Fantasy Football: 5 Bold Predictions for Week 10

You ever eat a banana dipped in ketchup? If you answered "yes" to that question, you might want to get yourself checked out -- however, I will say this, it certainly is a bold meal choice.

Not to be confused with baldness, boldness would be sporting a mohawk at the ripe young age of 75. In an unrealistic football analogy, boldness would be trading the best receiver in football for a washed-up running back with a huge contract. Ehhh, no one would be that stup...oh, nevermind.

For this article, we'll focus the boldness on fantasy football. Think of this piece like Taco Tuesday -- it's better when it's spicy, but the spiciness is not what it's all about; it's there to add flavor. The point here is not to hit on 100% of the predictions. After all, I'm not a vomiting hippo. The goal here is to uncover insights that can help us win some dough in fantasy. The idea is to uncover some players that might either have an amazing week or post a complete dud.

Now, let's eat a serving of ketchup banana (yuck).

(All predictions are for half-PPR and FanDuel scoring for quarterbacks.)

1. Jared Goff Finishes as a Top-4 Quarterback

In this age of rushing quarterbacks, having a non-rushing signal-caller finish as a top-four player at the position is actually quite an achievement -- and that's what I'm expecting this week from Jared Goff ($7,400 on FanDuel). Goff's highest finish this season came in Week 3 when he placed as the QB5, but he can outpace that in Week 10.

This week, the Los Angeles Rams will take on the Seattle Seahawks in a matchup with a current projected total of 54.5 (per NFL odds). The Rams, who play at the fifth-fastest situation neutral pace in the league, are going up against a defense that has faced the league's highest pass-to-run ratio. That's should result in passing-volume galore for Goff. The good news is that Seattle has been very bad at stopping the pass. And when I say very bad, I mean very bad.

To Date, the Seahawks rank fifth-worst in Adjusted Defensive Passing Nex Expected Points (NEP) per play, and they've ceded more fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks than any other team. Four different quarterbacks have managed at least 29.5 FanDuel points against Seattle this season, and each of those four finished inside the top-four at the position that week. In total, six of the eight passers to face Seattle have posted at least 21.3 fantasy points.

Nine quarterbacks have salaries higher than Goff's on Week 10's main slate -- he should be one of the top values.

2. Antonio Gibson Posts 120+ Yards and a Touchdown

As far as matchups for running backs are concerned, none are friendlier than the ever-so-generous Detroit Lions. Through nine weeks, Detroit ranks dead last in adjusted run defense and fantasy points allowed to opposing backfields. Seven different running backs have recorded 17.8 or more half-PPR points against Detroit to date. Enter Antonio Gibson ($6,100).

Gibson has recorded at least 13 touches five times this season, and he's seen 15 or more in three of his last five games. Of the eight backs to see at least 15 opportunities against the Lions, seven totaled at least 13.3 fantasy points. Meanwhile, Gibson has surpassed 120 total yards twice in his last five games, and he's scored in five of his last seven.

Of those who should be active, 15 backs have higher salaries than Gibson on the main slate. If you're looking to save cap without surrendering upside, this is certainly one way to go.

3. Duke Johnson Scores 16+ Half-PPR Points

If you want to complain that this isn't bold enough, just make note of the fact that 16 half-PPR points would've been good enough to place as the RB3 last week. Yeah, you read right.

Duke Johnson ($5,800) is in a potentially delicious spot for Week 10, and this time, he doesn't have Bill O'Brien and Hue Jackson -- two of the most incompetent personnel managers in league history -- to get in his way. Duke is in this position because David "I'm running with a tractor tied to my back" Johnson is likely to miss this game due to a concussion.

As my colleague Jim Sannes noted, when Duke missed Week's 2 and 3, David played more than 94% of snaps in both games. In other words, this team isn't opposed to riding their main guy. After David went down last week, Duke garnered 20 touches on an 81% snap share and turned those into 73 total yards and a score. This week, he'll go up against a Cleveland Browns team that ranks fourth-worst in adjusted run defense on the season. In their last five games, the Browns have allowed three different backs to record at least 16.5 half-PPR points, and five have managed at least 12.9.

Fire up Duke in all formats this week.

4. Both Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods Finish as Top-12 Wide Receivers

The Seattle Seahawks are on pace to allow 352 receptions, 4,472 yards, and 26 touchdowns in 2020...just to receivers. For some context, if you combined the scoring totals of last year's WR1, WR2, and WR3, you'd still come up short of the number of fantasy points Seattle is on pace to surrender to the position. Wowza.

The receivers lucky enough to benefit from his banging matchup are Cooper Kupp ($7,700) and Robert Woods ($7,200).

Twelve wideouts have recorded 15 or more half-PPR points against Seattle -- of those 12, all but one saw at least seven targets. Kupp has seen 7 or more targets in five of his last six games, including a whopping 21 (!!) in Week 8. In two matchups against Seattle last year, Kupp totaled 162 yards and 2 scores. He's the preferred play of the two. That said, Woods is very much in play here as well. In last year's Week 14 matchup versus the Seahawks, Woods totaled 127 yards and a tuddy. A similar performance is not unrealistic.

Both of these wideouts are in our top-10 projected values at the position for Week 10's main slate.

5. Eric Ebron Finishes as a Top-3 Tight End

It's gotten to the point where projecting someone to finish as a top-three tight end is almost not even bold. Nevertheless, let's pretend for a second that projecting Eric Ebron ($5,400) to finish that high is, in fact, spicy.

Ebron has garnered five or more targets in six of his last seven outings, and that kind of volume could be huge in a matchup this titillating. The Cincinnati Bengals have ceded top-three tight end performances in three of their last four games -- to Mark Andrews, Trey Burton, and Harrison Bryant, no less.

Since Week 2, Ebron's nine red zone targets are tied for fifth-most at the position. That could prove to be huge against a Cincy squad that's allowed six scores to tight ends over their last four games.

Nine tight ends will cost you more than Ebron on Sunday's main slate, but he could very well return the best value.