Week 10 was, undoubtedly, the wildest installment of NFL football yet in 2022. From a fantasy perspective, it was dominated by the uncertain game-day status of three signal-callers: Josh Allen, Kyler Murray and Matthew Stafford.

Murray and Stafford were scheduled to face off in the late window of games, adding further complications for fantasy managers, but thankfully we had a pretty good sense by 1 p.m. ET that both would sit. Far and away, the biggest intrigue centered on Allen. His status was taken “hour by hour” throughout the week until 23 minutes before kickoff, when we finally got official word that he would start and not merely serve as Buffalo’s emergency backup.

Allen’s matchup with the Vikings also happened to become the game of the year, a wild affair that saw Minnesota come back from 17 points down in the second half with the help of the catch of the year by Justin Jefferson. The Bills looked certain to hold on after Kirk Cousins was stuffed inches short of the goal line on fourth down in the game’s final minute, but that all changed when the Vikings’ D gobbled up Allen’s fumbled snap in the end zone on the very next play. Then, with the help of a blown call by the referees, Allen and Co. drove down the field in 34 seconds to kick a field goal and force overtime. After a Minnesota field goal, the Vikings ultimately prevailed when Allen was picked off in the end zone. Whew.

But we’re just getting started recapping Week 10. Here are the rest of the week’s biggest surprises, disappointments and other top takeaways:

Top Five Surprises

Aaron Rodgers may have finally found a wide receiver and his name is Christian Watson. Rodgers posted season-lows in pass attempts (20) and completions (14) against Dallas, but he did throw three touchdowns for the first time all year – and all three of them went to Watson, a talented second-round pick out of North Dakota State.

You know the routine with Rodgers and rookie wideouts by now: he can be extremely impatient with them, especially when they drop passes. Marquez Valdes-Scantling comes to mind. But beggars can’t be choosers when you’re working with one of the league’s least credentialed receiving corps.

Watson dropped a surefire touchdown on Green Bay’s first play of the season, and he dropped two more passes on the Packers’ opening drive on Week 10. But Rodgers stuck with him, and Watson went on to have a massive day for both the Packers and fantasy managers. Drops tend to get a lot of attention, but they aren’t very predictive of future performance or opportunity. Watson hammered that point home in the course of a single game.

The bottom line is that Rodgers and the Packers need a playmaker like Watson to jumpstart their moribund passing game. While there are sure to be more ups and downs for the inexperienced rookie, you’ll find very few players with his level of upside so widely available on the waiver wire. He’s well worth a sizable FAAB bid.

The answer to “Raheem Mostert or Jeff Wilson?” is yes. It was somewhat surprising that Wilson led this backfield in snaps in his first game as a Dolphin, even though he was familiar with the system, and it’s equally surprising that Wilson played more than twice as many snaps as Mostert this week. But the main takeaway for fantasy purposes is that both players delivered helpful stat lines in both games. At this point, Wilson has to be considered the preferred fantasy option of the two, a high-end RB2 with RB1 upside. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Mostert belongs on fantasy benches.

Under coach of the year candidate Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins have now scored 30+ points in three straight games and look like one of the best offenses in the NFL. The 49ers regularly supported two fantasy-relevant RBs while McDaniel was there, and the same thing is now happening in Miami. While Wilson is shaping up as the team’s workhorse, Mostert has shown throughout his career that he can be extremely efficient on a per-touch basis and is a big play waiting to happen. The lightened workload also improves Mostert’s chances of staying healthy and upright for the entire year.

Kadarius Toney and Isiah Pacheco stake claim as top KC playmakers (besides Travis Kelce). The Chiefs’ skill position players have been volatile this season beyond Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. Still, we’ve seen JuJu Smith-Schuster and Clyde Edwards-Helaire carve out fantasy value – and now it could be Toney and Pacheco’s turn.

Toney was going to eventually get a significant opportunity after Kansas City parted with third- and sixth-round draft picks to acquire him. Still, he may have been slowly eased in if the Chiefs’ other receivers had remained healthy. Instead, Mecole Hardman missed Week 10 with an abdominal injury, and Smith-Schuster exited the game after taking a scary hit to the head. Marquez Valdes-Scantling also briefly left the game before returning. That led to Toney posting 90 scrimmage yards and a touchdown despite only handling six touches and playing 45% of the snaps.

Pacheco’s emergence was more pre-determined and was several weeks in the making. After being named the “starter” in Week 7, Pacheco saw a slight uptick in snaps but still played less often than Jerick McKinnon over the next two games. In Week 10, the rookie finally got featured usage, playing more snaps than McKinnon and CEH combined and carrying the ball 16 times for 82 yards, while Edwards-Helaire did not get a single touch.

Going forward, Toney’s fantasy appeal will largely be determined by the health status of Smith-Schuster and Hardman, while Pacheco’s will be game-flow dependent. Neither player is a locked-in fantasy starter, but both hinted at the upside they possess when the usage is there.

Matt Ryan returns to lineup, Jonathan Taylor finally delivers and Saturday’s Colts win. It’s been a bizarre week in Indianapolis, where Colts owner Jim Irsay axed respected head coach Frank Reich and replaced him with former Colts lineman Jeff Saturday, who has never coached at the college or NFL level. Things got even stranger just prior to kickoff when Saturday – who had said at his first press conference that Sam Ehlinger was his starter – made a last-minute decision to go back to Matt Ryan instead.

The decision to turn to Ehlinger while the team was still in playoff contention reportedly came from Irsay, not Reich, but it never made much sense. It is somewhat ironic, then, that Saturday, a close confidant of Irsay’s, was the one who made the obvious move to reverse it.

Organizational drama aside, Ryan’s return to the starting lineup breathes some life into the Colts for fantasy purposes. While he is hardly a stud at this stage of his career, Ryan can at least get the ball into the hands of his playmakers. That’s good news for Michael Pittman, who is back on the WR2 radar despite a so-so game. It’s also great news for Parris Campbell, who has at least seven catches and a TD in each of his last three games with Ryan. He’s shaping up as a viable WR3.

The Colts’ return to offensive respectability is also a positive development for Jonathan Taylor, who got 20 carries for the first time since Week 4, topped 100 yards and scored a touchdown for the first time since Week 1. With Nyheim Hines now in Buffalo and Deon Jackson dealing with a knee injury, JT is set up for massive workloads moving forward. He’s got a lot of work to do to reward fantasy managers who took him first overall, but he’s at least back to being an every-week RB1.

CeeDee Lamb finally tops 100 yards, hauls in two scores. Lamb hasn’t exactly had a bad fantasy season, but he had settled in as a high-floor, low-ceiling fantasy option with Cooper Rush under center. In Week 10, we finally were reminded of what Lamb’s ceiling can be like when he’s catching passes from Dak Prescott. Lamb set season-highs in targets (15), catches (11), yards (150) and touchdowns (two) against a tough Green Bay secondary, and will finish as the highest-scoring fantasy player of Week 10 other than quarterbacks (unless anyone outdoes him on “Monday Night Football”). He has top-five WR upside over the season’s second half.

Top 5 Disappointments

Fantasy savior Cooper Kupp goes down with ankle injury. It would be disappointing enough to learn that Kupp had -1 yards on Sunday after producing at least 64 scrimmage yards in every other game this season. But that also wasn’t altogether shocking with John Wolford at QB. It’s much more concerning that Kupp left the game with a scary-looking ankle injury and couldn’t put any weight on the leg as he hobbled to the bench.

The good news is that Kupp reportedly “avoided a worst-case scenario with the injury,” which presumably means it is not season-ending. The full battery of tests will ultimately tell the tale, but fantasy managers need to be bracing for a multi-week absence for their WR1.

Leonard Fournette has passport mishap, gets benched, scores TD, throws INT, injures hip. What a wild week for Lenny. First, he almost misses the Bucs’ trip to Germany when his replacement passport arrives late due to weather. Then he begins the game on the bench as rookie Rachaad White gets the start. Then he enters the game, scores a short rushing touchdown, throws an interception on an absurd pass attempt to Tom Brady, and leaves the game early after the hip pointer.

White ended with 105 rushing yards on 22 carries. Fournette is likely only looking at a short absence, but it was only a matter of time until White turned the Bucs’ backfield into a near-even timeshare. Any time missed by Fournette will give White more opportunities to lock down playing time. But big picture, this is beginning to look like an Ezekiel Elliott–Tony Pollard situation. It’s time to spend up on White if he’s still available in your league.

Khalil Herbert out-carries David Montgomery, but leaves with hip injury. It’s kind of a shame for Herbert’s fantasy managers that he left with a hip injury because he looked to finally be overtaking Montgomery in Chicago’s backfield.

It’s been almost a month since Bears coach Matt Eberflus announced that he planned to go with the “hot hand” at running back. Sure enough, Herbert now has had more rushing attempts than Montgomery in two of the last three games. Montgomery has maintained the edge in snaps, while also running more passing routes, but the gap in snaps narrowed considerably in this game.

With the Bears’ offense on the rise under Justin Fields, both running backs carry a good bit of fantasy appeal, even as part of a committee. Were Herbert to miss time, Montgomery could push for RB1 numbers. But if his injury proves to be minor, Herbert may end up being the slightly more valuable fantasy option over the rest of the season, especially in non-PPR formats.

Bye week didn’t remind Russ how to cook, and now Jerry Jeudy is hurt I won’t lie; I kind of convinced myself that the Broncos’ offense still had a chance at redemption coming out of their bye week. It’s not that I had any faith in Nathaniel Hackett – I don’t – but I was intrigued by Russell Wilson‘s reast-of-season schedule.

Sadly, a soft schedule can only do so much, and Denver’s offense still looked badly broken coming out of the bye. Tennessee is probably a tougher matchup than the numbers indicate, but it’s hard to believe any opponent is going to fix what ails this team.

In fact, things in Denver stand to get even worse if Jerry Jeudy’s ankle injury proves to be significant. Hackett said the team hopes it “dodged a bullet” with the injury, while Jeudy said he hopes it is a low-ankle sprain. Notice the word “hope” in both cases; tests are still ongoing. Should Jeudy miss any time, it would provide a brief reprieve for Courtland Sutton‘s fantasy value and solidify Greg Dulcich‘s standing as a TE1.

Number of viable TEs further dwindles as Zach Ertz is carted off. Ertz appears to have avoided a season-ending ACL tear, but he is still expected to miss “multiple weeks” after injuring his knee against the Rams. Given the state of the tight end position, many fantasy managers will be left in a lurch for however long Ertz remains sidelined.

Second-round rookie Trey McBride stepped into a nearly-every-down role following Ertz’s injury and is a name to consider on waivers, especially in deeper leagues. But the biggest fantasy beneficiary should be Rondale Moore. Moore’s stock was already on the rise since he moved to the slot, and he now has 31 targets, 24 catches and 255 yards over the last three games. He could push for WR2 numbers in Ertz’s absence.

Key Stats

Nyheim Hines played five offensive snaps on Sunday. When the Bills acquired Hines for Zack Moss and a conditional sixth round pick, there was some chatter that Hines’ biggest value add could be as a punt returner. That theory is looking very plausible after he played behind Devin Singletary, James Cook and even Duke Johnson in one-running back sets in his second game with the team. Don’t be afraid to drop Hines if you’re facing a roster crunch.

Chase Claypool ran just five pass routes on Sunday. We thought that the Bears planned to expand Claypool’s package of plays, but that clearly didn’t materialize. It should still happen sooner or later, but in the meantime, Claypool is not a must-roster player in 10- and 12-team leagues given the Bears’ run-heavy ways.

Justin Jefferson caught nine passes with a sub-50% completion probability. That’s three more than any other player has had in a game since NextGen Stats began tracking it. His “catch of the year” will rightfully get a ton of attention, but the numbers show that Jefferson also made plenty of other extraordinary catches against Buffalo.

Kenneth Walker had a 24.2% target share against Tampa. That’s nearly double his previous season-high. Walker failed to find the end zone for the first time since taking over as Seattle’s lead back in Week 5, but this passing game usage was very encouraging for his rest-of-season outlook.

Top Takeaways

Justin Fields is starting to give off “Lamar Jackson 2019″ vibes. The question is no longer whether Fields is a QB1; it’s whether he is the QB1. He gained 132 yards on 10 designed runs in Week 10, the most in a game by a QB since NextGen Stats began tracking it in 2016. Fields also tied a record for QBs with his fourth straight game of at least 60 rushing yards and a TD. He’s just unfair right now.

Josh Allen is trying to do too much. Allen probably should have sat out this week, even if he truly wasn’t at risk of further aggravating his elbow injury. He also probably shouldn’t have tried to tackle the defender after throwing a pick against Minnesota. Allen threw a terrible pick against the Jets last week and has been picked off twice in three straight games. He now leads the league with 10 INTs.

None of this matters a ton for fantasy purposes as long as Allen doesn’t seriously injure himself. But the gap between him and the other top fantasy QBs (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields) has narrowed considerably with his recent erratic play.

Alright, that’s it for this week. If you like what you see here, you can get more of my thoughts on waiver wire pickups, buy-low/sell-high candidates, rest-of-season player values, and more by subscribing to the Rest of Season Rankings Podcast and going to ROSrankings.com. I’m also always happy to help you sort through injury-related conundrums or anything else fantasy-related on Twitter @andrew_seifter.

Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.