What’s up everyone and welcome to Ben’s Building Blocks! If you’ve never read my content before, welcome. To those that have, welcome back. I truly appreciate everyone that reads and supports during NFL season. This article is designed for me to highlight the top plays of the week, and my overall player pool for the main slate. Obviously, things can change rapidly in the NFL with injury news on the weekends, so I would be sure to subscribe to our premium package for access to my Final Thoughts cheat sheet, our premium discord channel and my core plays. Our Core Plays product gives you the ability to tail all of our analysts in your contests each week. We do the work for you, and you simply plug and play with our premium Core Plays. With that being said, let’s hop into the Week 10 slate…
Quarterback
This is a much stronger QB slate than what we’ve had these past few weeks, and I actually think it’s going to spread out the ownership a bit more — more on par with what we are used to. Early ownership runs have Marcus Mariota popping as one of the most popular options, installed as a big home favorite with a healthy 26.5 implied team total. The spot is obviously strong, but the Falcons run the ball so much and Chicago is so bad defensively against the run that I’m just not going to play him. If he ends up being the chalky QB for cash games this week, that’s fine, I just will have a different build.
I think it comes down to Josh Allen and Justin Fields for my main team. Allen gets a huge boost with the game moving from Buffalo to Detroit — and the Browns have been a disaster defensively for most of the season. Allen has elite indoor splits — coming into this week 4-0 in his career indoor games with an average of 260 passing yards and 2.5 passing touchdowns per game. Buffalo has the highest team total on the board, and he is a fantastic option in all formats. As for Fields, this is a homecoming game returning back to his hometown of Atlanta and you couldn’t draw up a better spot. He isn’t going to drop 40 fantasy points every week, but this is another bad run-defense and the play-calling change he’s seen is extremely helpful to his rushing floor. If Atlanta is running the ball down the Bears throat, that could hurt the game as a whole but I don’t see how he can have a truly bad game in this spot. While he might not reach 40+ points again, it seems like 23-26 points is his floor right now with how much he’s running. I actually think he’s going to come in lower-owned than we expect, which is something I will look to take advantage of.
I like Jalen Hurts a lot in tournaments, and I’m listing a few cheap options but I really want to spend up this week. There are so many guys with insane ceilings at the top, it feels like a bad week to fade them all.
Core: Josh Allen, Justin Fields, Dak Prescott
Pivots: Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, Kenny Pickett
Running Back
Once again we have a loaded mid-tier at running back, and it’s not overly clear where the ownership will settle as of now. I expect all of Rhamondre Stevenson, David Montgomery, Dameon Pierce and Joe Mixon to end up over 15-17% owned. Since it looks like Fields won’t be quite as chalky, I think most will be playing Montgomery with Chicago down Khalil Herbert. I think using him in any non-Fields teams is the route to go — but as of now I would prefer to be heavier on Fields than Monty…
Guys I would consider myself higher on than the field as of Friday are Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor and Devin Singletary. Getting off the chalkier mid-tier and up to the more expensive backs helps you get a naturally unique team and I love the spot for both Barkley and JT. Singletary is up against one of the worst run-defenses in football as a huge favorite — there are concerns about the Browns keeping the game close but his price is cheap enough it probably won’t matter.
Philly has really struggled with their run-defense since losing Jordan Davis — and JT is coming off pretty much career-best usage playing all but four snaps. It seems clear former o-lineman Jeff Saturday wants to feed his bell-cow back, and if Indy is in this game on Sunday it could be another huge Taylor smash.
Core: Saquon Barkley, Joe Mixon, Rhamondre Stevenson, David Montgomery, Dameon Pierce
Pivots: Jonathan Taylor, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, Antonio Gibson, Devin Singletary
Wide Receiver
WR is once again priced extremely right, with limited value to be found outside of the mid-tier. There are several strong spend-ups including Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb. Lamb is the best bet to draw ownership due to his cheaper price tag, but I think all three are viable in all formats. As of now, I’m higher on the Bills game than the Cowboys/Vikings game — so I think Diggs is most likely to make my main team. Both Courtland Sutton and Terry McLaurin will draw heavy ownership in the $6K tier and I like the spot for both. Sutton gets to play without Jeudy against a legitimately bad Raiders defense — while McLaurin might be in the best spot on the slate. Houston has allowed several big games to opposing WR1’s this season, and now Derek Stingley — their best CB — is out this week. Terry averages almost 30% of the teams targets with Taylor Heinicke at QB — and he is my favorite WR play on the slate.
I also think there are three very strong plays in the $4K tier between Parris Cambpell, Garrett Wilson and Donovan Peoples-Jones. DPJ correlates well with my Bills love, and he has been one of the most consistent WR’s in football. He’s topped 70+ receiving yards in six of his last seven games, and has been super steady on the road where Amari Cooper struggles. This is also a homecoming game for SPJ, returning to his home town of Detroit! Garrett Wilson averages over 17 PPR points per game without Corey Davis on the field — and already has one big game against the Patriots this season.
For GPPs, I love looking at Darnell Mooney in my stacks with Fields — and I think both Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd could be a bit overlooked by the time lineups lock. Nico Collins could be a popular value, as well, and I like using him in builds with McLaurin.
Core: CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St Brown, Courtland Sutton, Terry McLaurin, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Parris Campbell, Garrett Wilson
Pivots: Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs, Tee Higgins, Darnell Mooney, DJ Moore, Nico Collins, Kendall Hinton
Tight End
Tight End is actually loaded this week, with several mid-tier options in play. The three in my “core” section check in as my favorites, and I do believe that two-TE builds will be a common build in cash games this weekend. Greg Dulcich and Dawson Knox are my current favorites. Dulcich is coming off a career-high snap-rate in Week 10 — and will now be playing without Jerry Jeudy. Las Vegas has allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to tight ends, and I think he has a reasonable ceiling for his price tag this weekend. Knox would fill out one of m favorite stacks of the week, as I expect the Bills to roll the Browns on Sunday. He needs a touchdown to really post a strong game, but he is cheap enough that I’m fine with him in all formats especially with that big of a team total.
I will be looking for Tight End to fill-out my stacks per usual this week — but I also want to keep an eye on the Philly situation. If three TE’s are active I will avoid them, but if Tyree Jackson isn’t active I think either of Jack Stoll or Greg Calcaterra could be in play. Calcaterra seems like more of the pass catcher-type.
Core: Dalton Schultz, Greg Dulcich, Dawson Knox
Pivot: Mark Andrews, TJ Hockenson, Tyler Higbee, Pat Freiermuth, Hayden Hurst
Bold Call of the Week
I place top 75 in the DraftKings King of the Beach Q and move onto San Diego.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)