Gearing Up for the Fantasy Playoffs: Week 10

Nov 09, 2021

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It's never too early for postseason thoughts, and Week 10 is not the time to get complacent and ride solely with the team that got you here. Unless of course it’s stacked with studs and somehow you escaped any injury issues through the first nine weeks of the season (which, without actual data or evidence, I deem near impossible).

Below you’ll find a few suggestions that could help in your quest for a championship this season because that’s what this is all about, right? We also can’t forget the money, prizes and bragging rights that come along with that title.

Final-ish Push to Trade for Talent

Depending on the site hosting your league, trade deadlines are usually either Week 11 (Yahoo!), Week 12 (Sleeper) or Week 13 for ESPN-based leagues.

Depth has been essential at getting your team through the partial bye week gauntlet, along with the insane amount of injuries this season. We still have 16 teams yet to sit out and rest, with byes wrapping up in Week 14. After that, it’s all hands on deck for the fantasy playoffs.

Our focus should be on procuring the strongest roster possible from here on out. Target the teams in the lower third of your league, as they may be frustrated with their squad's performance but could think they are just a piece or two away from contending. These teams may have a star or two who could benefit you, but not necessarily have the depth of your roster. So a deal where they get two or three starters, and you upgrade your starting lineup makes sense for both parties.

Editor’s Note: Read Matt Savoca’s weekly Trader’s Alley column for specific trade targets.

Managers sitting at the top of the leaderboard are obviously less likely to part with an elite player this time of year, so dealing with a team on the fringe of success may seem counterintuitive, but you want the best roster moving forward, without worrying about bettering any other squads.

4for4’s rest of season rankings and trade evaluator tool are solid resources to utilize when consolidating depth. It’s very possible your league mates are holding on to name value or relying on recency bias when they evaluate players, so consulting these tools allows you to see trades in a more educated, unbiased way as you prepare for the fantasy playoffs.

Look at Playoff Matchups

Glancing ahead to a player’s matchups during Weeks 15, 16 and 17 is another way to gain an edge over your potential opponents. Our Hot Spot tool lays it out in a color-coded, easy-to-read format, and you can filter it by specific players or the teams as a whole.

While someone like Carson Wentz has been a decent quarterback for fantasy purposes and he’s gotten you this far as the overall QB10, we see in Weeks 15, 16 and 17 he faces the Patriots, Cardinals and Raiders, who rank second, fourth and seventh, respectively, in QB aFPA—schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to the quarterback position—in 2021.

In a single-elimination playoff format, playing the matchups can be a difference-maker in whether you move on, win it all or go home empty-handed and are forced to stew for another offseason on how close you were to ultimate victory.

While matchups are a wonderful way to gain an advantage, they aren’t everything. Looking at Vegas odds, along with the location of contests a la DFS, can also be useful in predicting how players will perform in those final weeks. For example, we see the Saints are at home in Weeks 16 and 17, and New Orleans has historically put up an obscene amount of points at home during the latter part of the NFL season.