It’s a strange slate this week, folks. And on a strange slate, there’s gold in them thar hills if you’re willing to dig for it. Trevor Jones and I are breaking down our favorite Fanball plays for Week 10, position by position, and wrapping it up with our picks for the Fanball 5×5.

First, a quick shoutout, because Fanball user Josh Bolling just had the kind of week the rest of us dream about. He won the triple crown:

• He took down the Peacock and pocketed a grand.
• He won the NFFC Primetime Qualifier, earning an $1,800 ticket to the NFFC Primetime, where he can win $300K.
• He won the Circa Qualifier, good for a $2,000 ticket into that high-stakes contest with a $200K top prize.

And because he won both high-stakes qualifiers, he also scored a bonus ticket to the Footballguys Online Championship, another big one with a $300,000 top prize. So Josh is now on a journey to turn $100 into $800,000. No big deal.

There are big contests in the Fanball lobby right now, including a $50 qualifier with a 2027 Circa FFWC entry valued at $2,000 for first place. The next Josh Bolling could be you. You can’t win if you don’t play.

Alright, let’s get to the picks.

Quarterbacks

Josh Allen, $7,800 @ NYJ

Josh is coming off maybe the hardest spot in the league right now: the Vikings D in Minneapolis. I’m fully confident firing him right back up against a Jets defense that’s been getting dominated by opposing QBs for the last month. Check out the recent damage:

• Drake Maye: 259 combo yards, 3 TDs
• Malik Willis: 245 combo yards, 3 TDs
• Kirk Cousins: 250 combo yards, 4 TDs
• Patrick Mahomes: 250 combo yards, 2 TDs

Josh’s average game this year is 289 combo yards and over 2.5 TDs, so we could be looking at something closer to 350 yards and 3 scores. I’d rather pay the extra $400 to move up from Burrow to Allen, and I like Josh’s game environment better too. The Bills also have the second-largest team total on the week at 29.25, behind only San Francisco.

Trevor Lawrence, $6,900 @ TEN

The Jags offense has been on fire lately, hanging 31 or more points in each of the last three games. In that stretch, Lawrence has thrown 8 TD passes against just 1 pick.

This is the first of two meetings with Tennessee in a three-week span, and the Titans pass defense has been getting gouged. Joe Burrow just went for 462 yards and 5 TDs against them, and Deshaun Watson threw for 308 the week before that. On top of that, three of the last four QBs to face the Titans have run one in, too.

Tuten and Rodriguez were limited earlier in the week, so check the Sunday inactive list before deciding how much Jacksonville’s backfield changes the passing plan.

Matthew Stafford, $6,100 @ ARI

You know who nobody will have in their DFS lineups this week? Matthew Stafford.

Puka is out. Davante is out. Even Terrance Ferguson is out. Stafford will be throwing to Konata Mumpfield and Tutu Atwell at wide receiver. But he still has Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, two adept pass-catchers out of the backfield, and I don’t hate the stable of tight ends either. This is a clear zig while everyone else zags.

The matchup is good, too. There’s a little revenge angle after Arizona beat LA a few weeks ago, and the Cardinals secondary has allowed the second-most TD passes in the league this year, including two to Stafford back in Week 6.

Tyler Shough, $6,000 vs. CAR

Every time this Panthers D faces an opposing QB with a pulse, they give up 20 fantasy points. The list of pulse-having guys: Caleb Williams, Deshaun Watson (19.7, technically), Jared Goff, Jordan Love and Bo Nix. Carolina is top 12 against QBs, but most of that heavy lifting came against Cooper Rush, Jack Strand, Tanner McKee and whatever the current version of Baker Mayfield is doing.

Shough has been a steady producer, with at least 250 yards in 6 of 8 games and at least 20 rushing yards in 4 of 8. And he’s feasted on the league’s worst QB defenses, which I believe Carolina is, stats be darned:

• vs. Detroit (32nd): 410 yards, 3 TDs
• vs. Las Vegas (30th): 255 yards, 4 TDs
• vs. the Giants (27th): 170 combo yards, 4 TDs

Running Backs

Christian McCaffrey, $8,400 @ DAL

Frankly, you could throw just about any 49er in your lineup this week and feel pretty good about it, given how bad this Dallas defense is. In just their last three games, the Cowboys have let five different backs clear 11 PPR points, and they’re bottom-five against enemy rushing yards and TDs. Bucky Irving had his best day of the year against Dallas (175 combo yards, 2 TDs), and Tyler Allgeier had easily his career-best game two weeks ago (190 combo yards, 2 more TDs).

CMC has been a model of consistency, scoring a TD in all but one game this year. He didn’t practice Wednesday, but that was a planned rest day. San Fran is trending toward getting some receivers back, but I think Mike Evans misses again, which should bump CMC’s target share. And this game has easily the highest total on the slate at 56, a full 5.5 points higher than Bills-Jets.

James Cook, $7,800 @ NYJ

It’s the first of two Bills-Jets meetings this year, and Cook is coming off 31 carries for 107 yards and a score against Minnesota on Monday night. Thirty-one carries is insanity. For context, Ty Johnson and Ray Davis combined for 3 carries and 3 yards. It’s Cook’s backfield.

Bellcow backs have mostly had a field day against the Jets:

• Kenneth Walker: 143 combo yards, 3 TDs last week
• Raiders backs: 30 touches, 156 combo yards and a score
• Ollie Gordon: 103 yards and a score in Week 7
• Kyle Monangai: 30 carries, 146 yards and 2 TDs back in Week 4

Wheels up for Cook.

Chuba Hubbard, $6,800 @ NO

Chuba has been a volume monster lately, with at least 20 touches in 5 of his last 6 games, thanks largely to a lack of other quality backs on Carolina’s roster. He’s played 92% and 89% of the snaps the last two weeks.

Now he gets a Saints D that’s dead last defending enemy backs. New Orleans has allowed the most rushing TDs in the league and the eighth-most rushing yards, and they’ve already had their bye. On a per-game basis, they give up 29 touches for 150 combo yards and 1.5 TDs to running backs. If Chuba gets 90% of that work, he’s a smash.

Blake Corum, $5,400 @ ARI

Remember those two pass-catching Rams backs I mentioned with Stafford? They can both run really well, too. Corum has scored in five straight games, including a receiving TD against these same Cardinals a few weeks ago.

Arizona is bottom 10 in rush attempts faced and rushing yards allowed, and they’ve also given up the 10th-most receiving yards to opposing backs. With so few weapons left for the Rams, this offense runs through Stafford’s accuracy and the legs of Kyren and Corum.

Wide Receivers

Chris Olave, $7,300 vs. CAR

Olave is having a great season and ranks top 7 among WRs in targets, catches and yards. Carolina’s pass D looks middling on paper, but (say it with me) the schedule has done a lot of the work: Cooper Rush, Deshaun Watson, Tanner McKee and whatever Baker is doing this year.

Olave has cleared double-digit targets in 6 of 8 games, and he beat up Carolina twice last year to the tune of 5-104-1 and 6-85-1. The Panthers have allowed the 13th-most catches to WRs, and this game total is sneakily the fourth-highest on the slate at 48.5.

Parker Washington, $6,700 @ TEN

You don’t need me to tell you Parker Washington has been great this year. He scored again last week but left a little on the table, catching only 2 of 7 targets. I don’t think that’s a problem this week.

Parker runs from the slot 44% of the time, where he’ll usually draw Marcus Harris, who’s allowing 93% of passes in his coverage to be completed and a 114 passer rating. Overall, the Titans have allowed the second-most catches and third-most yards to opposing WRs this season.

Omar Cooper, $5,100 vs. BUF

The first-round rookie has had an excellent stretch: a pair of 100-yard games with a TD in Weeks 6 and 7, a goose egg in Week 8, then a strong bounce-back with 8-58 on 11 targets against a stingy KC secondary. Both Cooper (ankle) and Garrett Wilson (concussion) are questionable on Friday’s injury report, so check actives before using Cooper.

Some folks might worry about AD Mitchell cutting into Cooper’s work, but since Cooper returned from injury in Week 6, he vastly out-snapped Mitchell in every game until last week. (To be fair, last week it was Mitchell 89%, Cooper 86%.) Mitchell is $900 cheaper, but if Cooper is cleared, I’m betting on the first-round pick’s explosiveness.

Brian Thomas Jr., $4,200 @ TEN

At $4,200, BTJ is a tournament swing if you’re looking for a cheap piece of Jacksonville’s passing game. Jakobi Meyers missed Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury, but check the final actives and roles; don’t build around an assumed absence.

Thomas has been in trade rumors for weeks and didn’t get moved. Maybe that’s the vote of confidence he needed to go kick some butt. He sticks to the outside, where he’ll see either CorDale Flott (who just got torched by the Bengals for 6-77-1 on 9 targets) or Joshua Williams, PFF’s 100th-ranked corner out of 106. BTJ has also scored twice in his last four games, so we’ve got that going for us.

Tight Ends

Tyler Warren, $4,700 vs. MIA

It was a busy week in Indy, as the Colts traded both of their middle-of-the-field receivers in Keenan Allen and Josh Downs. That leaves a WR trio of Laquon Treadwell, Ashton Dulin and Deion Burks. Those two departed wideouts combined for 42.5% of Indy’s target share, so Warren’s volume should skyrocket.

The Dolphins have been atrocious against tight ends, sitting bottom six in catches and TDs allowed to the position despite already having had their bye. Even after missing a pair of games, Warren ranks 7th in targets and 6th in catches among TEs and is averaging over 7.5 targets per game. With all of Indy’s absences, I think he gets double-digit looks this week.

Kyle Pitts, $4,500 vs. KC

Hitting on a Kyle Pitts good game might be one of the toughest calls in all of fantasy sports. They seem random and don’t necessarily line up with the matchup. But the Falcons have to do something, because the season is sinking.

Kansas City’s one and only defensive weakness seems to be the tight end. The Chiefs have allowed the 4th-most catches and 6th-most yards to the position. Over the last four weeks, Pitts has 43% of Atlanta’s receiving TDs on just 18% of the target share. Honestly, I don’t love this play, but I don’t hate it either, which is exactly why it’ll probably work and Pitts will score twice.

Rams TEs: Colby Parkinson and Tyler Higbee ($3,400) @ ARI

Puka is out for weeks, and Terrance Ferguson pulled his hamstring before last week’s game and will miss Sunday. That leaves Tyler Higbee and the guy I just can’t quit, Colby Parkinson, as LA’s main pass-catchers. The receivers who’ll see snaps, Mumpfield and Atwell, have combined for 10 total catches over the past four weeks.

I expect the TE workload to jump big time to help replace Puka’s 43% target share since Davante Adams went on IR. Parkinson has 14 catches over his last three games to Higbee’s 4, but Higbee is on the field more. In the Week 6 meeting with Arizona, Parkinson led the way with 5-31-1. I prefer Parkinson, but Higbee makes a strong GPP play.

Darnell Washington, $3,500 @ CIN

Time for a Darnell Washington stat dump:

• Snaps: Washington out-snapped Pat Freiermuth 37-31 in the Steelers’ last game and 36-34 the week before.
• Targets: 5-2 in Washington’s favor in Week 8, and he’s led Freiermuth in target share in 2 of the last 3 games.
• Red zone: Washington and Freiermuth are tied for the team lead with 7 red zone targets, ahead of Germie Bernard (6) and DK Metcalf (5).
• Production: He’s outscored Freiermuth in 5 of the last 6 games, hit at least 11 PPR points in 3 of them, and scored in 2 of his last 3. In the one he didn’t score, he had 94 receiving yards.

Last time he saw Cincy, he caught 3 balls for 67 yards, and the Bengals are bottom five in catches and yards allowed to tight ends.

Sleepers of the Week

Caleb Douglas, WR, $3,900 @ IND

The rookie third-round receiver has led Miami in targets each of the past two weeks, and last week he led the team in targets, catches and yards. When all of Miami’s WRs are healthy, Douglas and Malik Washington easily get the most snaps at the position. Meanwhile, this crumbling, trade-decimated Indy team has allowed 69 points over the last two weeks.

The Dolphins are starting Kyle McCord at QB this week, but I’m not convinced he’s much of a downgrade from Malik Willis. McCord had a very strong preseason with Green Bay before Miami traded for him.

Dawson Knox, TE, $3,100 @ NYJ

Dalton Kincaid is once again limited in practice with an ankle injury. The dude can’t stay completely healthy, and when he’s not completely healthy, he’s just not as good. That’s why Dawson Knox led the Bills tight ends in targets, catches and yards Monday night against Minnesota.

And the Jets have been letting tight ends eat. PPR points allowed to the position over just the past four weeks:

• Brock Bowers: 28.2
• Travis Kelce: 17.3
• Hunter Henry: 14.8
• Greg Dulcich: 13.6
• Michael Mayer: 10.3

Fanball 5×5 Favorite Plays

$5: All elite options outside of Puka, of course, but CeeDee Lamb and Brock Purdy stick out. I just want pieces of that game with the enormous over/under.

$4: We already talked about CMC, who I love. After him, I’d go to Ja’Marr Chase, who has dominated the Steelers recently, going 9-98-1 and 16-161-1 in two of his last three matchups.

$3: Tee Higgins at this price is a steal. I’m staying away from Trey McBride until we know what Carson Beck looks like in the NFL.

$2: Keep playing George Kittle until he finally has another monster game. Dallas is more than capable of allowing one.

$1: Blake Corum and Kyren Williams could both get 15-plus touches, so $1 is a great price for Corum. Or play DK Metcalf as part of a Sunday Night Football game stack.

There’s still time to grab a spot in the Week 10 Fanball contest before Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET start. Good luck, and we’ll see you in the winner’s circle!

Prices and projections reflect Mat and Trevor’s Week 10 slate snapshot. Check the Fanball lobby and official Sunday actives before lineups lock.