Jaxson Dart, Rico Dowdle, and Week 10's Best Fantasy Upside Plays

The NFL trade deadline is in the rearview mirror, bringing the road to the fantasy playoffs into focus. Hand over the wheel to these three players in prime smash spots, and let’s dominate Week 10.

Week 10 Fantasy Football Smashes

Rico Dowdle RB, Carolina Panthers

Two months into the season, the coup of the Carolina backfield is complete. Dowdle has consistently surpassed expectations whenever Dave Canales calls his number, and now finds himself as the most important piece of the Panthers offense.

Prior to Dowdle making swiss cheese of the Packs defense (141 YFS, 2 TDs), it was fair to question whether his ability to separate from Chuba Hubbard was bolstered by the fortune of the scheduling gods. His previous 100+ yard performances came against Dallas and Miami, two teams that provide the fourth and sixth largest fantasy boosts to opposing running backs.

Once again, Dowdle silenced all questions by delivering 27.1 FPs (0.5 PPR) against the 5th-stingiest defense in terms of fantasy points allowed to running backs. Heading into Week 10, he is one of three running backs with 700+ rushing yards, 5.6+ yards per carry, and an EPA/Rush of 0.15 or better.

The other two running backs: Jonathan Taylor and James Cook.

That's exclusive company. Especially considering Dowdle’s 12.21% explosive run rate is higher than both Taylor and Cook.

Long story short - We all need to lean in on Rico Dowdle. The Panthers running back is in a prime spot to rip through the Saints defense. Despite New Orleans allowing a hefty 171 yards on the ground against the Rams, the defense was on the field for 43+ minutes. I’m betting there is some residual fatigue when they line up against a Carolina offense that runs the ball at the second-highest rate in the league (29.9 rushing attempts per game).

Dowdle is a perfect smash candidate after securing 80% of the carries on designed rushing attempts last week. He could easily erupt against a gassed Saints defense in an exploitable spot. He is currently our consensus RB16 in our ROS rankings, but you can find him ranked as high as 7 for Week 10.

Zay Flowers WR, Baltimore Ravens

The word on the streets of Baltimore is that the Ravens are back up. Lamar Jackson lit the Miami defense on fire for four touchdowns in his return, reclaiming his spot as the most productive fantasy QB on a per-game basis. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us don’t have the luxury of plugging Lamar into our lineups and watching the points pile up.

So what can we do to get a little piece of the pie? Just like there are two-sides to every story, there is going to be a recipient to Lamar’s lasers on Sunday.

Enter Zay Flowers into the chat. Flowers has only averaged 10.5 FPPG, but the culprit behind his suppressed scoring is a lack of touchdowns, not opportunities. Flowers continues to get the lion's share of the targets with a 73 Utilization Score, and consistently leads the team in receptions.

While I typically choose to keep my distance from Brian Flores’ defense, this week I’m running right into them this week with the Ravens WR1. Minnesota’s aggression leaves them vulnerable to top receivers. Over the last three weeks, they have allowed 8 TD passes. Only Jacksonville, Washington, and Cincinnati have allowed more.

• Week 7: Jalen Hurts 3 TD | Devonta Smith 28.8 FP
• Week 8: Justin Herbert 3 TD | Ladd McConkey 17.8 FP
• Week 9: Jared Goff 2 TD | Amon-Ra St. Brown 14.2 FP

Admittedly, the two distinct worlds of Flowers target share and red zone opportunities have not intersected to date, but it’s hard to deny Flowers has some position touchdown regression headed his way. I will push my chips in with the law of averages on my side. I’m betting Lamar unlocks his breakout and rockets the Ravens receiver right past his projections (11.6 FP).

Jaxson Dart QB, New York Giants

In a season that seems all but lost, the Giants struck gold in terms of finding the face of their future. Dart has not only brought new elements to an offense that lacked creativity, but he has continued to shine despite everything burning down around him. That level of fortitude strengthens my confidence that there is an untapped ceiling still in play for the former Ole Miss Rebel.

Losing Malik Nabers and Cam Skatteboo could break anyone (including many fantasy managers). It hasn’t stopped Dart though, who has continued to elevate his game.

Over the past four weeks, the rookie has averaged 24.65 FP (0.5 PPR) and has eclipsed 19+ FP in all four games. For context, Lamar Jackson leads all QB’s with a season average of 24 FPPG.

The most impressive part: His best game was against a Denver defense that holds opposing QB’s for the fourth-fewest fantasy points.

• Week 6: PHI | 23.6 FP
• Week 7: DEN | 28.4 FP
• Week 8: PHI | 19.4 FP
• Week 9: SF | 27.2 FP

Once the strength of defense eased up, we saw Dart dominate with two touchdown passes and 50+ yards rushing against the 49ers. Week 9 marked the fourth time in six starts that Dart delivered at least 50 yards rushing.

And trust me, the strength of defense is going to continue to ease up when he heads to Chicago on Sunday.

Jaxson Dart is the ultimate smash-play against a Bears defense that was just embarrassed by Joe Flacco. Chicago surrendered a mind-blowing 470 passing yards and four touchdowns to the 40-year old journeyman. The Bears also do not have a data point that shows they can corral Dart from racking up rushing yards. Jayden Daniels dashed for 52 yards when he faced the Bears defense back in Week 6.

Our rankers have Dart pushing Top 5 territory and I’m convinced it’s warranted. Let’s get him in our lineups.