Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 10

Good morning Footclan! We are in Week 10 of the 2024 NFL season and it wouldn’t be the weekend without the latest edition of The Fantasy Footballers’ Saturday Morning Mailbag! As we do each and every Saturday morning here at Ballers’ HQ, I have scoured the depths of The Fantasy Footballers’ Discord server and cherry-picked a few of your red-hot questions in order to give you my red-hot takes ahead of this week’s games! Remember, The Ballers’ Discord is home to the biggest and best online fantasy football community in the world and is your one-stop shop if you’re looking to talk about all things fantasy football. Head over today, register your username and start interacting with the thousands of members we have waiting to talk ball. There are dozens of dedicated channels for start/sit questions, trade advice, and waiver wire insights, as well as exclusive areas that are only available to you – the loyal members of the Footclan.

Be still my beating heart, could this finally be the week we see the return of fantasy football superhero Christian McCaffrey? CMC appears to have passed all the tests, and is in line to suit up for what will be his season debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon… wheeeeee! The news doesn’t appear to be so positive for the Texans’ Nico Collins (sorry Jason) who remains on the IR and will have fantasy managers sweating ahead of the Detroit Lions‘ prime-time game on Sunday night. Injuries to Dak Prescott and Trevor Lawrence dominated the headlines this week providing a whole load of our mailbag questions. Dallas’ woes, some tasty buy-lows, and what is Carolina doing… nobody knows! There’s lots to discuss ahead of Week 10… so let’s dive right in!

Question #1 – Season-Long Strategy (Dallas Cowboys Edition) 

With Dak Prescott out for a while, is this good or bad news for Rico Dowdle? – jimmyjam1225

Answer: What a brutal week for Dallas. Dak Prescott exits late in the game against Atlanta with what appears to be a hand injury, only for reports to later confirm he has suffered a catastrophic hamstring tear. The Cowboys go on to lose the game – their third on the spin – but not before superstar wide receiver CeeDee Lamb also leaves the field with a shoulder issue. The silver lining to the very dark cloud over Arlington… they did trade for Jonathan Mingo on deadline day.

Despite the knock, Lamb is tracking to play this weekend in the all-NFC East clash against the Eagles… and boy will they need him. With Dak set to miss multiple weeks – possibly even the entire year – Dallas will be forced to lean on a combination of Cooper Rush and Trey Lance at the quarterback position, inevitably having a negative impact on all fantasy weapons in this offense moving forward… or will it?

As fantasy managers, we all know negative game scripts can have a significant effect on running backs and their production – and with Dak out, Dallas is going to be facing plenty of them (they are currently seven-point underdogs at home to Philly on Sunday). Despite this, Rico Dowdle may just find himself as the sole beneficiary of Rush and Lance being under center – depending on the level of trust Mike McCarthy and Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer put into either of their backups with the ball in their hands. When entering the game on Sunday, Cooper Rush was already staring a 14-point deficit in the face, so unsurprisingly 93% of the teams’ remaining plays were through the air – with Dowdle seeing a mere two carries in the final three drives. I don’t expect things to be quite as bad for Mike Wright’s champion moving forward, and even when the Cowboys are playing catch-up, Dowdle should be involved (he saw four targets from Rush in the fourth quarter alone).

Rico Suave has seen his snap share continue to grow, with the defeat to Atlanta a season-high at 71%, along with 85% of carries which is the most Rico has seen in 2024, largely thanks to the absence of Ezekiel Elliott, who may or may not take another snap for this team. There’s no easy way to sugar-coat it – this was a bad offense, and without Dak, it just got worse… but don’t give up on Rico, or be too quick to toss him aside – he’s a low-end RB2/high-end RB3 rest of season, with his usage in the passing game giving him fringe RB1 upside on any given week… regardless of who is playing quarterback.

Question #2 – Trade Advice (Playoff Primer)

What’s up boys! Who are some players you are looking to “buy low” on for the home stretch? Appreciate y’all! – Fantasy Reaperr

Answer: As we head into the final third of the fantasy season, now is the time to really start taking a good hard look at your roster and ask yourself, “Can this player win me a championship?” If the answer to that question is no… then maybe it’s time to move on and start filling your team with league-winning superstars.

Using The Fantasy Footballers Strength of Schedule Tool, we can get a pretty good idea of which teams have the best run-in as we head toward the fantasy playoffs. For me, two teams – and in particular two running backs – stand out as potential league winners that you could probably acquire on the cheap right now: the Arizona Cardinals’ James Conner, and Tampa Bay’s rookie sensation Bucky Irving. 

The Buccaneers have the easiest schedule for running backs from here on in. Yes, they have a Week 12 bye, and face a relatively stout Chargers defense in Week 15, but aside from a trip to SoFi, their final five games are made up of teams ranked 26th, 28th, and 32nd against the run… yes, please. The backfield in Tampa is a bit of a mess right now, but with Mike Evans set to return following their bye, opening up a little more room for the run game – Bucky Irving should emerge as the clear leader on the ground, with Rachaad White moving into more of a pass-catching role. Irving hasn’t seen double-digit carries since Week 6, coincidentally the last time Tampa won a game. Make an offer for him after another down week against the 49ers and the manager holding him may want to sell with the bye week on the horizon.

Talking of easy schedules for running backs – the Arizona Cardinals have the fifth-best slate of games remaining for the position, including matchups against the two worst run defenses in Weeks 15 and 16. James Conner has been dominating the backfield for the Cards, seeing over 20 touches in his last three outings – yet despite the workload, the eighth-year pro couldn’t quite crack the top-12 ceiling on any of those weeks. If you’ve watched Conner, you know he’s performing well above his fantasy finishes and has a real chance of being a top-three back for the rest of the season. He is the overall RB8 on the season… but has to face the Jets before heading into a Week 12 bye. If you can buy-low on him during his week off, he could be the cornerstone to building a #FootclanTitle winning squad.

At the wide receiver position, Drake London and George Pickens are two guys I really like whose managers may be getting a little nervous about. London’s hip injury may see him sit out the Falcons’ Week 10 trip to New Orleans, opening up the perfect window to buy low. As for Pickens, the addition of Mike Williams via trade last week may give some managers fear – capitalize on that and grab Russ’ number-one target at a cut-price cost – Pittsburgh has the second-best remaining schedule for wideouts – he could be a stud.

Question #3 – Season-Long Strategy

Hey ballers, what do we do with Keenan Allen? Can we trust the target volume or is it safe to trash him? – alphalee

Answer: The short answer here – and it pains me to say it – is that we simply cannot trust Keenan Allen or any other pass-catcher on the Chicago Bears for the foreseeable future.

The former Charger has seen 17 targets in his previous two games – the 16th most at the wide receiver position. Yet despite this healthy volume of looks in the Bears passing game, Allen ranks as the WR61 in that two-week spell – hauling in only six of those 17 targets from Caleb Williams for 75 scoreless yards. In his first year in the Windy City, Keenan has only one finish inside the top 50 – his two-touchdown performance against the Jags at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in Week 6… I’m sorry to be the one to say it, but it’s over. Allen will turn 33 years old in the offseason, and although he may still be incredibly talented as a receiver – Father Time has one hand on his shoulder. With D.J. Moore the clear alpha in the passing game and rookie Rome Odunze coming off the best performance of his young career – it’s difficult to see where Keenan fits into this aerial attack, and that’s not even factoring in Cole Kmet or D’Andre Swift. At best, you have the second read for the number one overall draft pick… but in reality, you’re clogging up your roster with the WR3 on the third–worst passing offense in the league – pull the plug and look back fondly on that fairytale weekend in foggy London town.

Question #4 – Trade Advice

A trade that I’m considering (I am the Breece Hall manager)

• Send DeVonta Smith

• Receive George Pickens and Braelon Allen

Am I overpaying?! My league is Half-PPR  – jdillydilly

Answer: Let’s just start by making something abundantly clear – when it comes to fantasy football trades, if you are willing to give something up in order to acquire an asset you really want – then you are never overpaying. Too often do fantasy managers bemoan lopsided trades involving other teams in their leagues… but more often than not, those trades have a tendency to end up working out in the complete opposite way we all thought they would.

DeVonta Smith has been on somewhat of a tear this season – the de facto WR2 in Philadelphia is the overall WR22 on the year, despite missing a game and a half due to a concussion. Smith is the archetypal WR2 for your fantasy team – in the six full games he’s played in 2024, he’s finished between WR14 and WR22 in five of them – the other being an outlier where he was hardly used due to the Eagles blowing out the Giants early. His 35 receptions rank… you guessed it, in the WR2 range, tied at 21st. 

George Pickens has been somewhat more erratic, primarily due to the men throwing him the ball. Pickens sits just five spots behind Smith as the WR27 on the season – but his journey to get there has been so very, very different. While Smith is the model of consistency, Pickens has had weeks as the WR3 and WR17 dovetail with finishes of WR63 and WR66 – it’s been a bumpy ride… but here’s the rub – it should start to get a lot more predictable for Pickens from here on in.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the second easiest strength of schedule for fantasy wideouts, and with Russell Wilson having cemented himself in as the Black and Yellow’s starting quarterback – Pickens’ role as the WR1 in this offense should start to bear more consistent fruit for his fantasy managers. Sure, Philly also has a pretty tasty-looking run of games for pass-catchers, but unless A.J. Brown misses time, Smith will always be playing second fiddle to his teammate.

In my opinion, you’ll be taking a slight hit at the WR position in order to grab one of the best insurance policy running backs in the league, and if you’re playoff-bound with Breece as your RB1, this move makes a lot of sense. Pickens’ ceiling is notably higher than Smith’s, so if you have a top-tier WR1 already on your roster and can afford to take that little bit of risk each week with Pickens – you could be about to make a potential #FootclanTitle winning move.

Question #5 – Start/Sit 

Do I have your permission to bench CeeDee Lamb in a Half-PPR league in favor of Cooper Kupp, Brian Thomas Jr., or Darnell Mooney? With Dak Prescott out, it honestly seems smart. – Stack me Like One of your French

Answer: A couple of weeks ago we had a serious question asking if a Footclan member could bench Patrick Mahomes for Sam Darnold, and now this… what a crazy season this has been! And just like the Mahomes/Darnold issue – this question is also perfectly legitimate!

Let’s just make one thing crystal clear – CeeDee Lamb is an absolute superstar, and one of, if not the best wide receiver in the National Football League – and under normal circumstances, he’s an auto-start every.single.week… but these are not normal circumstances we find ourselves in. With Dak Prescott out, we are looking at a combination of Cooper Rush and Trey Lance under center for the foreseeable future in Dallas… woof. Rush targeted Lamb six times in his first two drives after replacing Prescott in Atlanta late last Sunday, with CeeDee hauling in just two of those for 11 yards before leaving the game himself with a shoulder injury. There is zero doubt in my mind that even playing at less than 100%, Lamb will be the go-to guy for Cooper Rush and see a vast majority of his targets… but that said, just how much is a target from the Cowboy’s number-two QB really worth?

For me, Cooper Kupp is an automatic yes ahead of Lamb for Week 10 – Kupp has seen 22 targets from Matthew Stafford since returning in Week 8, with only Calvin Ridley, Malik Nabers, and *ahem* CeeDee Lamb thrown to more in the two-game spell… Kupp is a lock. Darnell Mooney is a far more interesting name for this weekend’s matchups however – the WR2 for Captain Kirk Cousins has been red hot of late, finishing as the WR16 and WR13 in his last two contests. Mooney could be in for a bumper workload against the Saints on Sunday with Drake London and Kyle Pitts tending to injuries heading into the weekend – Andy, Mike, and Jason have Atlanta’s numero two as the WR19 in their consensus rankings… five spots ahead of Lamb – and I am inclined to agree with them and would also start him ahead of CeeDee.

Last but not least, we have rookie sensation Brian Thomas Jr., and this is where it gets tricky. Thomas himself looks set to play through injury, with the first-round pick out of LSU still tending to the chest issue that limited him in practice all last week. Adding to that, BTJ also looks set to be catching passes from a backup QB in the form of ex-New England Patriot, Mac Jones. Trevor Lawrence looks like a certainty to miss this weekend’s game against the Vikings with a shoulder injury – significantly limiting the upside of all pass-catchers in Jacksonville, including Brian Thomas Jr. This one is a toss-up for me. If both guys are seeing looks from backup signal callers and are both nursing injuries – I am probably going with the pedigree of Lamb… but it’s close. Be sure to join Mike Wright for Sunday Morning Live over on The Fantasy Footballers YouTube Channel to get the latest injury updates for both of these players ahead of kickoffs.

Question #6 – Season-Long Strategy (RB Purgatory Edition)

Jaylen Warren or Jonathon Brooks rest of season in a Full-PPR league? – Baskin Dobbins

Answer: Ah, a fellow Jonathon Brooks manager, come join me in the never-ending abyss of pain and sadness. Ok, maybe a bit over the top… but what an absolute sickener of a week for everyone who drafted Brooks and stashed him in their IR slot, waiting for the day he would be activated and show the world just why Carolina traded up and spent second-round draft capital on him. Less than 24 hours after activating the 46th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, the Panthers gave Brooks’ teammate Chuba Hubbard a big, fat $33.2m extension – and with it, part of me died inside.

This is not an anti-Chuba take, I can’t think of a running back more deserving of getting the bag than the criminally underrated fourth-year rusher who has finished as an RB2 or better in 14 of his last 21 games (seven of those as an RB1)… it’s just so frustrating! Hubbard sits as the overall RB9 on the season so far – the kind of performance level that was going to make it difficult enough for Brooks to waltz in and take the starter’s job outright… and that was before he got the extension. 

The brass tacks of the matter come down to this – both Brooks and Jaylen Warren are likely going to need an injury to their running mate to see any true relevance for fantasy moving forward. We already know Warren’s role in Pittsburgh, and unless Najee Harris misses time – he’s going to be limited to around a dozen opportunities per week, a handful of which will be in the passing game. Brooks is now an anomaly – we simply have no idea what his role is going to be… if any. Both of these guys have horrible schedules from here on out – Carolina with the fifth hardest for RBs and Pittsburgh the hardest… so there’s very little to tie-break them there.

Honestly, if I was shooting for upside, I’m taking Brooks – he has the draft capital and is just one injury away from being the guy for the Panthers… Warren’s path to relevance is a little more difficult with Arthur Smith’s BFF Cordarrelle Patterson also in the mix for the Steelers. As someone who manages both of these players in my main League of Record, I am praying that either sneaks into RB2 territory sometime soon.

Question #7 – Fantasy Football Terminology

What are these “insurance” backs you talk about? Is that the same as a handcuff? – Avatarless

Answer: You are 100% spot on Avatarless – when Andy, Mike, and Jason refer to insurance backs, they are simply talking about running backs and their potential role to offer an insurance policy to fantasy managers who own the “bigger” name ahead of them on the depth chart.

We have reached that point of the season where the insurance back conversations start to become more and more prevalent. As the fantasy playoffs slowly edge closer, the fear of losing our prized starting RBs starts to set in. If you are already playoff-bound, you may want to consider picking up the backup running back to some – or all – of your starting rushers if you haven’t done so already. You may also want to take a speculative shot on insurance policies for high-value backs you don’t own… potentially giving you another starter for the latter parts of the season.

Just remember, not every running back is worth backing up – and in some situations, there may not be a clear number two at all (remember Carson Steele?). If you are lucky enough to be the manager of Breece Hall, Kyren Williams, Bijan Robinson, or James Cook – now may be the time to pick up Braelon Allen, Blake Corum, Tyler Allgeier, or Ray Davis. Sure, rostering a guy you hope you never have to play can feel like a wasted bench spot – but as we approach the business end of the season, the last thing you want to happen is your RB1 to go down and for your potential opponent to have their replacement. If you have a WR you’re unlikely to start, or even a second DST – drop them and give yourself peace of mind with an insurance back.