Bold Predictions For Week 10 Fantasy Football: DK Metcalf & More

You know the drill. Every Thursday at Fantasy Life, I'm shooting for the moon and dishing out my hottest takes and boldest calls. Let's dive into my bold predictions for Week 10 of the fantasy football season.

Fantasy Football Bold Predictions For Week 10

DK Metcalf Finishes Outside The Top 40 WRs

Metcalf is often a pretty up-and-down fantasy wideout, but I do think he’ll give us some consistency this week.

As in, consecutive bad games.

Before the Steelers' bye, Metcalf caught just one pass for four yards against the Browns. And while it may look like a friendly game environment on the surface, a road matchup with the Bengals isn’t exactly a get-right spot. Sure, Cincinnati does allow the ninth-most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers, but if you look closer under the hood, you’ll find the real truth. It has mostly been slot receivers that have done damage against this defense, as the Bengals are surrendering the fourth-most PPR PPG to opposing pass catchers from the slot (28.0). However, pass catchers lined up out wide are averaging just 19 PPG against Cincinnati, the second-fewest in the league. That is very much a DJ Turner stat, Cincinnati’s top corner, who often shadows the opposing team’s WR1. Because of Turner’s shutdown abilities, opposing lead receivers are averaging just 41.7 yards per game against the Bengals, the lowest mark in the NFL.

When these teams first met back in Week 3, Turner shadowed Metcalf on just over 77% of his routes. As a result, Metcalf mostly struggled, catching three passes for 31 yards, though he did score a late touchdown on a play where two Cincinnati defenders collided with each other. It’ll probably take a touchdown for Metcalf to have a serviceable fantasy day because I don’t expect a ton of yardage against Turner on Sunday.

Drew Lock Finishes As A QB1

Between injuries and bye weeks, many fantasy teams will be looking for a viable quarterback streaming option this week. Given a favorable matchup against the Raiders, Lock deserves strong consideration.

He didn't have a huge game in his start against Arizona last week, but a bounce back is likely. Seattle has a solid implied total of 23 points and will face a Las Vegas defense surrendering a league-worst 2.6 points per drive. The Raiders are also coughing up 21.1 fantasy points per game to opposing signal callers, the third-most in football. They have now allowed opposing offenses to score at least 30 points in each of their last six games, making this a great spot for Lock to give us a ceiling, especially considering he’s already posted a top-10 fantasy finish in a plus matchup back in Week 2.

Deebo Samuel Posts Top-20 Production

Samuel hasn’t played since Week 5, but appears to be in line to make his return this Sunday. It comes at an ideal time, as Samuel gets one of the best matchups in all of fantasy football, facing a vulnerable Cowboys defense that is allowing the fourth-most points per drive (2.46). We know this defense is going to give up points, but there is one key data point that really favors Samuel.

No team in the NFL is allowing more yards after the catch per reception on WR screens than the Dallas Cowboys (14.6), while also allowing one touchdown off the play type. Samuel, of course, is heavily utilized in the screen game, as 8.9% of his routes have been WR screens, a top-five rate in football. We’ll see what role recently acquired Keenan Allen will play, but San Francisco will remain without Mike Evans for this game, solidifying Samuel’s target volume.