Week 10 Waiver Wire Quarterback Priority List | Choosing Between Joshua Dobbs, Taylor Heinicke, Tommy DeVito, Gardner Minshew, Kenny Pickett, Aidan O’Connell and Bryce Young
We are now halfway through the NFL regular season, which means fantasy playoffs are quickly approaching.
Regardless of what state your fantasy team is in, if you hope to make a postseason run, having depth is extremely important. If you are in need of a quarterback, we’ll take a look at some guys that likely are available in your league and determine which players you should be prioritizing. Check back later for similar stories for running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
For these stories, we are going to be focusing on players with an own percentage of 50% or lower. If your league has a player like Kyler Murray, Sam Howell or C.J. Stroud available, they are going to be better options than who we are discussing and should be the top priority. These are the more likely unowned players in more leagues, so that’s why we focus on them instead.
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The Top Available Quarterbacks
This week, we will discuss Minnesota Vikings’ Joshua Dobbs, Atlanta Falcons’ Taylor Heinicke, New York Giants’ Tommy DeVito, Indianapolis Colts’ Gardner Minshew, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kenny Pickett, Las Vegas Raiders’ Aidan O’Connell and Carolina Panthers’ Bryce Young.
Let’s start with Dobbs, as his story is the best. He was traded to the Vikings at the deadline last week, but wasn’t expected to play. He was thrust into action when Jaren Hall was injured and all Dobbs did was account for 200+ yards and three touchdowns while helping the team earn a big win.
Dobbs completed 20 of his 30 passes, even though he didn’t even know all the names of his teammates yet. After learning the team’s cadences on the sideline, he threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns, while also attempting seven runs for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Dobbs was expected to start for the Vikings when he got up to speed with things, and with the Hall injury, he got on-the-job training. He's the starter going forward.
Even though the team lost running back Cam Akers to a season-ending injury, and have receiver K.J. Osborn and tight end T.J. Hockenson banged up, Dobbs should be a popular waiver wire pickup simply because of the offensive weapons on the roster. The team is hopeful to get Justin Jefferson back soon and has gotten great play out of rookie Jordan Addison so far. Alexander Mattison will lead the backfield going forward with Akers out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the team makes another move at the position.
Heinicke was solid in his first start of the season for the Falcons. He completed 21 of his 38 passing attempts for 268 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked once and rushed three times for 20 additional yards.
That kind of stat line should be expected from Heinicke most weeks. He’s a capable passer, spreads the ball around nicely and is going to throw a touchdown pass here and there, but interceptions will also be an issue.
He doesn’t have the offensive weapons around him that Dobbs does in Minnesota, but Heinicke is more than capable of being an average fantasy quarterback every week.
Daniel Jones returned from a several-game absence, only to tear his ACL and be ruled out for the season. DeVito appears to be the next man up. He backed up Tyrod Taylor when Jones was out, but Taylor was just placed on injured reserve with a rib cage injury that could sideline him for the season.
DeVito has appeared in two games this season. In week 8, he completed 2-of-7 passes but it resulted in negative-1 yards. He completed 15-of-20 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two picks in week 9.
The 25-year-old adds a little as a runner, going for 29 yards and a touchdown on eight carries so far.
The Giants are a mess right now, and their best course of action might be to just roll with DeVito and live with the end results, even though they probably won’t be great. Still, in a year when fantasy quarterback play is down and injuries pop up every other quarter, DeVito needs to at least be considered for fantasy purposes.
Minshew is another backup quarterback who is now serving as his team’s starting option. He turned in some strong showings in his first couple starts, but has fizzled out a bit of late.
He only threw for 127 yards and a touchdown while completing 17-of-26 passes in week 9. One positive was that he didn’t throw an interception for the first time in three weeks.
Pickett put up similar numbers in week 9, completing 19-of-30 passes for 160 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. It was just the sixth touchdown pass for Pickett, who has thrown four picks this season.
It marked his second start this season in which he failed to reach 200 passing yards (not counting week 8 because he was injured). It’s never going to be flashy with Pickett, but again, there might not be many other options available, so we have to mention him.
O’Connell was solid in his first start after the Raiders made sweeping changes to their team. He completed 16-of-25 passes for 209 yards in the team’s rout of the Giants. He didn’t throw a touchdown or interception.
All three of the team’s offensive touchdowns came on the ground, taking possible fantasy points away from the rookie QB. He also led three other scoring drives that ended in field goals, so the team has to be pleased with the showing and will stick with O’Connell for now.
Young had arguably his worst game as a pro. He completed 24-of-39 passes for 173 yards and one touchdown, but was picked off three times. He was sacked four times, but did add 41 rushing yards on five carries.
It marked the second time Young has failed to reach 200 passing yards. He’s thrown multiple touchdowns in just one game. He’s thrown interceptions in three games, but they come in bunches, with eight total in those contests.
The Priority List
We’ll approach the priority list in two different ways. First, we will judge these quarterbacks with a long-term view, letting you know who would make the best options for the rest of the season. Then, we will tackle the priority list as if we were only looking for a week 10 fill-in starter.
The top long-term option has to be Dobbs. He’s delivered time and time again this season (now for two different teams). He’s on a better roster than he was before and has the offensive weapons around him to be a consistent top-10 fantasy quarterback.
Minshew and Heinicke are a close second for me, but I think I would lean toward taking Minshew first because he’s shown the ability to put together monster fantasy games. The Falcons are a mystery under Arthur Smith, which should cloud the future of Heinicke for fantasy owners.
Pickett and Young would be the next little debate in this discussion, as they have the better chances to finish out the season as the starters over DeVito and O’Connell. It’s a coin toss for me between Pickett and Young, but I’d give the slightest of edges to Pickett as his poor showings haven’t been as bad as Young’s down games.
Give me O’Connell over DeVito for the last option. We’ve seen what O’Connell can do, and he’s got more offensive talent around him. I like his chances of starting the rest of the way more than DeVito, who I’d like to see more of before being confident enough to add him and potentially start him.
Now let’s talk about these quarterbacks and who makes the best week 10 starter. Most of the matchups are pretty even, with Young having the best matchup on paper against the Chicago Bears.
Young’s down games usually are pretty spread out, so I’ll play the matchups here and take Young as the best fantasy option for week 10 of this group of QBs.
I like Heinicke and his matchup against the Arizona Cardinals for my second spot. I’d take Minshew against the New England Patriots for my third option, followed closely by Dobbs against the New Orleans Saints.
Even though Pickett has the toughest matchup (against the Green Bay Packers) of the remaining three, I’d take him over DeVito and O’Connell. For the last option, I’ll take O’Connell against the New York Jets instead of DeVito against the Dallas Cowboys.
