The NFL dials down the byes in Week 10 to just four teams. One week remains in the bye gauntlet as the Falcons, Colts, Chargers and 49ers take time to recuperate in mid-November.
The leaguemate who landed Devonta Freeman will be forced to make adjustments (finally), among many coping with fantasy-relevant players entering a Week 10 bye. Let's take a look at the best potential pickups at each position.
MORE: Fantasy football waiver wire for Week 10
Best fantasy RB pickups for Bye Week 10
Byes: Devonta Freeman, Frank Gore, Ahmad Bradshaw, Danny Woodhead, Melvin Gordon, Carlos Hyde, Shaun Draughn
Karlos Williams still sits on waivers in many small-to-medium leagues and enters Week 10 with just 41-percent ownership in ESPN standard leagues. LeSean McCoy's shoulder injury and the short Thursday turnaround should yield plenty of touches for Williams against the Jets, who have been great in the trenches but meet a real challenge in Buffalo's front.
.@Karlos_29_SR, @BillsFanPage, TOUCHDOWN 2.0, Touchdowns #ChunkRun https://t.co/zqeHVpb5ny
— ChunkRun (@ChunkRun) November 8, 2015Moving down to the sub-40 range, Washington rookie Matt Jones has fallen to 37-percent ownership and only produced 27 yards on 10 carries Sunday, but clearly remains Jay Gruden's best backfield option. The visiting Saints allowed 88 yards to the Titans' Antonio Andrews last week. Patriots RB Brandon Bolden became a PPR must-add when Dion Lewis went down for the year, and at 0.2-percent owned looks the heir to Lewis' role; James White is a nice speculative add too.
Best fantasy WR pickups for Bye Week 10
Byes: Julio Jones, T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, Malcom Floyd, Stevie Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Torrey Smith
The slew of options in Cincy's potent offense keep Marvin Jones' floor really low, and leaves his ownership at just 41 percent. Jones does receive enough red-zone and downfield usage to make for a worthy home run swing for those reeling from Julio Jones' bye week. Nate Washington (39 percent) provides a higher floor, tallying 201 yards and three scores in the two games since returning from injury.
Digging a bit deeper, Kamar Aiken (28.6 percent) will see plenty of FAAB bids now that the Ravens exit their bye minus Steve Smith. Aiken is the favorite to pace this offense in targets going forward. The sub-10-percent group is among the best this season with Titans rookie Dorial Green-Beckham (9 percent) getting more targets and Devin Funchess (7 percent) winning downfield to score his first career touchdown last Sunday.
Best fantasy QB pickups for Bye Week 10
Byes: Matt Ryan, Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers
Let's modify the jesting caption beneath to make it serious: "Sam Bradford is elite among the sub-40-percent-owned quarterbacks entering Week 10." Great. Now that the running game is rolling with both Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray healthy, it opens the offense for Bradford having a decent shot to reproduce near 300 yards and 1-3 scores against most defenses. Hello, Dolphins.
Sam Bradford is ELITE: https://t.co/pyFT1cf6Nh pic.twitter.com/A7IzipXIma
— SB Nation (@SBNation) November 9, 2015Sunday also saw by far the most functional Cowboys quarterback play since Tony Romo went down. Props to Matt Cassel (3.1 percent) for hammering the fruitful matchups (ahem Cole Beasley vs. Malcolm Jenkins and Dez Bryant vs. Nolan Carroll). Cassel should be added in super-deep leagues for Dallas' Week 10 trip to Tampa, along with — if desperate — Kirk Cousins (8.8 percent) against a Saints defense that just got smoked by Marcus Mariota.
Best fantasy TE pickups for Bye Week 10
Byes: Jacob Tamme, Coby Fleener, Dwayne Allen, Antonio Gates, Ladarius Green
We're coming off a brutally underwhelming fantasy week for both fringe and fixture TE options. Richard Rodgers (29.7 percent) managed to stand out among the sub-50 percent-owned by earning Aaron Rodgers' goal-line trust with two scores. There's a very low yardage ceiling, but a decent swing at touchdowns from a waiver scoop.
Eric Ebron (28.6 percent) had his ownership driven down entering the bye week as a low-end TE1, and probably returns to assuming that borderline-starter status. Ebron has equaled Golden Tate's receiving total and is now probably the second-best fantasy option in the Detroit pass offense's current state.
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