Fantasy Football Week 10: Start or Sit Watson, Olsen, or Vernon Davis?

Fantasy Football Week 10: Start or Sit Ben Watson, Greg Olsen, or Vernon Davis?

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 Ben Watson, Greg Olsen, or Vernon Davis in an all-OLD AS DIRT TIGHT ENDS edition of start or sit.

Start or Sit Vernon Davis at Tampa Bay

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Jordan Reed is banged up and it is a true tossup if he will miss the game this weekend. It’s the story of Reed’s career. Here’s the kicker, though: even if Jordan Reed plays, Vernon Davis is a good start, and any question whether to start or sit Vernon Davis over Jordan Reed would find me choosing VD over Reed this weekend. Let’s get the easy part out of the way: the Buccos are absolutely dreadful against opposing tight ends. They allow the second-most fantasy points to the position, and only C.J. Uzomah and Benjamin Watson failed to post at least 13.2 points against them in half-PPR. They’re a nightmare on defense. That’s not hard. The hard part: why Vernon Davis over Jordan Reed? First, Reed might miss the game. Second, even with Reed out there, VD has been the more productive tight end. Jordan Reed has been getting all the targets, but hasn’t posted more than 43 receiving yards since their week four Bye, and hasn’t scored since week one at Arizona. He gets tons of looks but does nothing with them.

Alex Smith and Vernon Davis mind meld and remember how godawful Mike Singletary was, and Smith-Davis is a much stronger connection. Davis has at least 8 fantasy points three times this season, and twice since the Bye. He did not play against Dallas, so that’s two of his last four games where he went for 48 yards and a score or 62 yards. And last week, for the first time this season, Vernon Davis received more targets than Jordan Reed. Start Vernon Davis this week. You won’t regret it (or maybe you will, I don’t know, I’m not Nostradamus).

Start or Sit Ben Watson at Cincinnati

The Saints signed Dez Bryant on Wednesday, but call me unconcerned that he will steal a ton of looks from Watson just four days after he signs his contract. Watson has been a de facto WR3 for Brees lately, behind Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara. That’s what happens when Cam Meredith and Tre’Quan Smith both suck out loud with their opportunities. Watson ate a goose egg two games again at Minnesota, but he bookended that with two 13+ fantasy days. He can produce, when given the opportunity, despite being 150 years old. This week he gets a godawful Bengals defense that can’t stop an opposing tight end to save their lives. They’ve gotten smacked around for 10+ fantasy points from a tight end in each of the last three games. Ben Watson is a good start this week, and I would lean his way if you were considering whether to start or sit Watson versus say, Eric Ebron.

Start or Sit Greg Olsen at Pittsburgh

I’ll eat a mea culpa on my desperate plea for Greg Olsen owners to sell high on him after he chewed up the Eagles three weeks ago. He’s scored a touchdown in each of the last three games and has increased his catches and yards in each of those three games. He’s quickly reaching must-start status, though given he was either a midseason pickup or someone you rostered a second tight end to carry, it’s reasonable to question whether you should start or sit Olsen. Start him, don’t worry about it. The Steelers yield the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends, and it should be a shootout on Thursday Night Football. Greg Olsen has performed well, and even though his foot is the one that desperately needs surgery, mine is the one that is firmly in my mouth.

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. Greg Olsen
2. Vernon Davis
3. Ben Watson

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 Jarvis Landry, Devin Funchess, or Sterling Shepard?
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?

Check out our comedy, too, like Mahomes for the Golladays: The Big List of Thanksgiving-Themed Fantasy Football Team Names

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