Notable Week 10 IDP Fantasy Football Performances: DeMarcus Lawrence, Quentin Lake, Brian Branch and More
Looking at some notable performances from defensive players from week 10.
Week 10 of the NFL regular season wrapped up on Monday night with the Eagles edging the Packers. With every game now in the books, let's go over the top IDP performances from week 10.
Also be sure to check out FantasySP's waiver wire stories for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
Wish a real fantasy expert could break down your team, not just spit out generic advice? Now you can - get a personalized Team Breakdown, tailored for your exact league.
Top Scorers
Eleven players scored over 20 fantasy points (using scoring from FantasyPros).
Houston's Danielle Hunter led the way in week 10, scoring 37 fantasy points.
Hunter finished with 3.5 sacks among his seven tackles - four of his tackles went for losses, and he also forced a fumble. Hunter has 7.5 sacks among his 27 total tackles on the season, and also has two fumbles forced and a fumble recovery as well, so he has some fantasy value to take advantage of.
Seattle's Tyrice Knight tallied 34 points this week. Knight had two sacks among his eight tackles. He has 49 tackles and the two sacks over nine games, but 18 of the tackles have come in the past two weeks, so he's on the rise.
New York Jets' Will McDonald IV also had over 30 points, tallying 32.8. He registered four sacks among his five combined tackles on Sunday. He has seven sacks and 20 tackles so far this season, so while this was an outlier game, he showed his fantasy upside as well.
Chicago's C.J. Gardner-Johnson tallied 29 points this week. Gardner-Johnson had a pair of sacks among his nine tackles on Sunday. He has three sacks and 30 tackles over just five games, so he's a pretty good weekly IDP option.
DeMarcus Lawrence was another Seahawk who delivered, tallying 28.3 fantasy points. Lawrence had a half sack among his four tackles - he also scooped up two fumbles and returned both for touchdowns. It was an outlier performance for sure, but with four sacks and 25 tackles on the year, he is a pretty solid weekly fantasy option.
Atlanta's Jessie Bates III posted 23.3 fantasy points in week 10. He had nine tackles, an interception and two passes defensed on Sunday. Bates has 56 tackles and two picks on the year, so he's another pretty good weekly option.
Miami's Jordyn Brooks finished with 22.5 fantasy points to help the team stun the Bills. He finished with 12 tackles and a forced fumble on Sunday. Brooks has 2.5 sacks among his 105 tackles, plus has a few other splash plays, which shows his high-end IDP value.
Jalon Walker was another Falcon who starred, scoring 22 fantasy points. Walker had a sack among his six tackles, plus a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He has four sacks among his 25 tackles, plus another fumble forced on the season, so he's rising as an IDP option.
Los Angeles Rams' Nate Landman and Indianapolis' Zaire Franklin each scored 21 fantasy points.
Landman had 11 tackles and a forced fumble this week. He has 83 tackles over nine games so far, plus several other splash plays, showing he's a good weekly IDP option.
Franklin had a sack among his 10 tackles this week - he had a second tackle for loss as well. He has two sacks among his 60 tackles across 10 games, plus four passes defensed, showing he's a steady weekly option, even if he's not a high-end option like in past seasons.
Philadelphia's Nakobe Dean scored 20.3 fantasy points on Monday night, and is the last guy over 20 points. He had a sack among his seven tackles and now has 18 tackles and that sack over four games. Dean just needs to stay healthy and he should be a pretty good weekly option.
Tackle Leaders
Not many defensive players finished with double-digit tackles in week 10. We already covered a few of them above.
Pittsburgh's Patrick Queen had 12 tackles this week. He is up to 68 tackles on the season - it was his first game over five tackles in four weeks, so maybe this will get him rolling again.
LA Rams' Quentin Lake and Omar Speights joined Landman with 11 tackles each this week.
Lake is up to 58 tackles for the season, and bounced back from a two-tackle outing in week 9. He has been a steady IDP asset most of the season, and I'd expect that to continue down the stretch.
Speights has 40 tackles so far this season, with this week being his first time over seven tackles in a game this year. He's otherwise been an average-or-so IDP option every week.
Atlanta's Xavier Watts and Minnesota's Blake Cashman were two more players at 11 tackles in week 10.
Watts' 11-tackle game was a season high for him as well. He has 56 tackles overall, and is worth a look in some deeper IDP setups.
Cashman has 43 tackles over five games, with double-digit tackles in three straight, so he's on the rise, and worth starting in a lot of IDP leagues going forward.
New England's Jack Gibbens, Cleveland's Carson Schwesinger and San Francisco's Ji'Ayir Brown and Tatum Bethune all logged 10 tackles in week 10.
Gibbens has 40 tackles now for the season. It was his first time over four tackles in six weeks, so this might have been a bit of an outlier performance - he's still worth some IDP ownership and starts.
Schwesinger had a half sack among his 10 tackles this week. He's up to 74 tackles and 1.5 sacks on the season, plus has an interception, so he's emerged as a good IDP option in his rookie year.
Brown had a pass defensed to go along with his 10 tackles. He has 36 tackles on the year, but has four or more in five straight games now, so there's some IDP value in him.
Bethune posted his fifth straight double-digit tackle performance, and now has 64 tackles on the season. He needs to be starting in most IDP leagues on his tackle numbers alone.
Other Notable Performances
Pittsburgh's Alex Highsmith only had two tackles this week, but they both were sacks. He had two sacks last week as well, and now has 5.5 sacks across his 24 tackles on the year. Highsmith is a good weekly IDP option, and is worth more starts as he is heating up now.
Detroit's Brian Branch finished with 1.5 sacks among his seven tackles this week. He has 39 tackles on the year, plus a forced fumble and five passes defensed. Branch is a solid weekly option.
Denver's Talanoa Hufanga had a sack among his nine tackles this week. He's up to 70 tackles and two sacks on the year, plus has a forced fumble and eight passes defensed. Hufanga is a really solid weekly option, so add and start him if he's available in your league.
New York Jets' Quincy Williams had a sack among his eight tackles this week. He has 30 tackles over five games, plus 2.5 sacks and four passes defensed. Williams is another solid weekly IDP option to utilize.
Tampa Bay's Tykee Smith finished with eight tackles and an interception. He has 74 tackles, a fumble recovery and the pick on the season, so he's another good IDP option every week.
Buffalo's Cole Bishop ended week 10 with seven tackles and an interception. He has two picks, six passes defensed, two sacks and 48 tackles, so there's some nice weekly value in him as well.
