Fantasy Football Week 10 Running Back Preview: Rankings adjustments, waiver adds, stashes, and more
Everything you need to know about the running back position for Fantasy Football in Week 10
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2 min read
Oh, what a difference a week can make. A week ago, we were calling Rico Dowdle a huge loser because Head Coach Dave Canales was insisting on playing Chubba Hubbard every other drive despite the clear evidence that Dowdle was the better back. Well, Canales considered the evidence. In Week 9, Dowdle had 25 carries and scored 28.1 Fantasy points against the Green Bay Packers of all teams. Chuba Hubbard played a season-low 22% of the snaps and had just five touches. And we are all in.
Dowdle comes in at RB6 in my full PPR Projections for Week 10, and I may be too low. In the three games he has played, Dowdle has rushed for at least 60% of the snaps, accumulating 519 yards and scoring four total touchdowns. It was easier to process that when he was doing it against the Dolphins and the Cowboys but the Packers hadn't given up a 100-yard rusher all season. Now, in Week 9, he gets the Saints.
The guy right behind Dowdle in the projections is Kyle Monangai, who may be pulling a Dowdle himself. Monangai had 198 yards against the Bengals in Week 9 and now faces the Giants. We are unsure about D'Andre Swift's status as of Tuesday, and we will unsure how much that status impacts Monangai. I expect that if Swift plays we get a 50/50 situation like what we saw when Hubbard came back. If Monangai is clearly better I would expect Ben Johnson to make the same decision Canales did.
That being said, Swift was on a bit of a heater himself before he got hurt, so when he gets healthy I wouldn't expect him to go away quite as easily as Hubbard did. And the Bears schedule gets much more difficult down the stretch. So if you can convince someone that Monangai is the second coming of Dowdle, I would be selling high.
Now let's get to the rest of the Week 9 RB Preview:
Week 10 RB Preview
RB Preview
Numbers to know
- 6 -- Alvin Kamara has six rush attempts in each of the Saints last two games. Do whatever you can to bench him.
- 41 -- Jacory Croskey-Merritt has not topped 41 scrimmage yards since Week 6.
- 12 -- Jahmyr Gibbs had a season-low 12 touches in Week 9. Hopefully that was just a one week blip.
- 77.1% -- James Cook's 77% rush share in Week 9 led the NFL. Hopefully the Bills keep that up.
- 6.0 -- Derrick Henry is averaging six yards per carry with Lamar Jackson on the field this season. He could still be a league winner.
- 41.2% -- Trey Benson has a 41.2% avoid rate. For reference, Emari Demercado has a 4.5% rate and Zonovan Knight has a 10.5% rate. Benson could be back this week.
- 44.1% -- 44.1% of Kyle Monangai's runs have gone for at least five yards. James Cook and Aaron Jones are the only starting running backs with a higher rate.
- 49 -- No running back has run for more than 49 yards against the Patriots this season.
RB Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 10 Adds (RB Preview)
A lot of people, myself included, wasted a lot of FAB on Tyrone Tracy last week only to see Devin Singletary play more snaps and have more touches. Singletary's role still wasn't great, he only played 56% of the snaps and only had 10 touches, but he looks like the Giants running back to roster, if you have to. If nothing else, I would expect him to be the short yardage back, which makes him the most likely to score a touchdown.
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If Trey Benson returns then I am not sure Demercado matters. But if Benson is out, Demercado is likely the best Cardinals running back in Week 10. They are going with the hot hand approach and he had the much hotter hand in Week 9, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. His career rushing average is even higher than that and if not for the foolish goal line fumble, he may have taken this backfield over sooner. Even if Benson is out I don't like him as more than a flex against Seattle.
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Stashes (RB Preview)
Saquon Barkley was nursing a groin injury the last time we saw him. If that flares back up and he misses time, Bigsby will lead a committee and could be a nice bye week replacement or better. He has turned 10 carries into 115 yards in his short time with the Eagles.
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RB Preview
DFS Plays
Top DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Assuming Swift is still out, Monangai is the clear top play at running back with a price tag of $6,500. He projects as a top 10 back for me in all formats against a Giants defense that has allowed the second most Fantasy points to opposing running backs. If Swift is back, then Dowdle is the top play.
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Contrarian DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Achane is on a huge underdog and he is $500 more than Dowdle with a similar projection. That should keep his roster rate low. But this Bills run defense is one of the worst in the league and Achane is also one of the top targets in the passing game for Miami each week. He had 19 touches for 91 yards against the Bills earlier this year and is always a threat to break a home run for a long touchdown. I like him better on sites that reward a full point for a catch, but he is in play as a contrarian play on FanDuel as well.
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RB Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 10 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 10. Projected stats for all starting running backs are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
