Fantasy Football Week 10 Start/Sit Decisions: Taysom Hill vs. T.J. Hockenson, Evan Engram, Trey McBride, Kyle Pitts

Heading into Week 10, the FantasySP team has you covered for all your fantasy football start/sit questions! Morgan Rode has taken a look at quarterbacks and wide receivers, while yours truly has broken down DST decisions. You can also check out the entire Start/Sit section for even more articles that may answer your specific questions! 

However, if you clicked on this article looking for answers specifically about Saints “tight end” Taysom Hill, you’re in the right place! Taysom is always one of the toughest players to decide what to do with, so let’s take a deep dive into how he compares to other TE options this week. 

Looking for more help with your toughest fantasy football Start/Sit decisions? Be sure to check out the FantasySP Start/Sit Tool!

Taysom Hill Week 10 Fantasy Outlook

Honestly, Taysom may be the single hardest player to project on a weekly basis in all of fantasy football. With his unique role, Hill is closer to a running back in the sense that his production is mostly determined by coaching decisions — how many times will new Saints’ HC Darren Rizzi choose to put the ball in his hands? 

Hill has also dealt with multiple injuries, as has the entire New Orleans offense, so we don’t have much in the way of data to predict his average role. Last week, with Rashid Shaheed, Kendre Miller, Jamaal Williams, and Chris Olave out for most of the game (they will all be out again this week), Hill had his biggest role of the season. He handled five rushing attempts for 19 yards, which sounds solid until we consider that the team as a whole had 39 (Alvin Kamara alone had 29 and Jordan Mims also saw five). However, However, Taysom also posted a season-high 42% route participation rate, catching four of five targets for 41 yards. He even added in one (incomplete) passing attempt, his second of the season. 

One particular key to Hill’s fantasy value is his red zone usage. While he saw just 13% of the team’s overall rush attempts last week, he handled both of the team’s rushes inside the 10. For the season, 17% of Taysom’s carries have come inside the 10-yard line, including a solid chunk of the Saints’ goal-line rushes. At a position where scoring a single touchdown nearly guarantees a top-12 weekly finish, that’s a huge deal. This TD equity is what makes Taysom a viable play for this week. Depending on your league’s size and settings (he is less valuable in PPR formats), he can be considered a streaming option or even a viable backend TE1 for this week against the Falcons. 

Taysom Hill vs. T.J. Hockenson

If we knew for sure that T.J. Hockenson would play a full-time role this week, this would be an easy question. However, this will be just Hockenson’s second week back from the knee injury that ended his 2023 season. In Week 9, his first week back, he was clearly eased in with just a 52% route participation rate. If we expect that number — barely ahead of Taysom’s own route participation — again, Hill would obviously be the play here. 

However, Hockenson will see his role expand as he continues to get healthy. He also has an excellent matchup with the Jaguars, who have one of the worst passing defenses in the entire NFL. With that said, the Vikings are also seven-point favorites in this game — they may opt to continue easing Hockenson in gradually in a matchup they should be able to win without him. With that in mind, given the risk that both players play limited snaps, I’ll back the one with huge red zone equity, and that’s Taysom. 

Start: Taysom Hill

Taysom Hill vs. Evan Engram

We’re sticking in the Jaguars/Vikings matchup with Engram, who is in an interesting position. With Christian Kirk done for the season and both Brian Thomas Jr. and Gabe Davis banged up, Engram should see elite volume. That would normally be enough for me to rank him above Taysom without thinking twice. 

Unfortunately, there are some environmental factors going against Engram in this one. The Vikings’ defense is a tough matchup and, more importantly, Trevor Lawrence is likely to miss this game with a shoulder injury. T-Law and Engram have had an excellent connection over the past few years; the downgrade to Mac Jones will be substantial. 

With that said, Engram is still the rare kind of tight end who could legitimately lead his team in targets. In any kind of PPR format, that level of volume should be enough to give him a decent floor, a valuable commodity at the TE position. That’s enough for me to start him over Taysom … except in Standard, where all those five-yard catches aren’t worth much. 

Start (Half or Full PPR): Evan Engram

Start (Standard): Taysom Hill 

Taysom Hill vs. Trey McBride

This one is a no-brainer. McBride is one of the top tier of elite fantasy tight ends this season. He leads the Cardinals in target share at 24% and ranks as the TE3 in Half-PPR points per game despite not having scored a receiving touchdown yet this season (he does have both a rushing TD and a fumble recovery TD). Taysom’s role is enticing compared to the depths of the Tight End Wasteland, but he isn’t worth playing over a true top-tier TE1.

Start: Trey McBride 

Taysom Hill vs. Kyle Pitts

A week or two ago, I might have given a similar decision for this question as the previous one. While Pitts is certainly not in the same elite tier as McBride, he was seeing great usage in a much-improved Atlanta offense. 

Unfortunately, Pitts is now trending in the wrong direction. In Week 8, after almost fumbling while celebrating his second big touchdown of the day, he was benched for most of the second half. This resulted in him posting a season-low 47% route participation rate, way down from over 70% in each of the previous three weeks. In Week 9, Pitts’ usage rebounded slightly, but he still posted just a 65% route participation rate, his lowest since Week 4 outside of the previous week. He also saw just one target for a 4.2% target share, his lowest of the season (he caught it for 11 yards). 

Pitts is taking on Hill’s Saints this week, who have actually ranked as a below-average matchup for fantasy tight ends. However, that isn’t by much, and the Falcons do have a solidly higher implied total than New Orleans, 24.5 to 20.5. Pitts also brings big-play upside that is often lacking in fantasy TEs. With that in mind, I’ll back him over Tayosm, but this is easily the toughest choice in this article.

Start: Kyle Pitts

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