (WR – PIT): at IND
“Call it me being human, call it me being sentimental, call it whatever you want, but Martavis Bryant and the Steelers need to move past their differences and come to an understanding. He wants targets and they want him to stop talking in the media. They had potential trade suitors at the trade deadline that they turned away. Why? Not because they were setting an example, but because this should be a mutually beneficial relationship. The Steelers offense has disappointed on so many levels this year and will now head to Indianapolis to play on a track without their No. 1 cornerback and their No. 1 free safety. Ben Roethlisberger has already come out and said that they need to get Bryant going. What better way to do that in their game off the bye week against a lowly Colts secondary? Call me crazy, but I’m banking on him being a factor in fantasy football again, and it starts this week.”
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)

Rex Burkhead (RB – NE): at DEN
“Now while he is a running back, I am not expecting him to put up good rushing stats, in fact I think they’ll be bad. However, I do think Rex Burkhead will be featured in the passing attack versus a Denver defense that outside of last week, has been the best in the league versus the run. Chris Hogan will miss the game and Amendola has been limited in practice this week. Rex might see plenty of snaps in the slot. Even if he’s not in the slot, based on last week’s numbers where he had 7 catches for 68 yards, Rex should be targeted just as much as if not more this week and outperform his current ranking outside of the top 100.”
– Brendan Donahue (EDSFootball)

Kendall Wright (WR – CHI): vs. GB
“The last time Kendall Wright played the Packers, he caught four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. Green Bay’s secondary is atrocious – the team is surrendering the fifth-most points to receivers – and will likely be without Pro Bowl safety Morgan Burnett. Wright was targeted more than any other Chicago receiver in the team’s previous game (8 times), and that could translate to success versus a terrible defense.”
– Walter Cherepinsky (WalterFootball)

Chris Godwin (WR – TB): vs. NYJ
“There isn’t a safe player in the bunch with Adam Humphries just missing the cut-off. Instead, I’ll take his teammate, Chris Godwin who has serious upside every time he runs a route. The rookie from Penn State has big-play ability and should see 30+ snaps for the first time in his career with Mike Evans suspended this week. All it takes is one play for him to earn his start and we will likely see a handful of opportunities.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Wayne Gallman (RB – NYG): as SF
“The 49ers are a get-well defense and that’s good for Orleans Darkwa this week, but maybe Wayne Galman can get in on the fun too. Galman averages a credible 4.0 YPC this year and will occasionally pick up work in the receiving game. With four teams on bye and a host of offenses dragged down by key injuries – to be fair, the Giants are in that bucket – perhaps Galman could be a dart throw that connects.”
– Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports)

Q2. On the flip side, what player inside the top 40 Flex is likely to disappoint fantasy owners this week?

Ameer Abdullah (RB – DET): vs. CLE
“Nobody seems to understand that running backs don’t post fantasy numbers against the Browns this year. Through nine weeks, they have allowed just 2.91 yards per carry and just three touchdowns. Ameer Abdullah hasn’t had room to run against bad defenses, let alone one that has played well. If you’re thinking that he’ll score a touchdown against them, he may have to do it on a long run after fumbling twice last week and maybe losing some of those goal-line opportunities. He’s a semi-high floor play this week, but he’s not a top 40 player.”
– Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros)

DeAndre Hopkins (WR – HOU): at LAR
“This is not an indictment of the player himself but more of the situation he’s in and who’s throwing to him. I don’t like Deandre Hopkins at his current ranking this week. Yes, he got force-fed targets last week by Savage but my feeling is that they have the same approach this week as that game plan led to a 20-14 loss to the Colts. They also go up against the Rams who have given up the 5th fewest fantasy points to opposing WRs this year so I think Hopkins will underperform relative to his ranking this week.”
– Brendan Donahue (EDSFootball)

Robby Anderson (WR – NYJ): at TB
“Forgive me for not being a believer in Robby Anderson. I know he has scored three touchdowns in as many recent games, but he’s bound to regress to the mean. Anderson is not a very talented football player and Josh McCown is due for major regression as well. The Buccaneers may seem like a good matchup for Anderson, but Brent Grimes will be back on the field for Tampa, and he’ll provide a big boost for its secondary.”
– Walter Cherepinsky (WalterFootball)

Aaron Jones (RB – GB): at CHI
“If I had to choose between starting Aaron Jones or someone boring like Frank Gore or even Marquise Goodwin, then I’d take the boring route. Jones may very well post another 100+ yard performance, but he has major bust potential after the Packers trusted him with just 7 touches last week. Now that it has been a month since Ty Montgomery injured his ribs, the job may be entirely given back to him, plus the weather forecast has rain, which may further dampen the Packers’ offense.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Stefon Diggs (WR – MIN): at WAS
“The Washington pass defense has been terrific on the boundaries this year but not so hot in the slot. That pushes me to be aggressive on Adam Thielen this Sunday, but I’m ranking Stefon Diggs less optimistically than usual.”
– Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports)

Thank you to the experts for naming their sleeper starts and sits. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter if you’re not already doing so and check out our latest podcast below for more great advice.

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