IDP Matchup Plays: Living the Stream: Week 10

It's Week 10 of the 2025 season, and that means that some fantasy managers Living the Stream really wish there were more lifejackets on the boat.

For whatever reason, the season just hasn't gone according to plan. Maybe injuries have piled up to the extent that a team has hit the tipping point. Maybe players have continually underperformed for reasons that are as unexplainable as Grey's Anatomy running for 22 seasons on TV.

For quite a few teams, the trials and tribulations of 2025 are a combination of multiple factors. The why really doesn't matter at this point. All that does is that their squads are either under .500 or hovering just over. With the stretch run just around the corner. The whirlpool is swirling—threatening to suck their team in and send in straight to the bottom.

I've seen the Niagara whirlpool. Gonna pass on a boat ride over it.

But that's exactly what IDP managers need right now. A jet-boat of a matchup play that can fill a hole in the lineup and shoot a team over that fantasy whirlpool and propel them to a victory in Week 10.

And that's where Living the Stream comes in.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the aquatic metaphors' days are numbered. The bad news is that they will soon be replaced by holiday metaphors. Apparently, we now live in a world where Christmas lasts three months instead of one day.

I heard a car playing Christmas music—on Halloween.

Not kidding.

Week 10 Matchup Plays

EDGE Yaya Diaby, Tampa Bay (vs. New England)

There was some breakout hype surrounding Diaby in the offseason, but so far his 2025 season has looked a lot like his 2024 campaign—uneven with a flash here and there. While speaking to reporters, Diaby said last week's bye came at a perfect time to help him gear up for the rest of the regular season.

"In the offseason, [we] honed in on what we have to do as a whole," said Diaby. "For me individually, I set myself to a high standard, so I just try to get better every week and every day, just bringing the other guys along. It was the perfect time for us to have the bye week because this next stretch of games is going to be the real deal, putting your whole body on the line, so I was super happy that it was last week."

That stretch of games Diaby mentioned starts in Tampa Sunday against a red-hot Patriots team that has won six in a row. However, while the Patriots are stacking up wins, they have also been allowing sacks. Only rookie Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans has been dropped more times in 2025 than Drake Maye.

EDGE Will McDonald IV, NY Jets (vs. Cleveland)

Like so many things in New York this year (Met Life Stadium is cursed. Just saying.), McDonald's 2025 season has been a disappointment—he has just three sacks in eight games. But while addressing the media, embattled Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said he remains confident that McDonald can have a far better second half.

"You don't panic for one, and the thing is you just don't go outside of your defense to try to make things like that happen," Glenn said. "Sometimes you try to get him as many one-on-ones as you can just by utilizing several fronts that will get him a one-on-one, and the more you can do that, the more those sacks will come. We still have a long way to go as far as the season's concerned, and we're still looking forward to him getting those sacks."

McDonald survived the Jets' Tuesday fire sale, and it will admittedly be interesting to see how the team responds to the front office trading arguably the two best defensive players on the team. But Gang Green will at least get to try to circle the wagons against a putrid Browns offense that sports one of the worst offensive lines in the league.

LB Mohamoud Diabate, Cleveland (at NY Jets)