Week 10 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Nov 09, 2022

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Josh Allen has an elbow injury and may miss some time. Aaron Jones (ankle), Romeo Doubs (high-ankle), Adam Thielen (ankle), and perhaps Deon Jackson (knee) are also dealing with various injuries. In addition, four teams–the Ravens, Bengals, Patriots, and Jets–are on bye.

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

Below is a list of players who are ranked higher than usual due to injuries, depth chart changes, or favorable matchups. As the bye weeks hit, it’s important to be able to find players who can produce.

I’ll put the matchup along with our signature strength-of-schedule metric, adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA), in parenthesis. The higher the number, the better the matchup.

Quarterbacks

Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers (vs. LAC, 11)

Due to his lack of rushing yards and the 49ers’ typically strong running game, Garoppolo is unlikely to be a week-winner, but he’s been a steady producer in the last four games, throwing two touchdowns in every contest while averaging 272 pass yards in that span. The 49ers have a team total of 26.75.

Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars (@ KC, 28)

In a good matchup against the Raiders, Lawrence posted 235/1 and added 53 yards rushing. He has another good matchup this week against the Chiefs, who have yielded 303/2 to Jimmy Garoppolo, 329/3 to Josh Allen, 241/2 to Derek Carr, 385/3 to Tom Brady, and 222/2 to Matt Ryan since Week 3. The Chiefs were only able to contain rookie Malik Willis in that span.