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Quick Grades Week 10 (Fantasy Football Start or Sit Advice)

Quick Grades Week 10 (Fantasy Football Start or Sit Advice)

Welcome back, and thanks for joining me as we go through this week’s quick grades! After a shocking blowout victory by Indy on TNF, we’re looking ahead to the rest of the week’s matchups. Some of the highlights for Week 10:

Once the season begins, the most difficult part of any fantasy manager’s week is start or sit decisions. These lineup choices can make or break a week, but unfortunately, not everyone has time to sit down and read lengthy fantasy advice articles. That’s where Quick Grades comes in. Each week of the football season, I’ll be providing a condensed and easily digestible chart of grades for over 250 fantasy-relevant players based on the following four criteria:

Fantasy Ability
Despite a tough matchup, Derrick Henry broke through on a long run last week

Expected Volume
Travis Kelce is always heavily targeted as one of Kansas City’s top pass-catching options

Matchup
Tyreek Hill got loose for 200 yards against Cincinnati’s porous secondary

Surrounding Talent
Sam Darnold has one of the weakest receiving corps in the league

Each of those criteria will be graded on a scale of 1-25, with the cumulative total resulting in a final grade (A+ to F) and a recommendation based on that grade. The criteria are weighted differently based on position, so it’s not a direct 1-for-1 conversion. Surrounding talent refers to offensive line for RB, quarterback play for WR and TE, and skill-position talent for QB.

The players are sorted by grade in descending order with the highest grades at the top and the lowest at the bottom. The highest-graded players receive A+ (Must start), and the lowest receive F. However, there are varying degrees of the F grade, and some players with this grade are flex plays, desperation plays, Hail Mary plays, or should remain on your bench, depending on the grade and position.

I’ll also include D/ST grades, and just like the skill-position players, there will be four criteria used for grading on a scale from 1-25, and final grades will be from 1-100. The four criteria for a D/ST grade are: Matchup, Turnovers, Sacks, and Points Allowed.

The charts are screenshots of a spreadsheet, but the link to the original can be found below. Because players are not searchable within the sheets in this article, they’ve been added to the bottom of the page so that they can be searched and referenced quickly. In addition to the player grades, I’ll provide:

  • Start of the Week: A player outside of the elite, weekly must-starts who could have a big week
  • Stream of the Week: The best player who will likely be available on your waiver wire
  • Deep-League Stream of the Week: The best player who is less than 5% rostered in Yahoo leagues
  • Fade of the Week: A notable player who could be in for a let-down performance
  • Tough Calls: Two similarly valued players who may give fantasy managers difficult decisions

Link to Full Quick Grades Document

It’s easy to see that an ‘A+’ or ‘A’ grade makes a player a must-start, but it might not make sense at first glance why some players are rated ‘C’ or worse and still have ‘Start,’ ‘Strong Start,’ or ‘Flex’ attached to their names. Because of all the different variables that go into a player’s performance in any given week, only those players with the absolute highest potential, best matchup, and strongest talent get ‘A+’ or ‘A’ grades. Therefore, even solid plays will earn grades that may appear sub-optimal on the surface, but it’s all relative from position-to-position. The hard cutoff is 50 for every position, as grades lower than this will earn a ‘Desperation’ or ‘Hail Mary’ tag in every situation.

Now that I’ve covered the basics, let’s get to the grades. Best of luck in all your matchups this week, and if you have any questions, please hit me up on Twitter @ZaktheMonster.

Note: As always, remember to check back on FantasyPros ahead of kickoff to get the latest injury news. I’ll provide “what-if” grades in the event that an injured player doesn’t suit up, but otherwise, these grades assume full health at the time the article is published on Friday morning. 

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Running Backs

Despite Dalvin Cook‘s historic run this season and an incredible two-week stretch, he doesn’t grade out as our top back this week due to a difficult matchup with Chicago. Instead, Aaron Jones vaults to the top of the class thanks to a fantastic matchup with Jacksonville. The rest of the top-12 backs isn’t too shocking, except for the addition of Antonio Gibson, who faces the NFL’s worst run defense.

Start of the Week: J.D. McKissic

Stream & Deep-League Stream of the Week: Troymaine Pope 3% rostered

Fade of the Week: James White

Tough Calls: James Robinson has been the real deal this year, and this week, he gets a crack at one of the worst run defenses in football. Nick Chubb is in a great spot against Houston, but it’s his first game back, and Kareem Hunt is still around. J-Rob is a better play here, and he comes in with a slightly better grade.

*If Darrell Henderson is unable to play, Cam Akers becomes a ‘C Flex’
*With David Montgomery unable to play, neither of Ryan Nall or Cordarrelle Patterson are more than ‘F Hail Mary’ options
*If Mark Ingram is able to play, he and J.K. Dobbins become ‘D Flex’ options, while Gus Edwards becomes an ‘F Desperation’
*With Chris Carson unable to play, DeeJay Dallas becomes an ‘F Desperation’ play, while Travis Homer enters the list as an ‘F Hail Mary’ play

Wide Receivers

DeAndre Hopkins? Davante Adams? Yeah, there are no shocking developments here. Allen Robinson makes his way into the top-five thanks to a fantastic matchup with Minnesota, and despite some up-and-down showings as of late, he’s worth rolling out here. Will Fuller is in a smash spot against Cleveland, as is Cooper Kupp against Seattle.

Start of the Week, Stream of the Week, Deep-League Stream of the Week: Josh Reynolds 3% rostered

Fade of the Week: Marvin Jones

Tough Calls: Even with a remarkably juicy matchup against Minnesota on tap, A-Rob gets edged out by Nuk because of slight advantages in volume and fantasy ability and a huge advantage in QB play.

* If Tim Patrick is unable to play, KJ Hamler becomes a ‘D Desperation’ play

 

Quarterbacks 

No surprise seeing Aaron Rodgers as our top-graded quarterback given his recent play and great matchup with Jacksonville, though there are some new additions to the top-12 in Week 10. We’ve seen Cam Newton post his best game of the season against Seattle and Josh Allen get his groove back against the ‘Hawks. Could we see an eruption from Jared Goff in Week 10? Playing at home against a division rival with a porous defense has Goff ranked way up as our second-highest graded signal-caller here.

There is no recommended deep-league stream of the week here, as the quarterbacks who are less than 5% rostered do not have grades higher than ‘F Desperation.’

Start of the Week: Tua Tagovailoa

Stream of the Week: Baker Mayfield

Fade of the Week: Kirk Cousins

Tight Ends

With Kansas City on bye, this is the rare week Travis Kelce is not the highest-graded tight end of the week. That honor instead falls to Darren Waller, who figures to continue racking up targets. Other than Kelce, T.J. Hockenson has been arguably the most reliable tight end in the game this season, and he’s the next highest-graded option for Week 10.

Start & Stream of the Week: Jordan Reed

Deep-League Stream of the Week: Ross Dwelley 6% rostered

Fade of the Week: Tyler Higbee

Tough Calls: Despite a juicy matchup with Cincinnati, Eric Ebron comes in just behind Mike Gesicki this week. Ebron has been solid across his last two contests, while Gesicki… has not. The matchup for Gesicki is still very favorable, and with Preston Williams out of action, the Dolphins tight end should draw some additional targets, giving him the edge here.

D/ST

Baltimore takes on a flailing Pats’ offense this week in what should be the DST1 performance of the week. Pittsburgh isn’t too far behind with a quality matchup against division-rival Cincy, and three NFC East defenses make their way into the top-5.

Start & Stream of the Week: New York Giants

Fade of the Week: Los Angeles Chargers

Player Search, Find

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Quarterback

Tight End

D/ST

  • Baltimore Ravens B+ Must Start
  • Pittsburgh Steelers B+ Must Start
  • Philadelphia Eagles B Must Start
  • New York Giants C Must Start
  • Washington Football Team D+ Must Start
  • New Orleans Saints D+ Must Start
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers D Start
  • Las Vegas Raiders D Start
  • Detroit Lions D Start
  • Miami Dolphins D Start
  • Minnesota Vikings D Start
  • Cleveland Browns D Start
  • Chicago Bears D Start
  • Green Bay Packers D Desperation
  • New England Patriots D Desperation
  • Los Angeles Rams D Desperation
  • Carolina Panthers F Desperation
  • Seattle Seahawks F Desperation
  • Arizona Cardinals F Desperation
  • Denver Broncos F Desperation
  • Houston Texans F Bench
  • Buffalo Bills F Bench
  • Los Angeles Chargers F Bench
  • San Francisco 49ers F Bench
  • Cincinnati Bengals F Bench
  • Jacksonville Jaguars F Bench

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Beyond our fantasy football content, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Trade Analyzer – which allows you to instantly find out if a trade offer benefits you or your opponent – to our Waiver Wire Assistant – that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team, and by how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.

Zachary Hanshew is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Zachary, check out his archive and follow him @zakthemonster.

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