Fantasy Football: Colston Loveland lands among the top players to fade in Week 10 despite his breakout vs. the Bengals

Welcome to Week 10 of the fantasy football fades and busts of the week! I am your host, Matt Okada, and will be bringing you half a dozen players to avoid each and every Thursday, throughout the fantasy season. Rico Dowdle made a fool of us last week, but we were largely accurate elsewhere, even with some flukey touchdowns. Still looking for the perfect 6-for-6!

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As a note, just because a player earns a fade" or bust" designation doesn't automatically mean they should be benched - it depends on the rest of your roster or the options on your waiver wire. But you can expect them to fall short of expectations (when I get them right).

Without further ado, here is my list for Week 10 of the 2025 season.

Daniel Jones, QB, Colts

Listen. This was the toughest QB pick I've had to make all year. Most of the believable busts have great matchups (Caleb Williams, Jared Goff), are ranked too low (Marcus Mariota, Aaron Rodgers) or were my fade last week (Jordan Love). So, we're back at Daniel Jones. The largely efficient, effective Colts quarterback will take on the excellent Falcons defense in Berlin on Sunday morning. While Atlanta surrendered that one four-TD game to Tua Tagovailoa, they've held six of the other seven QBs they've faced below 18 fantasy points. They're exceptional against the deep ball - with more interceptions (four) than touchdowns allowed (three) on passes of 20+ air yards - and are top-eight in pressure rate this season. They're also much more susceptible to the run game, which could make this the Jonathan-Taylor-Show early and often.

Also, Jones is coming off his worst game of the year by far, and it's possible Pittsburgh's blueprint for beating him and the Colts informs Atlanta and others in the future. He's been (mostly) great, and could easily be great again, but in a week without many fadeable options, this is one I'm willing to stand behind.

What to do As I expressed above, this is a fringe fade and Jones could easily be a QB1 and should likely be started in most circumstances. However, you can start more streamy" options like Jaxson Dart, Bo Nix or Caleb Williams over him, and should prefer a dozen or more options in DFS.

Breece Hall, RB, Jets

After surviving" the trade deadline without being moved, Breece Hall is now officially stuck in an awful Jets offense on an even more awful Jets team (whose defense will be heavily downgraded sans Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams). To make matters worse, he is exiting his bye straight into a matchup with the suffocating Browns run defense.

Hall has had deceptively great fantasy days against the Bengals, Cowboys and Dolphins - all top six in fantasy points allowed to running backs - but he has repeatedly busted in more difficult matchups, logging four games with fewer than eight fantasy points. Cleveland has allowed just three scrimmage touchdowns and 13.56 fantasy points per game to the position all year, with only Jahmyr Gibbs managing 12+ fantasy points individually in the matchup. This game has low-scoring defensive slog written all over it, and barring a miraculous touchdown or a rash of receptions, Hall could easily end up in single digits once again.

What to do It might be tough to bench Breece Hall, simply by the realities of running back depth, but it might be worth stretching reality to do so. He's a low-end RB2 at best, but could quickly slide into RB3 territory or further, behind guys like Kyle Monangai, Kimani Vidal, TreVeyon Henderson and RJ Harvey.

Rachaad White (and/or Bucky Irving), RB, Buccaneers

As I write this late on Wednesday, we don't have much information on a potential return for Bucky Irving this Sunday off the Week 9 bye. However, optimism has started quite low, which means Rachaad White could be the presumptive starter once again.

Either way, this is a horrendous matchup for the Bucs run game: the Patriots are allowing the fewest yards per carry to running backs all season (3.1) and have surrendered just three touchdowns to the position. In total, only the Rams, Browns and Lions have allowed fewer points per game to RBs. And while White could see significant work as a receiver on Sunday, three or four catches for 30 yards won't be enough to make up for another day of 10 carries for 30 yards. On his own, he's a major bust risk against this defense. And if Irving does return, he'll be met with an equally tough matchup - after more than a month without game action - and likely lose quite a bit of work to White.

What to do In the likely outcome that Rachaad White tops this depth chart with Bucky Irving sidelined on Sunday, you can consider him a mid-range RB3 with a six-point floor and very low upside. If Irving plays, he will be a very low-end RB2 that you'll probably still want to get into lineups (with tempered expectations) and White will head to your bench.

Deebo Samuel Sr., WR, Commanders

With Terry McLaurin likely to miss yet another game in Week 10, in a green-on-paper" matchup against the Detroit Lions, Deebo Samuel Sr. might look like an intriguing play this Sunday. And it's not impossible - Samuel scored 17.1 fantasy points in Marcus Mariota's second start, a tough matchup with the Falcons. But it's also less probable than it might seem. The Lions are allowing the fifth-fewest yards after catch per reception (4.6) and have surrendered a -8.1 completion percentage over expected (second-lowest) and 6.3 yards per attempt (seventh-fewest) to wide receivers aligned in the slot this year. Considering Samuel has gained a whopping 58% of his yards after the catch this year and runs 61% of his routes out of the slot (most among Commanders WRs), this isn't the best of matchups for him. The versatile wideout had a strong start to the year, but has faded heavily heading into the second half, and this is not the game to get right," unless he sees an abnormally large workload.

What to do Some rankings might have Deebo Samuel Sr. as a back-end WR2, but that feels incredibly high for a player who's scored 13 total fantasy points over the last month. Aim to bench him outside of deep leagues or desperate flex plays.

Chris Olave, WR, Saints

It's been a very mixed bag for Chris Olave in recent weeks. He had a strong stretch of games from Weeks 6-8, but then nosedived to three catches for 57 yards on a season-low four targets in Tyler Shough's first start this past weekend. Then, his running mate Rashid Shaheed was shipped off to Seattle. While that might redirect the flow of targets back towards Olave, it will also direct the attention of the entire secondary his way, as the Saints only remaining offensive weapon.

Olave had already been inefficient this year, averaging just 1.8 yards per route run and scoring just three touchdowns on 87 targets. Now he'll have to contend with endless double-teams and a rookie quarterback who's unproven at best and terrible at worst. Week 10 brings a terrible matchup with the Panthers, who have allowed the fifth-fewest receiving yards per game to wideouts this year and held Olave to fewer than five catches and 30 yards in each of the last two meetings Olave started and finished. Even with 10 targets, Olave might not crack double-digit fantasy points on Sunday.

What to do On volume alone, Olave is a playable, low-ceiling WR2 or high-floor WR3, but there are quite a few better options in that range worth starting. If you can sit Olave for someone like Wan'Dale Robinson, Jordan Addison, Khalil Shakir or Keenan Allen, those would all be more productive bets.

Colston Loveland, TE, Bears

He was the 10th overall pick of the 2025 draft and just had a massive breakout game last Sunday ... but I'm fading Colston Loveland in Week 10. Why? Well, take a quick look at this opponent last weekend. Yes, the Bengals gave up 26.8 fantasy points to the Bears rookie - half of which came on the breakaway touchdown with 17 seconds left in the game. But they also surrendered 25.6 points to Pat Freiermuth, double-digit days to Jonnu Smith, Mason Taylor and Harold Fannin Jr. (in his NFL debut) among others, and generally more fantasy points to the position than any other team by far. They are, by no means, a fair measure of a tight end's value and breakout" games against Cincy should not be certified without additional evidence. This week, Loveland gets a far fairer matchup in the New York Giants, who have been softer against every other position. If he shows out again in this contest, he'll earn my trust (to some degree). But he doesn't have it yet.

What to do At an extremely shallow position, starting Loveland isn't the end of the world - but remember that he was the TE49 in points per game before the Bengals debacle. I wouldn't be surprised to see him drop back outside the top 20 this week, so if you have a startable alternate, go that route.