Christian McCaffrey’s return a rare bright spot in Week 10 that offered more fantasy busts than booms

If you like favorites, big scoring, brand name fantasy production — well, Week 10 was not your jam. Underdogs were 10-3 on the week and the under went 8-4-1. A bunch of fantasy angles fell well short of expectation.

But at least we have Christian McCaffrey back in our fantasy lives. And that’s a good thing.

McCaffrey was the consensus 1.01 pick all summer but was mysteriously scratched just ahead of the 49ers’ Week 1 game, basically put on extended layaway as he rehabbed his Achilles injury. The 49ers finally activated McCaffrey for the Sunday matchup at Tampa Bay, and although CMC didn’t have a signature game, he wasn’t held back. That’s the big news here.

McCaffrey handled 19 touches (13 rushes, six catches) and made 107 total yards, a solid showing as the Niners scored a 23-20 victory. McCaffrey didn’t score a touchdown, but we focus on the big picture — while he was getting that healthy workload, his backfield mates were all but ignored. Jordan Mason had one carry, Isaac Guerendo had one carry and neither was targeted in the passing game. The McCaffrey Show is back on the air. Set your DVRs, and please delete all those “CSI” episodes.

A less-heralded San Francisco returnee also strutted his stuff. Jauan Jennings was the busiest receiver on the Niners side, drawing 11 targets and returning a 7-93-0 line. He looks fantasy-useful as a WR 2/3 going forward, clearly in sync with quarterback Brock Purdy.

The Niners didn’t pepper George Kittle (3-57-1, four targets) or Deebo Samuel (5-62-0, six targets), though Kittle applied some touchdown deodorant and Samuel added 14 rushing yards. They’re locked in fantasy starters, obviously. Ricky Pearsall isn’t as immediately interesting as Jennings, but he scored a touchdown and finished with a 4-73-1 line on six targets. Purdy was narrow with his distribution, only targeting five players. We like that.

Ah yes, Purdy, perhaps the most underrated quarterback in football. He rang up 353 passing yards and the two touchdowns, and didn’t have a turnover. He also added 17 rushing yards. With two games left to play in Week 10, Purdy is the QB5 on the week.

With San Francisco healing up and the bye week in the rearview, this should be a fun offense moving forward. The Niners host Seattle next week — likely to be a pinball game.

Other fantasy booms and busts

Bears hit a new low

While things are trending up in San Francisco, things might have bottomed out in Chicago. The Bears were soundly beaten by the Patriots, 19-3, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. The Chicago offense didn’t score a touchdown for the second straight week, and Caleb Williams was sacked nine times. Williams didn’t do much when he was still upright, throwing for just 120 yards and 4.0 per attempt.

Every pass-catcher in the Chicago huddle was a brick, obviously. Keenan Allen cobbled together 5-44-0 on six targets, while both DJ Moore and Rome Odunze didn’t make it to 25 yards. Cole Kmet had a 2-13-0 washout. You wonder if this is the week Chicago considers replacing embattled offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Head coach Matt Eberflus is also on the hot seat.

And it’s not like the Patriots defense is some juggernaut. New England entered the week ranked 30th in defensive DVOA, with just two positive expected-performance showings in nine games. Sometimes it’s hard to tell where credit and blame lies in this type of performance. In this case, I’ll start by blaming the Bears.

New England rookie Drake Maye was fine in game-manager mode (184 yards, one sack, one interception, 7.4 YPA). His one touchdown went to fellow rookie Ja’Lynn Polk, a two-yarder. Most of Maye’s completions went to non-startable fantasy assets like Austin Hooper (3-64-0) and Kayshon Boutte (4-47-0). DeMario Douglas did return 4-50-0 on five targets.

Chicago hosts Green Bay next week in a season-defining game. The Patriots host the Rams.

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QB question continues for Colts

I’ve been as open-minded to the Joe Flacco experience as anyone, but it’s probably time for the Colts to get Anthony Richardson back in for his on-field tutelage. Flacco did not play well in the 30-20 loss to Buffalo, turning the ball over four times and taking four sacks. The final box score looks misleadingly adequate — Flacco threw for 272 yards and two scores — because the Colts had a final-minute touchdown in garbage time. There’s no guarantee Richardson will play any better if they do ultimately opt to make a change, but the Colts are now 4-6 and they can’t act like Flacco is driving them to the playoffs. It’s reasonable to shift to the long-term goal.

Buffalo passing game doesn’t pay the bills

The Bills had one of their touchdowns on defense and Josh Allen and James Cook ran in scores, so fantasy managers looking for a pass-catching sleeper with Amari Cooper out were mildly disappointed. Allen didn’t throw for any touchdowns and Khalil Shakir had an ordinary 6-58-0 line on nine looks. Mack Hollins got to 86 yards, for those of you in 20-team leagues. Dalton Kincaid had 24 early yards then left with a knee injury.

Where did the TDs go?

The Lions and Texans played a wacky and score-friendly game Sunday night, but the daytime did not feature a lot of scoring. Going into Sunday Night Football, there were just 41 touchdowns scored on the day.

• 21 passing

• 19 rushing

• 1 defense/special teams

Of course, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Hopefully you did just enough to squeeze by your opponents this week.

Speed Round

•Surprisingly good health at the running back position has made backfield waivers (and sleepers) more challenging than usual. That’s why we have to take Audric Estimé’s game seriously. Estimé had 14 carries in the should-have-been-a-win game at Kansas City, and while 53 yards don’t call for a parade, note that Jaleel McLaughlin had only two carries and Javonte Williams was capped at one. The Denver defense can keep the Broncos in most games, and Sean Payton seems ready to steer into Estimé as his featured back.

• The Saints seemed to get a bounce from the coaching change, which feels standard. Hard to say how sustainable it is. Alvin Kamara had a good game that should have been a great game — he dropped a long walk-in touchdown on the final drive. Marquez Valdez-Scantling was the shocker star of the week (3-109-2), but he did it on just three targets and his entire career has been bust-bust-bust-bust-bust-boom. I get that on a thin waiver wire you can’t ignore someone who just produced, but there’s nothing in MVS’s resume that will allow you to start him confidently moving forward.

• Baker Mayfield had a crash but it’s not entirely his fault — you need some wide receivers. He’ll be fine, especially when Mike Evans returns. The Buccaneers still have two Carolina games remaining on the schedule.

• Another nondescript win for the Chargers, which is probably how Jim Harbaugh likes it. No stars, just talent. Unplayable tight end Will Dissly had six targets; no wide receiver had more than two. J.K. Dobbins was plodding on 15 carries, and lost 10 more to returning Gus Edwards (meanwhile, Hassan Haskins vultured a goal-line score). The Chargers defense can be the star against weaker opponents, which is how Justin Herbert caps at 18 pass attempts. The Chargers play blue-collar ball in one of America’s glitziest cities.

• It’s sad to see the Cowboys bottom out like this. Cooper Rush and Trey Lance aren’t good enough to support a legitimate passing game. Rico Dowdle did what he could. Jerry Jones had a bizarre press conference, getting defensive about the ongoing sun problem in Jerry World. It was the most defense the Cowboys offered all day.

• Aaron Rodgers turns 41 on Dec. 2. He certainly looks his age. We had hoped the second half against Houston was a turning point for the Jets, but the passing game looked like 11 strangers versus an Arizona defense that is average at best. If you haven’t fixed it this late in the season, it’s probably unfixable.

• Kirk Cousins has three terrific games on his 2024 resume, two of them against Tampa Bay (QB1, QB3, QB8). Here’s the rest of his runout: QB28, QB23, QB26, QB23, QB22, QB19, QB16. When Cousins isn’t playing the Bucs, his average finish is QB20. The upcoming schedule is nasty, too: Broncos, bye, Chargers, Vikings.