Fantasy Football: Start ‘em, sit ‘em for Week 10

So Melvin Gordon finally came out of his shell, Ryan Tannehill (somehow) put up 25 points and even Kenyan Drake came back from the dead. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots both lost, resulting in a quiet day for their usual fantasy stars. It was a weird week in fantasy, for sure.

At the same time, a few familiar faces dominated like Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, Carolina Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey and Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Mike Evans.

Let’s check out who had big fantasy performances in Week 9 (standard format):

1) QB Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks | 39.22 points

2) RB Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers | 36.10 points

3) WR Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks | 33.70 points

4) WR Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 30.00 points (2nd straight week with at least 30 points)

Here’s who you should start and sit, along with their projected points.

Who to start

1) RB Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns (vs. Buffalo) | 15.63 points

I get it, Nick Chubb is an obvious start. But I’m really emphasizing how much people need to start this guy. Buffalo’s defense can’t stop anyone rushing the football over the past three weeks. I think Chubb legitimately has a chance to run for two bills and 20-plus points this Sunday, even with all of Cleveland’s struggles.

Yes, Kareem Hunt is coming back, but he isn’t expected to get much of the work load on Sunday.

2) RB Jaylen Samuels, Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. LA Rams) | 10.80 points

Jaylen Samuels is an automatic RB2 start as it stands right now. On Sunday against Indianapolis he put up 12.80 fantasy points after hogging 10 catches on 13 receptions and 8 carries. Mason Rudolph is using him as a dump-off option, the Steelers are using him quite heavily in the screen game and James Conner and Benny Snell Jr. are still dealing with injury.

3) RB Josh Jacobs, Oakland Raiders (vs. LA Chargers) | 14.47 points

At this point fantasy owners can’t not start Josh Jacobs. He’s proven himself way too valuable over his past five games after starting the season with a few sub-10 point performances.

This guy is running his way into stardom in Oakland. Jon Gruden and company will continue to feed him the football as the focal point of that Raiders offense.

Who to sit

1) WR Josh Gordon, Seattle Seahawks (vs. San Francisco) | 6.93 points

Gordon is expected to make his Seahawks debut Monday night against San Francisco, but don’t expect too much from him as he seeks out touches in a loaded WR group including Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.

2) WR Sammy Watkins, Kansas City Chiefs (vs. Tennessee) | 7.56 points

Much like during his time with the Buffalo Bills, it’s proven too difficult to predict success with Sammy Watkins. He teased us in week one with a ridiculous 42.30 point performance. But since then he’s never gone above the 10-point mark.

Sammy has a high ceiling, but the risk for fantasy owners is also quite high.

3) TE Eric Ebron, Indianapolis Colts (vs. Miami) | 8.18 points

Eric Ebron is having such a poor few weeks that even a juicy matchup against the hapless Miami Dolphins isn’t good enough to trust this guy. That’s because the Colts offense has essentially leaned on Jack Doyle as their main receiving tight end. Ebron has received six targets over his past two games. Doyle has received nine.

I was stupid enough to start Ebron last week. He repaid me by a nice ol’ 2.6-pointer. Don’t do what I did.

Let’s see how my picks did last week (actual fantasy points):

Start

1) RB Le’Veon Bell, New York Jets (vs. Miami) | 16.10 points

2) WR Allen Robinson II, Chicago Bears (vs. Philadelphia) | 1.10 points

3) QB Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions (vs. Oakland) | 25.84 points

Sit

1) QB Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (vs. San Francisco) | 23.04 points

2) RB Sony Michel, New England Patriots (vs. Baltimore) | 3.50 points

3) WR Corey Davis, Tennessee Titans (vs. Carolina) | 6.80 points