Unpredictability is fantasy football’s special sauce. Early-round picks crash and burn. Undrafted players become important contributors.
Just take a look at the players in this week’s article. Several of these players were afterthoughts in our summer fantasy football drafts. Let’s talk about them.
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The 10 Most Intriguing Players of Week 10
1. Kyle Monangai (RB – CHI)
A seventh-round rookie out of Rutgers, Kyle Monangai measured in at 5-foot-8 and 211 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine. He ran a relatively sluggish 4.60 in the 40-yard dash. He had never caught more than 14 passes in a single college season. Monangai’s prospect profile was uninspiring — at least to those who had never seen him play.
Monangai is tougher than overcooked skirt steak. The dude does not want to be tackled. Just ask the Bengals.
Starting in place of D’Andre Swift, who was scratched with a groin injury, Monangai trampled the Cincinnati defense for 176 yards on 26 carries. He added three catches for 22 yards in the Bears’ 47-42 victory.
Sure, the Bengals’ run defense is softer than Velveeta, but Monangai looked sensational nevertheless.
Swift was a full participant in the Bears’ Thursday practice and is expected to return for Sunday’s Giants-Bears game in Chicago. So, how will the Bears divide work between the veteran and the 233rd overall pick of this year’s draft?
It’s not as if Swift has been playing poorly. Quite the opposite, in fact. Swift is averaging 93.7 yards from scrimmage per game and 4.6 yards per carry this season.
Maybe there’s room for Swift and Monangai to both be productive fantasy starters. The Bears’ running game has been magnificent of late. Chicago is averaging 186.5 rushing yards over its last four games. The Bears’ offensive line ranks third in adjusted line yards, a run-blocking metric and has earned Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) sixth-highest run-blocking grade.
The Bears have a favorable running-game matchup this week, too. The Giants have allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to running backs and are giving up 5.9 yards per carry to running backs.
2. Rico Dowdle (RB – CAR)
Is there an NFL player providing more bang for the buck this season than Rico Dowdle?
Signed to a one-year, $2.75 million deal by the Panthers after the Cowboys let him walk, Dowdle has carried the Carolina offense during the Panthers’ current 4-1 run. During that five-game stretch, Dowdle has averaged 130.2 rushing yards per game and 6.2 yards per carry. He’s also averaged 22.4 receiving yards per game over that span and has scored four touchdowns.
Dowdle sparked the Panthers’ 16-13 upset of the Packers in Green Bay last week, rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Panthers quarterback Bryce Young had only 102 passing yards in that game.
Let’s be honest: Dowdle is allowing Panthers head coach Dave Canales to hide his underperforming quarterback. Young is averaging 173.8 passing yards per game and a woeful 5.7 yards per pass attempt. And yet, the Panthers are 4-0 in Young’s last four starts. Young has averaged just 25 pass attempts over those four contests.
Dowdle could feast again this week against the lowly Saints, who are 1-8 and just sold off two of their offensive starters at Tuesday’s trade deadline. New Orleans has yielded the sixth-most rushing yards.
League-winner is a tired, oft-misused term in fantasy football, but Dowdle might fit that description.
3. TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE)
The Patriots have been giving us a slow rollout of TreVeyon Henderson. Waiting for the rookie from Ohio State to pop has been like waiting for the McRib to show up at your local McDonald’s.
Henderson hadn’t played more than half of New England’s offensive snaps in any of his first eight games, and he played less than one-third of the offensive snaps in five of those contests. But with Rhamondre Stevenson sidelined by a toe injury in Week 8, we finally got our McRib.
Henderson had a season-high 75% snap share last week in the Patriots’ 24-23 win over the Falcons, carrying 14 times for 55 yards and adding four catches for 32 yards. It was a decent performance. Henderson investors are hungry for more.
Stevenson hasn’t been practicing this week and seems likely to miss another game. Henderson has a difficult Week 10 matchup against the Buccaneers in Tampa, however.
The Buccaneers are always tough against the run under Todd Bowles. But the Bucs have given up a league-high 466 receiving yards to running backs. The passing game might be Henderson’s easiest path to fantasy production this week, especially with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels seemingly inclined to use Terrell Jennings at the goal line with Stevenson unavailable. Jennings had a three-yard touchdown run last week.
4. Jaxson Dart (QB – NYG)
The Giants rookie quarterback keeps on rolling. Jaxson Dart has averaged 24.9 fantasy points per game since Week 6. The only quarterbacks who have averaged more fantasy points per game than Dart over that span are Justin Herbert and Joe Flacco.
What’s wild is that Dart has thrown for 202 or fewer yards in five of his six starts. The exception, strangely enough, was a 283-yard game against the vaunted Denver pass defense in a game where Dart completed 45.5% of his passes.
But every week, Dart punches the clock as a runner. He’s had a touchdown run in five of his six starts, and he’s had 50+ rushing yards in four of them.
Maybe Dart comes through with big passing numbers this week. He faces a Bears pass defense that has been decimated by injuries. Chicago’s two best cornerbacks, Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, are on injured reserve (IR). Bears EDGE rusher Dayo Odeyingbo ruptured his Achilles last week.
Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns against the Bears in Week 9. He had 10 completions that went for 20+ yards.
But Dart might have to cope with some inclement weather. The forecast for Chicago on Sunday calls for temperatures in the 30s and brisk northwest winds. Dart isn’t a stranger to cold weather, having been born and raised in Utah, but he didn’t get many cold-weather games during his college career at Ole Miss.
5. Luke Musgrave (TE – GB)
Packers tight end Tucker Kraft tore his ACL last week and will miss the rest of the season. Kraft had become a top fantasy tight end. It would be a stretch to expect Kraft’s replacement, Luke Musgrave, to have the same sort of impact. But can Musgrave at least be fantasy-viable?
The Packers actually drafted Musgrave ahead of Kraft in 2023. Musgrave was a second-round pick (42nd overall). Kraft was a third-round pick (78th overall). Musgrave started six games as a rookie before Kraft made his first NFL start.
The nephew of former NFL offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, Luke Musgrave has an intriguing combination of size and speed. Musgrave is 6-foot-6 and clocked a 4.61 at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. That gave him a 94th percentile speed score, according to PlayerProfiler.com.
Musgrave has 50 catches in 26 NFL games. He’ll have a chance to pad that reception total in the weeks to come, starting with the Packers’ Monday night home game against the Eagles. Philadelphia has allowed the third-fewest fantasy points and third-fewest receiving yards to tight ends.
If Musgrave can make noise in this matchup, he might be a keeper.
6. Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR – ARI)
Is Jacoby Brissett better for Marvin Harrison Jr. than Kyler Murray has been? Let’s take a look at the 2025 numbers:
| Targets/G | Catches/G | Rec. Yards/G | Yards/Target | Touchdowns/G | |
| With Murray (5 Starts) | 6.4 | 4.0 | 61.2 | 9.6 | 0.4 |
| With Brissett (3 Starts) | 6.0 | 3.7 | 62.0 | 10.3 | 0.3 |
Eerily similar. But… Harrison sustained a concussion in the second quarter of Brissett’s first start, so it’s not a perfect comparison. Take into account Harrison’s Week 6 departure after only 17 snaps, and it does seem as if Harrison has been slightly more productive with Brissett than with Murray, although it has hardly been a night-and-day difference.
Then again, Harrison hasn’t had nearly as many reps with Brissett as he’s had with Murray. Now that Murray is on IR and will be out for at least the next four games, maybe Harrison and Brissett can really get in sync.
But Harrison has a tricky matchup this week against a tough Seattle defense. It will be a good test of the Harrison-Brissett chemistry.
7. Daniel Jones (QB – IND)
Just when we thought Daniel Jones had turned a corner ..
OK, OK, let’s not give up on Jones after one poor game.
After looking like a dark-horse MVP candidate over the first eight weeks of the season, Danny Dimes didn’t have enough change to feed the meter in Week 9. He threw three interceptions, fumbled three times and took five sacks in the Colts’ 27-20 loss to the Steelers. Jones threw for 342 yards and a touchdown with the Colts trying to come from behind, but it was not a good day for Mr. Jones.
Jones and the Colts face the Falcons early on Sunday in Berlin. It’s a tough matchup against an Atlanta defense that has allowed the fewest passing yards and the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.
The Colts just went all in at the NFL trade deadline, giving up two first-round draft picks and receiver Adonai Mitchell to acquire star cornerback Sauce Gardner. The deal suggests that Colts general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen have considerable faith in Jones.
Let’s see if that faith is warranted.
8. Garrett Wilson (WR – NYJ)
Garrett Wilson is back after missing the Jets’ last two games with a knee injury. He returns to a team that was just cleaned out in a trade deadline fire sale.
Well, the defense was cleaned out anyway. The Jets’ two best defensive players, cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, are gone. But the offense is largely intact. Wilson stayed. Running back Breece Hall stayed.
Wilson has played six games this season. He’s had eight or more targets in all of them. Wilson has 36 catches for 395 yards and four touchdowns and is the WR9 in half-PPR fantasy points per game. No matter what we think of Justin Fields as a passer, he hasn’t hindered the fantasy value of Wilson.
Wilson and the Jets have a Week 10 date with the similarly inept Browns. One thing the Browns do well is stop the run. Their defense ranks No. 1 in DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) against the run. The Jets might need to throw to successfully move the ball against Cleveland, so Wilson might be a busy man on Sunday.
9. Jalen Hurts (QB – PHI)
Jalen Hurts averaged 152.3 passing yards over the Eagles’ first four games, and Philly fans grumbled about the aerial malaise under new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
But Hurts has been on fire lately.
Over his last three games, Hurts has completed 76.3% of his throws, averaging 10.4 yards per attempt. He leads all quarterbacks in expected points added (EPA) per play over that span. For the season, Hurts has thrown 15 touchdown passes and only one interception.
Hurts and the Eagles face the Packers on Monday night in Green Bay. The last time Hurts played at Lambeau Field was in Week 13 of his rookie year in 2020, when he saw the first significant action of his career. Carson Wentz was benched at halftime of that game, and Hurts mopped up in the Eagles’ 30-16 loss.
The more interesting angle with Hurts and Green Bay involves the tush push. The Packers proposed a ban on the tush push at the NFL owners’ meetings earlier this year. The owners voted to keep the play legal.
Obviously, the Eagles would love to use the play against the Packers — preferably at the goal line, and preferably more than once.
Can Hurts stay hot against a good Green Bay pass defense? And will he get to rub it in the Packers’ faces with a short touchdown plunge or two?
10. Tez Johnson (WR – TB)
With Mike Evans out with a broken collarbone and Chris Godwin still trying to work his way back from a leg injury, Tez Johnson is suddenly a key cog in the Buccaneers’ passing game.
Before the Buccaneers went on bye in Week 9, Johnson was the WR24 in half-PPR fantasy scoring over the previous four weeks, with two touchdowns over that stretch and at least 43 receiving yards in each of those games.
Emeka Egbuka is the flagship of the Buccaneers’ receiver corps, but perhaps Johnson can be a lightship. Or, more accurately, a light ship.
Johnson is listed at 165 pounds. There are offensive linemen on the Buccaneers with legs that weigh more than him.
Hey, sometimes good things come in small packages.
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