Three players to start, and three to think twice about in fantasy football this week.

It’s NFL week 10 already and as we approach the final few nail-biting weeks of the fantasy football regular season, start/sit decisions can weigh much heavier on the mind.

With each week that passes though, we gain a better understanding who these teams and players are, and can therefore feel a little more confident in our convictions heading into each weekend.

That being said, fantasy football is deceptive and deviant and will trip you up with nonsensical stat-lines wherever it can.

So to help you out, I’ve put together six more players for this week’s round of games, with some reasoning as to why I’m either high or low on them as we head into the weekend.

Start/sit decisions, as always, will depend on the options available to you, but I hope this helps.

Starts

Theo Johnson (New York Giants)

The first of two Giants players I’m starting this week, Johnson is probably the least obvious player on this list.

Simply put, the Carolina Panthers have given up the most fantasy points/game to tight-ends this year. Whilst this shouldn’t be surprising, the Panthers have only given up the 8th most passing yards/game on the year.

Giants rookie Theo Johnson now has 10 targets in his last two games, catching 3 of 6 last weekend for 51 yards and a touchdown to finish as the TE7 overall.

The Panthers have allowed 7 touchdowns to tight-ends already this season, the most in the league, so I’m backing Johnson to continue his emergence against an awful Carolina defense in Munich.

Johnson has been limited in practice so far this week, so be sure to keep an eye on the Giants injury report.

Jordan Addison (Minnesota)

The big story surrounding the Minnesota offense in week 9 was the return of tight-end TJ Hockenson.

But second-year receiver Addison finished the week with his second-highest target total (5) on the year and finished as the WR20 overall in half-ppr.

Rather than cap his involvement, I expect Hockenson’s presence in the Minnesota offense to open things up downfield for Addison. With defenses already having to double Justin Jefferson on the other side, Hockenson stretches defenses even thinner and should leave Addison with endless 1-on-1 match-ups moving forward.

This week, he faces a Jacksonville defense that rank 31st in passing yards allowed/game this year and have given up 19 touchdowns through the air, in just 9 games.

Tyrone Tracy (New York Giants)

Everything is lining up for Tracy to explode in week 10.

Whilst both the Giants and the Panthers have been bad this year, the Giants pass defense has been really good. The Giants defense has the highest sack percentage in the league and is top 10 in passing yards allowed/game.

Bryce Young is set to start again for Carolina, despite Andy Dalton recovering from his injured thumb and practicing in full this week.

Although the Panthers are coming off their second win of the season, I don’t see a way for them to get anything going on offense, with Young facing the leagues most efficient pass-rush.

With the Carolina defense as awful as it is, I expect a positive game-script to develop pretty early on for the Giants. This should mean endless opportunities for Tracy to rack up his yardage total, against a defense that has also given up the most rushing touchdowns on the year.

Sits

Drake Maye (New England)

In three starts for the Patriots, Drake Maye has finished as the QB10, QB7 and QB18.

Whilst three games isn’t a lot to go on, Maye’s weekly finishes have, so far, correlated to the level of opposition he’s played.

His two top-12 finishes came against Houston and Jacksonville, who rank 23rd and 32nd respectively in terms of fantasy points/game allowed to quarterbacks this year.

His less impressive start came against Tennessee, who rank 15th in that metric, the Chicago Bears are 1st.

I really like Drake Maye and expect him to have, at worst, a solid NFL career, but I can’t back him against the Bears this week.

The Bears defense has allowed the 3rd-lowest average passer rating this year, not a good sign for a rookie quarterback with limited receiving options.

In 2-QB leagues, your other options should decide whether or not you play Maye, but I expect him to finish outside the top-24 at the position this weekend.

Calvin Ridley (Tennessee)

Calvin Ridley has put up two top-12 wide receiver weeks this season. Outside of that though, his WR31 finish last weekend was his best week by a distance.

Things get a lot easier for Ridley from week 11 onward and if I’m rightly down on him this weekend, he’ll definitely be a buy-low next week.

But this Sunday he faces the Chargers, who have allowed the lowest average passer rating in the NFL this year. Factor in that Will Levis has been named the starter for the Titans this week and things look even bleaker.

In five starts this year, Will Levis has an average passer rating of 70.7, lower than Jacoby Brissett, Deshaun Watson and, more significantly, Mason Rudolph.

Levis has a strong arm and does like to throw downfield, but can be very erratic in possession. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the same can be said of Jameis Winston, who the Chargers picked off 3 times last weekend in a blowout loss.

Whilst Cedric Tillman still put up good fantasy numbers on Sunday, he required a late touchdown to do it. Calvin Ridley has only 1 touchdown on the year, whilst the Chargers have given up less that 1 receiving touchdown/game to wide receivers this season.

Rico Dowdle (Dallas)

In last week’s betting preview, I backed Rico Dowdle to rush for 50+ yards against the Falcons and he came through. This week though, he faces the Eagles.

The Cowboys kept things close last week, losing 27-21 in Atlanta, but things have been much worse for them at home.

Dallas has lost all three of their home games this season by a combined 66 points. Philadelphia, on the other hand, have won 3 of 4 on the road, the two most recent victories by a combined margin of 45 points, to the Giants and Bengals.

To make matters worse, the Cowboys will be without Dak Prescott, who may miss the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury.

In their last three games, the Eagles defense has allowed the leagues fewest total rushing yards and the fewest rushing yards/attempt. Dowdle ran for 75 yards against Atlanta, but the Falcons have been bottom 10 against the run in that stretch.

Whether it’s the Eagles’ in-form run defense, or the potentially horrendous game-script, I don’t see a way for Dowdle to repeat his impressive week 9 numbers this time around.

That’s all from me today, I hope this article helps with a few difficult decisions this weekend. I’ll be back with the week 10 betting preview tomorrow.

In-depth stats from Pro Football Reference