Atlanta Falcons Start-Sit: Week 10 Fantasy Advice for Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix Jr., Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Others
The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Atlanta Falcons players heading into their matchup with the Indianapolis Colts to help you craft a winning lineup.
Check out the FREE Start/Sit Optimizer from PFSN to ensure you are making the right decisions for your fantasy lineup every week!
Kirk Cousins, QB
Kirk Cousins wasn’t exactly dealt a full hand in his spot start against the Dolphins in the Week 8 loss, but 21 completions for 173 yards and zero touchdowns against one of the worst defenses in the sport is unacceptable.
It shouldn’t have mattered to you, but given that we have seen some backup QBs provide decent numbers when pressed into duty, it needs to be said.
Cousins isn’t that.
Michael Penix (knee) is the better player at this point, and he is having his own issues that warrant our attention. You can start a trio of Falcons weekly, but you’re not touching the QB position.
Michael Penix Jr., QB
The knee didn’t look to hamper Michael Penix in a major way last week, and now he’s gone three straight without an interception.
If you want to say that he’s slowly developing at the NFL level, I’ll listen. But he’s been held under 6.5 yards per attempt in four of his past six games and has just three finishes this season better than QB17.
READ MORE: Soppe’s Week 10 Fantasy Football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Analysis for Every Player in Every Game
On the bright side, we saw him be rewarded for funneling all of the valuable looks in the direction of Drake London, and that’s Penix’s impact on our game.
Bijan Robinson, RB
It’s a little quirky that Bijan Robinson has gone three straight games without a touch gaining more than 17 yards, but I’m not worried about it.
There’s been no rushing efficiency to speak of over those games, but he’s received 21 targets over that stretch, and for a player this dynamic, that’ll work.
His 17-game pace is for over 87 receptions this season, and when you consider that he is always in scoring position, that level of volume is golden. Without efficiency, he can still give you borderline RB1 production, and if he can get on track on the ground, he’s got as good a shot as anyone to lead the position in scoring.
MORE: Free Fantasy Waiver Wire Tool
Robinson is a Tier 1 running back every single week and should allow you to get fantasy points in bunches with your morning coffee this week, even against a Colts run defense that looked good in Pittsburgh last week (23 carries for 38 yards).
Tyler Allgeier, RB
We are nearing the point of the season where a player like Tyler Allgeier becomes expendable.
The idea of a handcuff like this is an injury happening ahead of him, and as the season progresses, his utility naturally declines.
I’m not there yet, but at some point, this bet against Bijan Robinson won’t be worth the roster spot. This isn’t a week where you’re likely to be gutted by byes, and hopefully, injuries aren’t too impactful on your roster.
If that’s the case, you have no reason to move on. But the second you find yourself backed into a corner, cutting ties from a player in Allgeier who has 10 total carries during this three-game losing streak is within the range of acceptable moves.
Darnell Mooney, WR
The idea of a secondary pass catcher next to Drake London’s tracks, but with only two catches on 70 routes over the past two weeks, suggests a lack of involvement that simply doesn’t happen to a player worthy of our interest.
Darnell Mooney is filling a field-stretching role, and it seems to be more of a decoy mold than anything else. His 15.7-yard aDOT suggests to me that Atlanta is running him in straight lines and hoping that the occasional shot to him opens up everything else.
I’m not sure this is a great plan, but I know it doesn’t do anything for us.
Mooney played every offensive snap last week, and it resulted in next to nothing for us. I’m giving him at least one more week, as this is a game where the expectation is for them to be playing from behind. But his spot at the end of rosters should not be viewed as safe.
Drake London, WR
Drake London outscored every other receiver by 5.7 PPR points last week, and if you flip on the game film, I’m telling you that the performance he put forth Sunday in New England was even more impressive than that.
From sharp routes to high-pointing the ball, he was virtually unstoppable against a defense with a shutdown corner and the ability to make your offense one-dimensional.
MORE: Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer
London has a quarterback problem, that much we know, but with 10+ targets being funneled his way in four straight, who are we to complain?
His recent run is similar to what Nico Collins has experienced in the past and serves as a nice reminder that he deserves to be considered among the top 10 talents at the position. Only time will tell if Atlanta can find a quarterback who unlocks consistent Tier 1 production from him: he’s a lineup lock every week, and this matchup abroad doesn’t provide me with a moment of pause.
If you roster London, I think you’ll want to delay your morning plans a bit to watch him get your team off to a good start in Germany.
Kyle Pitts Sr., TE
Kyle Pitts saw his first end zone target of the season last week and has racked up 26 looks during this three-game skid. Darnell Mooney has been a non-factor since returning, and that, on Sunday at least, meant that Pitts was left handling his duties.
His 11.9-yard aDOT against the Patriots was easily a season high. While that introduces more single-play upside than the shallow target role he’d been occupying prior, it also ramps up the weekly variance, a trade-off I’m not thrilled about making with Michael Penix pulling the trigger.
If Mooney can get going, I think we get stable TE8-12 production from Pitts. That’s what I’m ranking for this week on a fast track in Indy, but last week, despite the seven targets, was more concerning than encouraging for those with exposure to Pitts.
