Week 10 Fantasy Football Projections: Justin Jefferson Upgrades with Kirk Cousins

The 2026-27 NFL season has officially reached double digits. We’re on to Week 10, which means that the finish line is in sight. Time truly does fly when you’re having fun.

This week featured the NFL trade deadline, and we’ll have a host of new starting quarterbacks at the helm. Kirk Cousins and Jacoby Brissett will likely debut for their new teams, while Fernando Mendoza, Carson Beck, and Kyle McCord will make the first starts of their careers. Add in a few big injuries last week, and we have a clear shakeup in the fantasy football rankings.

As always, we can lean on our projections to help sort through the changing landscape. Each week, I’ll look at one player at each position who stands out in our fantasy football projections for one reason or another.

Let’s dive right in.

Fantasy Football Projections Standouts For Week 10

Tyler Shough, QB, NO

Projection: 19.2
Rank: QB6

QB is typically one of the deepest positions in fantasy, but that doesn’t feel like the case in Week 10. With so many uncertain options at the position, there aren’t a ton of names you can feel good about.

Shough has quietly emerged as a trustworthy starter. He’s currently QB12 in terms of fantasy points per game, but he’s being dragged down by one abysmal outing. He had just 1.8 fantasy points against the Vikings in Week 5. He’s had at least 19.7 fantasy points in five of his other seven outings, including at least 22.4 in four of them.
With the Saints struggling to get anything going on the ground, they’ve had no problem letting Shough loose. The Saints lead the league in Dropback percentage this season, and Shough is projected for the second-most attempts on this slate.

That could pay big dividends vs. the Panthers. Their defense has not been up to snuff this season, and they’ve allowed the seventh-most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs. He’s a very comfortable starter.

Blake Corum, RB, LAR

Projection: 10.6
Rank: RB18

The biggest injury last week involved the Rams. Puka Nacua carried them against the Commanders, but he went down late. He has since been diagnosed with a trio of injuries, and a trip to the IR is expected. The Rams were already without Davante Adams, so their passing game is getting dangerously thin. Konata Mumpfield and Tutu Atwell are their top remaining receivers, and they’re scaring no one.

With that in mind, the Rams could lean a bit more on their running backs. Kyren Williams is their top option, and he checks in at RB7 this week.

Corum is a bigger surprise, though perhaps he shouldn’t be. He has quietly finished as a top-15 option at the position in five straight weeks, despite very modest underlying utilization. He’s not being used much as a receiver or in short yardage, which are the areas where RBs make their money for fantasy purposes.

Corum has made up for it with efficiency. He’s averaged 5.2 yards per carry this season, and he’s taken advantage of his scoring opportunities when he’s gotten them. He’s scored a touchdown in four of his past five games, despite having just 38% of the Rams’ carries from inside the five-yard line during that stretch.

With Nacua now sidelined, Corum could see a boost in volume. If he can maintain his elite efficiency with a larger workload, it should cement his RB2 status.

Justin Jefferson, WR, MIN

Projection: 13.9
Rank: WR6

No one is going to be happier to see Cousins back in Minnesota than Jefferson. It has been a long two seasons for one of the best receivers in football. His numbers took a dive last year, and they’ve slipped even further in 2026-27. Last week felt like a new low, with Jefferson managing just three catches on 11 targets.

Jefferson still has a 28% target share for the year; his QBs simply haven’t been able to get him the ball. That will hopefully change with Cousins back in the fold. Cousins is not an elite passer at this point in his career, but he represents a clear upgrade over Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz. He’s averaged 260 passing yards per game so far this season, along with 20 touchdown passes.

Most importantly, Cousins knows how to get the ball to the money. He peppered Brock Bowers with targets in Las Vegas, and Jefferson should get the same treatment in Minnesota. It’s enough to push Jefferson back near the top of the WR projections for Week 10. He checks in at WR6, trailing only Jaxon Smith-Njigba, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the stud Bengals duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. It’s a sight for sore eyes, and Jefferson is hopefully poised for a big finish.

George Kittle, TE, SF

Projection: 13.1
Rank: TE1

For most of the season, the battle for the top spot at tight end has come down to Bowers vs. Trey McBride. However, both guys are looking up at Kittle this week. Part of that stems from the situations in Las Vegas and Arizona. Both teams are going to be starting a rookie QB this week, and there’s no guarantee that either will perform well.

Rookies tend to struggle to start their NFL careers.

Meanwhile, Kittle is playing for one of the best offenses in the league. The 49ers are first in the league in EPA per play, with their passing attack doing most of the damage.
Kittle is going to have to do some heavy lifting for this offense given the state of their receiving corps. They’ve been plagued by injuries since the start of the year, with Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, De’Zhaun Stribling, and Ricky Pearsall all missing last week’s contest.

Kittle responded with a 32% target share in that outing, and he’s at 27% over the team’s past five games. It’s yet to result in a huge uptick in fantasy production, but it feels like just a matter of time. There’s ultimately no one I’d rather have at the position moving forward.