Fantasy Football: 5 Major sleepers with tasty Week 10 matchups

Five fantasy football sleepers that deserve consideration for your Week 10 lineup.

Week 9 brought us a very interesting week of football as we reach the midway points of the 2020 NFL season. We saw plenty of competitive games on Sunday with all three of the afternoon games coming down to the wire. It was also a particularly strange week for fantasy football with scoring being much deeper at the quarterback and wide receiver positions.

To put this into perspective, the RB2 on the week, Christian McCaffery (32.1), scored over twice the points of the RB3, James Robinson (15.9), in half-PPR scoring. It was also a tough week for our fantasy football sleepers, as many were unable to take advantage of their strong matchups. Tim Patrick had a touchdown grab and Derek Carr threw for two touchdowns and secured a victory, though this did not translate to fantasy.

Looking ahead at Week 10, the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons are all on bye. There are also plenty of questions with McCaffery, David Montgomery, David Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger and Matthew Stafford all suffering injuries in Week 9.

There is some good news as well, though, with Nick Chubb and Miles Sanders slotted to return in Week 10. Whether your fantasy football team has been struggling or you are dealing with bye weeks and injuries, here are five mostly un-rostered sleepers who can serve as a strong start in Week 10.

Note: All stats and info via Fantasy Pros.

Fantasy Football Sleeper No. 5: QB Tua Tagovailoa, Miami (vs. LA Chargers)

After getting carried by his defense in his NFL debut, Tagovailoa put together an incredible performance en route to an Arizona upset and a 2-0 career record. In Week 10, he draws a soft matchup against Los Angeles, a team that is allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.

With the combination of Justin Herbert’s strong passing offense and the Los Angeles weak pass defense, Chargers games tend to become shootouts. Combine that with the fact the Dolphins lead running back projects to be Jordan Howard and Tua is going to have to air it out. Fire him up as a back-end QB1 in Week 10.

Fantasy Football Sleeper No. 4: RB J.D McKissic, Washington (vs. Detroit)

As frustrating as it is to watch Antonio Gibson lose all passing down work to McKissic, it is the reality of the Washington offense. McKissic is currently fourth in the NFL in receptions at the running back position, something that does not look to change with Alex Smith under center as he saw 14 targets in Week 9.

If you are playing in any sort of PPR format, he offers a strong floor every week and has a chance to break a big play against a week Detroit defense in Week 10. Do not expect a week-winning performance from McKissic, but he could easily finish as a top-20 back in PPR formats

Fantasy Football Sleeper No. 3: WR Darnell Mooney, Chicago (vs. Minnesota)

Even though Mooney has only turned in one strong fantasy performance all year, he has certainly looked better than his stat lines suggest. It seems multiple times every week, Foles misses him wide open on a deep ball. Regardless, he saw a team-high 11 targets in Week 9, solidifying his position as the Bear’s WR2 behind Allen Robinson.

Now he gets a matchup against a surging Minnesota team and, even though their defense has seemingly improved, they are still giving up plenty of points to opposing wideouts. Considering David Montgomery is currently in concussion protocol, Foles may have to air it out and Mooney should be in line for at least eight targets.

Fantasy Football Sleeper No. 2: Michael Pittman Jr, Indianapolis (vs. Tennessee)

This play is certainly not for the faint of heart, as Pittman Jr.’s best performance on the season is four receptions on seven targets for 56 yards. However, Pittman has spent most of the year injured and this performance came in Week 9 against a tough Baltimore defense.

If T.Y Hilton is unable to get healthy for Thursday Night, Pittman Jr. could be in line for a similar workload against a Tennessee defense allowing the second-most fantasy points to opposing wideouts. This is certainly a riskier play if Hilton is active but, if he sits, Pittman should offer a high enough floor to warrant WR3 consideration.

Fantasy Football Sleeper No. 1: Jordan Reed, San Fransisco (vs. New Orleans)

With George Kittle out and Reed being activated from IR, many fantasy football managers rushed to the waiver wire in hopes of finding a startable player in the tight end wasteland. Instead, they started their week off with one reception for three yards on Thursday Night. In the one other full game Reed played in without Kittle, he went for 50 yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions.

The Saints are likely to be up big against a dilapidated 49ers team, so there should be plenty of garbage time for Reed to become fantasy relevant. With the current state of the tight end position and Travis Kelce and Hayden Hurst on bye, Reed is a sneaky TE1 play this week.