Sneaky Starts: Week 10

Nov 07, 2014

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough -- a waiver wire or bench player who is capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

How did our Sneaky Starts fare last week? There are always a few duds, but Ryan Tannehill (QB4), Ryan Fitzpatrick (QB10), Brian Hoyer (QB11), Blake Bortles (QB13), Teddy Bridgewater (QB14), Jeremy Hill (RB1), Denard Robinson (RB9), Bobby Rainey (RB13), Andre Williams (RB18), Lorenzo Taliaferro (RB32), Mike Evans (WR2), Martavis Bryant (WR7), Mohamed Sanu (WR8), Anquan Boldin (WR10), Taylor Gabriel (WR13), Brandon LaFell (WR21), Kenny Britt (WR26), Greg Jennings (WR29) and Chase Ford (TE6) all posted starter- or flex-caliber numbers in Week 9.

Note: I’ll mention our primary strength-of-schedule metric, Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA), throughout the article. For more detail, click here.

Let’s take a look at the best Sneaky Starts for Week 10:

Quarterbacks

It should go without saying that Carson Palmer is a good start against a shaky Rams pass defense this week, though he’s still available in 30% of Yahoo leagues, so I thought I had better mention him in this space.

Mark Sanchez, Eagles (vs. CAR)
Trusting Mr. Buttfumble in your starting lineup is really a show of faith in Chip Kelly’s offense, and his ability to find and train a quality backup. In roughly three quarters of play in relief of an injured Nick Foles, Sanchez threw for 202 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and even ran five times for five yards. There is a school of thought that Sanchez’s struggles in New York were in large part due to his lack of surrounding weapons, and that won’t be an issue in Philadelphia. The matchup with the Panthers is favorable.

Michael Vick, Jets (vs. PIT)
Vick wasn’t bad in his starting debut against the (tough matchup) Chiefs, throwing for 196 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 18 yards on four carries. He only played 84% of the snaps after a concussion scare, so if you extrapolate his fantasy points to a full game, he would have scored around 16.2 FP in Week 9, or #13 QB-type numbers. What’s lost in Ben Roethlisberger’s hot streak is that the opposing quarterback has been producing as well. Joe Flacco, Andrew Luck and Ryan Fitzpatrick have averaged 322 passing yards and 2.3 TD in the last three weeks. Vick will have his opportunity to produce provided he can stay healthy.