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Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame member Bob Harris and Gary Davenport have well over 40 years of experience as fantasy football analysts, with three Football Writer of the Year Awards between them. They know their stuff—or at least that's what they tell themselves.
Each week during the 2025 season, Harris and Davenport are going to come together here at Footballguys to answer five of that week's biggest fantasy questions.
It's Week 10 already—time flies when you're having fun. The stretch run to the fantasy playoffs is nearly upon us. That means the pressure to win is higher than ever before, whether fantasy managers are jockeying for playoff position or just trying to keep fading postseason aspirations alive.
Those fantasy managers need smash plays. Spot-starts. Bust alerts.
Fortunately, one of our experts here can actually be helpful in that regard.
Editor's Note: This article was written before the Week 10 Thursday Night game.
Carnage at Quarterback
It has been quite the year at the quarterback position, with Jayden Daniels' dislocated elbow and Kyler Murray's benching the two latest upheavals at the position. Is there a quarterback ranked outside the top 18 in Footballguys' Week 10 rankings you trust as more than a one-week fill-in? Which signal-caller is best as that temporary fix?
Harris: I see what you did here, Gary. Packers QB Jordan Love is QB18 in this week's rankings. One spot lower and we'd have an easy call here. With Love, who is QB14 on the season, out of the mix, I'm going to take a chance on a very narrow band of information and go with the Raiders' Geno Smith.
And yes, this is more about a healthy Brock Bowers than it is about Smith.
In Week 1 this year, a healthy Bowers opened the season with a 103-yard game while Smith threw for 362 yards, completing 75 percent of his passes in a win in New England. But Bowers was also hurt in that game. With Bowers battling through that injury, playing at less than full speed or sitting out altogether, the Raiders lost four straight, including two games when they didn't hit double-digit scoring. Two weeks ago in Kansas City, with Bowers sidelined, they were shut out . . .
He returned against the Jaguars on Sunday. Taking the field with their star tight end healthy for the first time in two months, the Raiders scored a season-high 29 points and Smith tossed four touchdown passes in an overtime loss.
For immediate assistance -- as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type play, I'll roll out Carolina's Bryce Young going up against the Saints.
Young had six career wins as a starter entering the season, something the team could match this week. Panthers coach Dave Canales said Young's ability to produce in clutch situations has been expanding. It's not expanding as much as we'd like -- he's thrown 11 touchdowns (vs. six interceptions) this season.
Young has connected on 80 of 130 passes for 787 yards, throwing for seven touchdowns with three interceptions, and has run for 28 yards on 11 carries in his past five games. He has picked up 54.3 fantasy points (10.9 per game) during that span. In his past three games, Young has accumulated 32.0 fantasy points (10.7 per game) with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
In his best game of the season -- Week 2 versus the Cardinals -- Young finished with 21.3 fantasy points. Last week versus the Green Bay Packers, Young posted a season-low 3.0 fantasy points.
So, I'll acknowledge we're taking our chances here. But going up against the 14th-ranked pass defense in the NFL (203.9 yards conceded per game) is a more favorable matchup than some of the outlier QBs.
Davenport: There's admittedly not a whole lot to choose from outside the top 18, as evidenced by Harris recommending Geno Smith. But it's not like I'm going to feel much better about Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars than he did (presumably) with Smith.
In his defense, Lawrence hasn't been terrible—he's 16th in fantasy points among quarterbacks, with four outings with 19 or more fantasy points in eight games. Assuming that Brian Thomas Jr.'s ankle injury isn't a long-term concern, the addition of wide receiver Jakobi Meyers is a nice boost to Lawrence's passing-game targets, and Lawrence appears to be playing better as he becomes more acclimated to Liam Coen's offense.
For that one-week fill-in, give this idiot Michael Penix Jr. of the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin this week against the Indianapolis Colts. Penix was quietly QB11 last week with 221 passing yards, 19 rushing yards, and three scoring passes. The Colts aren't an especially favorable fantasy matchup for quarterbacks, but Indianapolis enters Week 10 with the league's 26th-ranked pass defense, and Sauce Gardner's arrival isn't going to magically fix that—yet.