Fantasy Football Week 10: Start or Sit Landry, Funchess, or Shepard?

Fantasy Football Week 10: Start or Sit Jarvis Landry, Devin Funchess, or Sterling Shepard?

Nine weeks are in the books, and fantasy football leagues are starting to take shape heading into week ten. We here at Football Absurdity try to help you make your weekly start or sit decisions by highlighting players that have an abnormally good, or abnormally bad matchup. We hope that we can help you make the proper start or sit decisions every week, like whether to start or sit Jarvis Landry, Devin Funchess, or Sterling Shepard.

Start or Sit Jarvis Landry versus Atlanta

It’s understandable if Jarvis Landry owners have grown frustrated with the talented wide receiver. The Cleveland #1 wideout has just two touchdowns on the season and has four games with fifty or fewer yards, including last week’s six catch, fifty-yard day against the Chiefs. The perennial WR2 is averaging fewer fantasy points per game than John Brown, Albert Wilson, and Tyrell Williams. He sits at #32 on the season. However, I am not deterred. He is one of two wide receivers in the league with 100 targets already, and there isn’t much else in the WR corps to throw to. Even The Browns can’t screw up “throw the ball to Jarvis Landry, you morons.” The reason I still have faith in Landry is his floor. He has below ten targets just twice this season (and in both he pulled in seven targets). This week, he gets a Falcons team that will put the targets = production formula to the test. The game will be an absolute shootout, and Landry should be the primary beneficiary. The Falcons allow the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this year, and only Nelson Agholor week one had at least ten targets against the Dirty Birds without pulling in fifteen points or more in half-PPR. It’s understandable that we’ve gotten to the point of asking whether to start or sit Landry, but this week he is a start in all formats. This is one of those, “if you don’t start him now, you never will,” situations.

Start or Sit Devin Funchess at Pittsburgh

Heading into the season, I was not a huge fan of Devin Funchess, and I thought he would flame out this year. He’s gotten a lot better and has put me firmly in my place. I’m sure all those LeBron memes of the advanced stats I made really motivated him. However, despite the improvement, he’s still only WR29 for the season on a fantasy points per game basis, behind guys like Donte Moncrief and Nelson Agholor. It’s a genuine weekly question to start or sit Devin Funchess, but this week, he is a start. He has stumbled the last couple of weeks, but with good reason. The Panthers faced Baltimore, one of the best WR defenses in the league, and Tampa Bay (whom they blew out with weird trick plays and rushing scores). CMC’s caught deflection in the end zone was intended for Funchess, so he’s still getting end zone looks. The Steelers provide one of the best matchups, as they have given up nine double-digit fantasy days to wide receivers in nine weeks. While this could certainly end up being the Curtis Samuel breakout party, I would expect that Funchess gets a ton of targets on TNF and lights it up, scoring at least one touchdown.

Start or Sit Sterling Shepard at San Francisco

I will pick on the 49ers defensive backfield at every given opportunity, especially given that opposing quarterbacks tend to have the same philosophy when facing the Red and Gold. The 49ers pass defense is absolutely dreadful (excepting Richard Sherman). They’ve only gotten more banged up recently, as well. The Niners allow just the fourteenth-most fantasy points to wide receivers but facing a messy Raiders team last week certainly boosted those numbers. Prior to last week, the 49ers had allowed 14 fantasy days of at least nine points to opposing wide receivers in eight games. That’s nearly two per game. For his own part, Shepard is getting plenty of opportunities, but returning very little. He has fewer than seven targets just once this season and has three good games to show for it. His other games are dismal affairs (four below 48 yards and without a score), but he crushes good matchups in blowup efforts. He took down Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta. After this week, he can add the 49ers to his mantle. It’s understandable if you’ve lost faith in him, but this week if you’re wondering if you should start or sit Shepard, you should start him as he takes advantage of an iffy 49ers secondary on Monday Night Football.

All three of these guys are good starts, but if you’re looking to decide who to start or sit among them, I would rank them as:

1. Jarvis Landry
2. Devin Funchess
3. Sterling Shepard

If you need more help with your start or sit decisions, we can help you decide who to start with some of our other week ten start or sit articles below:
Start or Sit Baker Mayfield, Philip Rivers, or Alex Smith?
Start or Sit Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, or Nick Mullens?
Start or Sit Quincy Enunwa, Marquise Goodwin, or Taylor Gabriel?
Start or Sit Austin Ekeler, Duke Johnson, or Ito Smith?
Start or Sit Peyton Barber, Kerryon Johnson, or Mike Davis?
Start or Sit C.J. Uzomah, Eric Ebron, or Zach Ertz?
Start or Sit Ben Watson, Greg Olsen, or Vernon Davis?

For some funny content, check out our Which NFL Team Is Your Personality Type? quiz

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