Football Fantasy Advice: Week 10 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Picks for Top Quarterbacks

Fantasy football playoffs are fast approaching, making Week 10 a crucial juncture to get the start ’em, sit ’em quarterback candidates right.

Some teams would be looking to consolidate their positions at the top of their leagues with keeping their QBs on bye. Those languishing down the table would hope that the right QB play in Week 10 can resurrect their journey back into playoff contention.

Identifying the best, and of course the worst, value plays at the position, we present our start ’em, sit ’em quarterback rankings for Week 10.

Start of the week: Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Brock Purdy is, arguably, the hottest QB in fantasy in the last three weeks. He ranks 4th with 23.4 fantasy points per game as per FantasyPros. Purdy’s fantasy rating has been further bolstered by his ability, and more importantly, willingness to scramble.

What’s impressive is that Purdy has been performing with a band of misfits as his pass-catchers. With San Francisco coming off of a bye, Purdy is likely to get top playmakers Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and Jauan Jennings back in the fold.

Even with all the factors and players lining up for Purdy in Week 10, he still would not be a first-choice start ’em candidate without a good matchup. And boy, he sure has one here. 

The pass defense of the Buccaneers has been strikingly poor this year. The unit has allowed 23.0 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. That’s the second most in the NFL.

Last week, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes had his best fantasy performance of the season against the Bucs, garnering 24.5 fantasy points. 

Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins, who played Tampa Bay twice this year, registered 28 fantasy points in both the games. The fact that he hasn’t scored 20 in any of the other games illustrates how weak the Tampa Bay defense is. Fantasy stud Lamar Jackson also had a season-high 34.4 fantasy points against this defense in Week 7. 

Purdy was a natural, and easy pick.

Other start ’ems for Week 10

Sam Darnold (Minnesota Vikings) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Sam Darnold has been stellar this year, both in the NFL as well as fantasy football with him putting up 17+ fantasy points in six of his last seven outings. He scored 20+ points in four of those games. He is tied 4th with 17 TD passes in eight games in the NFL.

To make matters interesting, he gets the best QB fantasy matchup one could ask for in Week 10. The Vikings visit the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars in Duval.

The Jaguars have been giving up more fantasy points per game to QBs than any other team. An average of 23.2. They’ve allowed TDs aplenty too — third-most in the NFL in the last four games. 

In the past few weeks Jacksonville have been a dream match-up for the opposition QBs. They gave 29.9 points to Jalen Hurts, and two rookie QBs (Caleb Williams and Drake Maye) put up season-high fantasy points against them.

Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals) vs. Baltimore Ravens: The Baltimore Ravens, though traditionally known for their strong defense, have been iffy this year. The Ravens are one of three three teams allowing 20+ fantasy points per game for QBs.

Cincinnati Bengals, their Week 10 opponents, and their QB Joe Burrow, will be keen to capitalize on the Ravens’ habit of giving up pass yards. 

Burrow has historically performed great against the Ravens. He cooked their secondary to the tune of 34.8 fantasy points and five TD passes when they met earlier this season. Taking advantage of Baltimore’s worst pass defence In 2021, Burrow put up two games with 400+ yards and 3+ TD passes.

Sit of the week: Jared Goff, Detroit Lions vs. Houston Texans

This one might come as a surprise considering how many points Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions offense have been scoring. But do hear us out. Detroit has scored a lot of points taking advantage of good field position. That means they haven’t been piling up the yards.

For instance, the Lions scored 52 points against the Titans in Week 8. Despite the huge score, Goff had only 15.5 fantasy points and 85 passing yards. He remains way down the list, in 15th position in the NFL with 16.8 fantasy points per game this year. In the last three weeks, he managed just 14.8 points per game, dropping even lower to 21st.

Goff will turn it around at some point, since the Lions offense is too potent for him not to. 

However, the turnaround is unlikely to happen in Week 10 since Detroit is contending with the stingy secondary of the Houston Texans. Houston’s is a unique case of contrasts too: they have given up the most pass TDs this year (19 in total). However, they’ve also allowed the 4th-fewest yards. And, in the past four weeks, they are 2nd in sacks, with 14.

Goff’s kryptonite has always been his inability to perform while facing pressure. Houston’s ability to get to the quarterback could force the Lions signal caller into mistakes that could cost him crucial fantasy points.

Other Sit ‘Ems For Week 10

Drake Maye (New England Patriots) vs. Chicago Bears: Drake Maye is not a fantasy football mainstay, not yet. And, in all likelihood, he won’t do so in Week 10 against the Chicago Bears either. 

The No. 3 overall pick of the New England Patriots this year has been impressive since taking over the starting role (his last-gasp TD pass last week had us wondering what in the Frank Tarkenton we’d just seen). However, he gets a very tough matchup against the Bears.

The Bears, who were touted to be an offensive juggernaut this season, have instead been banking on their defense for victories. “Da Bears” allow the least fantasy points per game to QBs among the teams — a measly 10.3 this year.

Chicago also No. 1 in the league in passing TDs allowed, just five. Proof: Well, Kyler Murray, who put up 20+ fantasy points in three of his previous four outings, managed just 4.8 against Chicago last week. If the Bears can do that to Murray, they are sure to stifle a rookie with just four starts under his belt.

Matthew Stafford (Los Angeles Rams) vs. Miami Dolphins: It has been a disappointing season for the Miami Dolphins, But not because of their defense, which has ceded just 12.0 fantasy points per game to QBs this year. Only two teams have allowed fewer points per contest. And, the Fins have allowed just five pass TDs over their last four games, and are ranked third in total passing yards allowed.

Matthew Stafford has a formidable task facing them. This even after him getting his full weapons cache restocked with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua returning to the roster. Miami has also been stingy against WRs, allowing the 4th-fewest fantasy points to them. 

Stafford has gone for under 10 fantasy points three times this year and has only gone 20= once. The veteran, ranked 28th in the fantasy QB campaign, is clearly no match.