Fantasy Stat Pack: Week Ten

Ryan McDowell

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a series of tweets I share on a weekly basis regarding player and team defensive performances, all from a fantasy lens. I’m going to be sharing some of that same information with you here.

I use this each week as I am making my own lineup and waiver wire decisions and thought you might find this valuable as well.

Note: The scoring system used for this data is always PPR with four points for passing touchdowns.

All year to date fantasy ranks are based on total points.

Quarterbacks

Week Nine QB1s (top 12 scorers)

Of course, the surprise of the week was little-known backup quarterback Nick Mullens, who stepped in for the injured C.J. Beathard and led the 49ers to an easy win over the Raiders. That poor defense might have had a lot to do with his performance, but he looks like a fun player to watch and could end up starting the remainder of the season.

Year to Date QB1s

  • QB1 Patrick Mahomes, KC
  • QB2 Matt Ryan, ATL
  • QB3 Jared Goff, LAR
  • QB4 Cam Newton, CAR
  • QB5 Drew Brees, NO
  • QB6 Deshaun Watson, HOU
  • QB7 Kirk Cousins, MIN
  • QB8 Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
  • QB9 Andrew Luck, IND
  • QB10 Aaron Rodgers, GB
  • QB11 Mitch Trubisky, CHI
  • QB12 Tom Brady, NE

QB1 Games this Season

  • 8 Patrick Mahomes
  • 7
  • 6 Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson, Matt Ryan
  • 5 Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Jared Goff

Most QB1 Games Allowed

  • 7 TB
  • 6 ATL
  • 5 CIN, KC, NE, NO, WAS
  • 4 DEN, NYJ, OAK, PHI, PIT, SF
  • 3 ARI, BAL, BUF, CHI, CLE, IND, LAC, LAR, MIN, NYG
  • 2 CAR, DAL, DET, GB, HOU, JAX, MIA, TEN
  • 1
  • 0 SEA

The Buccaneers and Falcons remain the two defenses to target when making your weekly quarterback decisions. That could be tested this week as the Bucs face Alex Smith and the Redskins, who hasn’t finished inside the top 12 fantasy scorers since week one, while the Falcons visit the Browns. Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield has shown some improvement lately but needs some consistency from his pass-catchers to really make a splash.

The Seattle Seahawks narrowly avoided giving up their first QB1 game of the season last week to Philip Rivers and this week face a similarly difficult task against the Rams and Jared Goff, who has posted back to back QB4 or better games.

Running Backs

Week Nine RB1s (top 12 scorers)

With starter Chris Carson dealing with a hip injury, backup runner Mike Davis had a full workload for the Seahawks and it paid off with an RB11 performance. At the top of this list, the top five backs of the week all put up huge scores thanks in large part to the multiple touchdowns scored by each player, including two receiving scores for Tevin Coleman and Duke Johnson.

Year to Date RB1s

RB1 Games this Season

  • 9 Todd Gurley
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6 Alvin Kamara, James Conner, Melvin Gordon, Saquon Barkley
  • 5 Christian McCaffrey, James White
  • 4 Joe Mixon, Kenyan Drake, Kareem Hunt

Most RB1 Games Allowed

  • 7 ATL, KC, MIA
  • 6
  • 5 ARI, CLE, DET
  • 4 BUF, CIN, DEN, HOU, IND, NYG, TB
  • 3 DAL, JAX, LAC, NYJ, OAK, SF
  • 2 BAL, CAR, GB, MIN, NE, NO, SEA, WAS
  • 1 CHI, LAR, PHI, PIT, TEN

The Falcons, Chiefs, and Dolphins have now each allowed seven RB1 games over the season’s first nine weeks. This week, the Browns duo of rookie Nick Chubb and suddenly relevant pass-catcher Duke Johnson face the Falcons. This could be an especially nice game for Johnson as Atlanta always struggles to step players catching the ball out of the backfield.

David Johnson owners are starting to feel it. After seeing some hints of change with the new play-caller on the sidelines, now DJ gets to face the Chiefs. This looks like an ideal matchup but I still worry about what happens if the Cardinals fall behind early as the certainly should do. Finally, the Dolphins face the Packers and fantasy owners of Aaron Jones hope this is the game that jump starts his season after showing flashes since he returned from an early-season suspension.

A quintet of teams has only allowed one RB1 game, which could at least give fantasy owners pause when considering Kerryon Johnson (vs. CHI), Chris Carson/Mike Davis (vs. LAR), Ezekiel Elliott (vs. PHI), Christian McCaffrey (vs. PIT) and Sony Michel/James White (vs. TEN). In the end though, even these tough on paper matchups shouldn’t scare us off Elliott, McCaffrey or the Patriots, though I would look for other options if I have Johnson against the Bears.

Wide Receivers

Week Nine WR1s (top 12 scorers)

We saw a pair of games that look like fluke performances in Adam Humphries and Maurice Harris last week but Harris might see some real opportunity for the remainder of the season with Paul Richardson hitting the injured reserve list.

Year to Date WR1s

WR1 Games this Season

  • 7 Adam Thielen
  • 6
  • 5 DeAndre Hopkins, Michael Thomas
  • 4 Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham, Stefon Diggs

Most WR1 Games Allowed

  • 9 NO
  • 8 TB
  • 7
  • 6 GB, PHI
  • 5 ATL, CLE, LAR, TEN
  • 4 CAR, CIN, SEA, WAS
  • 3 ARI, DEN, DET, KC, MIA, NYJ
  • 2 BAL, BUF, CHI, DAL, JAX, LAC, MIN, NE, NYG, OAK, PIT, SF
  • 1 IND
  • 0 HOU

The Saints easily sit atop this list as they are getting torched by opposing wideouts. Part of this has to do with an injured and disappointing secondary while getting out to big leads and forcing teams to throw the ball doesn’t help either. Regardless, this week they face the Bengals and fantasy players have to be distraught they won’t be able to use the injured A.J. Green. Tyler Boyd certainly looks like one of the plays of the week though. Their division foe Tampa Bay is not much better but might get a bit of a break against the Redskins this week.

The Texans are off this week, so their streak will continue, while the Colts won’t make things easy on the Jaguars, who play musical chairs at the receiver position each week anyway.

Tight Ends

Week Nine TE1s (top 12 scorers)

The tight end position is becoming a little clearer in recent weeks as players return from injury but that only makes the continued struggles of Redskins tight end Jordan Reed more confusing. His veteran teammate Vernon Davis cracks the TE1 list this time along with a few others who might still be on your waiver wire.

Year to Date TE1s

TE1 Games this Season

  • 8 Zach Ertz
  • 7 Travis Kelce
  • 6 Eric Ebron, George Kittle, OJ Howard
  • 5 Jimmy Graham Trey Burton

Most TE1 Games Allowed

  • 7 CAR, TB
  • 6
  • 5 ATL, CHI, CIN, IND, KC, NE, PIT
  • 4 CLE, HOU, LAC, MIA, MIN, OAK, SF
  • 3 BAL, BUF, DAL, DEN, DET, LAR, WAS
  • 2 ARI, JAX
  • 1 GB, NYG, NYJ, PHI, SEA, TEN
  • 0 NO

The Panthers and Bucs faced each other last week so it should be no surprise that both OJ Howard and Greg Olsen had big games. This week, Carolina gets the Steelers on Thursday night, which is good news for Vance McDonald. Tampa Bay host the Redskins, so maybe this is the week we finally see Jordan Reed put up a big game.

The Saints are the last team to allow a TE1 game and that streak should continue against the Bengals. C.J. Uzomah has been just fine as a fill-in but has a fairly low ceiling. After the Saints, a whopping six teams are tied with just one TE1 game allowed. It’s not a deal-breaker but it is worth considering for George Kittle (vs. NYG) and Rob Gronkowski (vs. TEN). The Packers, Jets, Eagles, and Seahawks each have relatively easy tight end matchups and should continue their strong play against the position.

Finally, here’s the full defensive chart you might’ve already seen on Twitter.

a screenshot of a cell phone description generated with very high confidence

ryan mcdowell