I’m a decent enough fantasy sports pundit, but the one thing I have that most of my fellow football blabbermouths don’t is a sense of accountability. Like when I’m wrong, I own it.
That being the case, before I dive into my eagerly-awaited 4 NFL fantasy football bold predictions for Week 10, let’s see how I did in Week 9:
1) Lions RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery Could Each Rack Up 125+ Rushing Yards
Um, yeah, blew this one. They combined for 78 all-purpose yards. Self-imposed Grade: F-.
2) Packers QB Jordan Love Could Throw For 425+ Yards
What’s half of 425? That’s right, 212.5. How many yards did Love manage in Week 9? We're talking 273. You do the math. Self-Imposed Grade: F.
3) We Might Finally See the Caleb Williams Game
This one is subjective. On one hand, his stats were solid, but not “Caleb Williams Game” worthy — 280 yards, 3 passing TDs, 1 receiving TD — but on the other hand, his game-winning strike to TE Colston Loveland was most definitely “Caleb Williams Game” worthy. So I’ll split the difference. Self-Imposed Grade: C.
4) Bills QB Josh Allen Could Have the Statistical Game of His Life
His 2 rushing tuddies and 1 passing score were awesome enough — his Bills beat their rival Chiefs, so I’m sure he didn’t give a rip how many times he found the end zone — but the reigning MVP didn’t even hit 300 passing yards, so this box score won’t get framed. Self-Imposed Grade: D.
This all gives me a GPA of 0.75, making me the Cam Ward of bold predictors. Let’s see if, here in Week 10, I can at least climb up into Tua territory.
1) Denver QB Bo Nix Could Go Nuts on Thursday
Broncos vs. Raiders, 8:15 p.m. ET (Thursday Night Football)
Nix was a preseason fantasy darling — his ADP was in the general vicinity of QB8, ahead of Cowboys signal caller Dak Prescott and Chargers slinger Justin Herbert — so it’s not super-shocking that he’s currently fantasy’s QB7, ahead of Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Seattle’s Sam Darnold.
It’s mildly shocking that he’s only had one 4-TD game.
But on Thursday night, staring down a Raiders defense that allows the 14th-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks, I know Bo can throw not 4, but 5 TDs.
So go Bo, go.
Broncos QB Bo Nix PrizePicks Projection: 215.5 Pass Yards, 1.5 Pass TDs
2) We Might See Browns QB Dillon Gabriel’s Coming Out Party
Browns @ Jets, 1:00 p.m. ET
How bad are the New York Jets? Let me count the ways.
Okay, I’m not really gonna count — I only have about 1,200 words to play with here, and their garbage-ness would require a 250-page book — so we’ll pick out one simple garbage stat, that stat being their -57 point differential, seventh-worst in the league.
We’ll also remind you that in their Week 8 game before the bye — an improbable 39-38 upset dub over Cincy — they allowed creaky Bengals QB Joe Flacco to throw for a pair of TDs and compile a 100.5 passer rating.
Now those aren't devastating numbers, but it offers concrete proof the Jets D is vulnerable. And the rookie Gabriel — who, in his last outing, put together a reasonable fantasy score of 13.9 fantasy points — could take advantage with a career-high 3+ TDs and the first 300+ yard performance of his professional life.
Browns QB Dillon Gabriel PrizePicks Projection: 176.5 Pass Yards, 7.5 Rush Yards
3) Seattle QB Sam Darnold Could Go for 375+
Seahawks vs. Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. ET
In the same spirit that I’ll own the sheer crapitude of my horrible Week 9 boldies, I’ll also confess that I wasn’t on the Sam-Darnold-succeeds-in-Seattle train. My freezing cold take was, “During his genius 2024 season in Minnesota, Darnold crushed because he had a top-three receiver in Justin Jefferson and a QB-centric head coach in Kevin O’Connell.”
Nope. Turns out he crushed in Minnesota because he’s become an elite field general.
After he dropped three 20+ fantasy point masterpieces out of his last four games, I’m all in on the 28-year-old. So facing a road-tripping Arizona team on a short week, we’ll give Slingin’ Sammy 2.0 an elevated version of the Dillon Gabriel treatment: a career-high 6+ TDs and the first 400+ yard performance of his professional life
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold PrizePicks Projection: 232.5 Pass Yards, 4.5 Rush Yards
4) Atlanta QB Michael Penix Jr. Might Get Crushed in Berlin
Falcons @ Colts, 9:30 a.m. ET (International Game)
Ah, the Falcons had such promise.
After winning three of their first five — one of which was a semi-shocking 24-14 upset of an excellent Buffalo Bills team in Week 5 — Atlanta dropped three in a row, one of which was an entirely embarrassing 34-10 upset at the hands of a terrible Miami Dolphins team in Week 8.
You can’t point the finger at sophomore QB Penix. Over the three-game losing streak, he tossed 5 TDs and zero picks, and he straight-up balled out last Sunday against the Patriots, posting a 103.5 passer rating and 22.7 fantasy points (QB11)
But in an international game against a Colts squad likely still pissed off about their heartbreaking Week 9 27-20 loss to Pittsburgh, the potentially jet-lagged University of Washington product might be in for an afternoon of schlechter fußball.
Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. PrizePicks Projection: 228.5 Pass Yards, 6.5 Rush Yards
Will this batch of prognostications improve my brutal bold predictions grade? Who the heck knows, but one thing we do know is you can win real money on PrizePicks with your NFL predictions.
Just pick More or Less on at least two player projections and potentially win real cash with your picks every week.
And follow Playbook for the entire NFL season, where you'll always enjoy boldness galore.
