Fantasy Football: 10 biggest reactions to NFL Week 10

Jahmyr Gibbs gets the goalline work: Both Detroit Lions running backs were healthy for the first time since Week 4, but that didn’t stop either player from having a big game.
Noah Brown with back-to-back huge games: The Houston Texans wide receiver has taken advantage of injuries to other receivers to have the best two games of his career.
Late-round rookies step up: Players like Ty Chandler, A.T. Perry and Josh Whyle all had larger roles than usual in Week 10.

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PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2023. Here, we touch on only players who are relevant in fantasy football leagues.

These are my 10 biggest reactions to the games from the Sunday slate. To get a more in-depth breakdown, check out my full Sunday recap.

David Montgomery returns to the Detroit Lions: Montgomery had been inactive the last two games with a rib injury.

We hadn’t seen both Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs healthy for a full game since Week 4 when Montgomery ran 32 times for 121 yards and three touchdowns.
Gibbs has generally played well since that game when healthy, so we expected playing time between the two backs to be less lopsided.
Montgomery started this game, but Gibbs ended up with more carries, targets and playing time in all situations except in short yardage. It was especially noteworthy that Gibbs received goal-line work, which helped him to two one-yard touchdown runs.
Montgomery ended up with more rushing yards, but that was in part because he broke a 75-yard touchdown run.
Montgomery ended with 12 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown while Gibbs ran 14 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns, with three receptions for 35 receiving yards.
The Lions had their bye week and Montgomery was a full participant in practice this past week, so he presumably wasn’t limited.
It should be safer to start Gibbs going forward while Montgomery can still have standalone value in the right matchups.

The Baltimore Ravens become a three-man rotation: Keaton Mitchell led the Ravens running backs in rushing yards and receiving yards despite limited playing time.

Mitchell broke out in a big way last week with over 100 rushing yards and a touchdown, but he appeared on the injury report in the middle of the week due to a hamstring injury.
This game began with a two-man rotation between Gus Edwards and Mitchell. Edwards played nine first-quarter snaps while Mitchell played six.
Mitchell ran for a 39-yard touchdown and caught a 32-yard pass in those six snaps, which is more rushing yards and more receiving yards than the other Ravens running backs gained all game combined.
Mitchell only played in seven of 39 snaps over the rest of the game, presumably due to the hamstring injury he came into the game with.
Mitchell remains the top running back option off the waiver wire in leagues where he is still available. He was playing ahead of Justice Hill to begin this game and very well could the rest of the season.
Given his two big plays while Edwards averaged 2.2 yards per carry, it’s possible Mitchell will play ahead of Edwards sooner rather than later.

Monitor Alexander Mattison’s health: The Minnesota Vikings running back left the game late in the third quarter due to a concussion and didn’t return.

Cam Akers had suffered a season-ending Achilles tear last week, which seemed like it would lead to a larger role for Mattison.
Instead, Ty Chandler was very involved in the game. Both running backs received eight carries over the first three quarters.
Chandler was more successful in that time with 40 yards and a touchdown, but Mattison averaged more yards after contact per carry.
Chandler ran the ball another seven times in the fourth quarter once Mattison was out, but only gained four yards on those carries because the Saints knew the Vikings were running most of the quarter.
Kene Nwangwu didn’t play on offense until the fourth quarter. He played three snaps in relief of Chandler.
Players typically miss a week after suffering a concussion and the Vikings have a good matchup against the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football next week. Chandler will be one of the top waiver wire options for teams looking for a running back for Week 11.
It’s also possible Chandler mixes in more than expected once Mattison is back.

Jaylen Warren’s role grows in the run game: The Pittsburgh Steelers RB set a career-high in rushing yards last week with 88 and he beat that this week with his first 100-yard game.

Warren reached a near-even split with Najee Harris on early downs. Harris had been doubling Warren in early down snaps in the vast majority of games this season.
Harris played more in short yardage situations and Warren more on third downs as usual.
While Harris was off to the best start of his career, Warren has been the better runner over the last four weeks.
Warren has averaged 6.5 yards per carry in that stretch compared to Harris' 4.1. Warren has twice as many explosive runs, more than twice as many avoided tackles and more first-down runs despite having 16 fewer carries.
This will still be a two-man backfield for the foreseeable future, but this could be the last time we see Harris out-snap Warren based on how well Warren has been playing and his high amount of early down snaps in this game.

Jerome Ford is the Cleveland Browns‘ top running back: Ford was clearly ahead of Kareem Hunt for a second straight week.

Ford’s playing time had been declining for most of October due to injury while Hunt earned more playing time, but that changed last week.
Ford has been playing the majority of snaps in both early downs and late downs in the last two games, but Hunt has been playing a little more in short-yardage situations.
Neither Ford nor Hunt was on the injury report this week, but Pierre Strong showed up with a hamstring injury. He was active but didn’t take an offensive snap.
It’s becoming safer to put Ford in fantasy starting lineups going forward, but there will probably be more games where Hunt ends up scoring a touchdown instead of Ford as he did in this game.

Alvin Kamara bounces back: The New Orleans Saints RB scored 14 PPR points after several things worked against his fantasy score last week.

Kamara ran the ball nine times for 26 yards and caught four passes for 44 yards last week.
One issue was his diminishing playing time. Jamaal Williams had played more last week than any other game with Kamara, but that trend reversed. Williams played roughly 22% of New Orleans' offensive snaps, which was consistent with Weeks 7 and 8.
Third-round rookie Kendre Miller was also mixing in during recent weeks, but he was inactive due to an ankle injury. The Saints used a two-man rotation instead of three.
Kamara’s target rate actually dropped to the lowest rate it’s been all season at 24.1%, but the Saints were playing from behind most of the game, leading to 29 routes, which was 10 more than either of the last two games.
The other big change is that Taysom Hill wasn’t nearly as involved in the offense. Hill lined up somewhere in the backfield 27 times over the last two weeks but only lined up there twice in this game.
Hill has played 20% of the Saints' offensive snaps lined up in the backfield when the Saints are tied or winning this season and 7% when they are losing, and they were losing for most of this game.
The Saints only have one more game on their schedule against a team with a winning record. We will see Hill more involved in future games and there will be less passing than this one.
Kamara will need to start putting up big games on the ground to continue being an elite fantasy running back.

The Houston Texans’ wide receivers can’t stay healthy The Texans didn’t have their top wide receiver Nico Collins due to a calf injury.

Since Week 2, the Texans' top three wide receivers were whichever three of Collins, Tank Dell, Robert Woods and Noah Brown were healthy.
Brown missed Weeks 2-5, Dell missed Week 6, the Texans had their bye week in Week 7 and Woods missed Week 8 and 9 with a foot injury.
Dell was the Texans’ top wide receiver in terms of playing time, consistently playing in both 11 and 12 personnel. Woods and Brown were also on the field in 11 personnel, splitting time in the slot and out wide, and they also split playing time in 12 personnel.
John Metchie III mixed in more in 11 personnel as the game progressed, primarily in Woods' place.
We didn’t have Brown as a waiver target last week despite his six-catch, 153-yard performance last week because he seemed like the odd man out once everyone was healthy.
Brown followed up his first career 100-yard performance in his seven-year career with another one.
He should be picked up simply because of his recent production, but we are likely in store for a heavy rotation among all four receivers once everyone is healthy.

Monitor Michael Thomas’ health: The former All-Pro receiver left early in this game due to a knee injury and didn’t return.

Rookie A.T. Perry completely took Thomas’ role in the offense, playing significantly in both 11 and 12 personnel.
Perry was either inactive or didn’t receive a snap in each of the first seven games. He was active the last two weeks but hadn’t seen a target yet.
He not only made his first catch of his NFL career with a 23-yard catch, but he also caught his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter.
It was at least a little surprising that Rashid Shaheed, who has been the Saints' third wide receiver all season, did not see an increase role in two receiver sets, but he did see an increase in targets.
Shaheed has been a borderline waiver target all season, but he’s been inconsistent with his high average depth of target and low target share. If Thomas misses time, then Shaheed would be a waiver target with a higher target share.
Perry can also be considered in deeper leagues.

Rashod Bateman doubles Odell Beckham Jr.’s snaps: Beckham caught a 40-yard touchdown in his revenge game, but Bateman played more snaps and received more targets.

Early in the season, Beckham and Bateman rotated by drive. In more recent games, Bateman was playing more often in two-receiver sets and Beckham more in three-receiver sets.
That trend continued, with Bateman playing in 21-of-27 snaps in two receiver sets compared to Beckham's four. One difference in this game is the Ravens threw the ball more than usual out of their two receiver sets.
Another difference is the Ravens used 20 personnel in this game for seven plays, and Bateman took six of those seven snaps. The two had been splitting time in that personnel group in the past.
Bateman also took more playing time than usual out of 11 personnel. He and Beckham both took 13 snaps out of a possible 19.
Based on their usage in this game, Bateman could outperform Beckham over the rest of the season.

Josh Whyle becomes involved in the passing game: The Tennessee Titans’ fifth-round rookie was much more involved in the Titans’ offense than in the past two weeks.

Whyle basically split playing time with Chigoziem Okonkwo, who played 21 snaps out of 11 personnel compared to Whyle's 14, and Whyle out-snapped Okonkwo in 12 personnel at 10 to eight.
Trevon Wesco remained the primary run-blocking tight end, taking five snaps in 11 personnel in run situations and the majority of 12 personnel snaps.
The three tight ends played together for three snaps in 13 personnel.
Okonkwo’s six targets were the second-most for him in a game this season and Whyle’s five targets were a career high.
It’s unlikely either tight end has any fantasy value over the rest of the season in redraft leagues because they are splitting snaps.