The Tennessee Titans will face the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Titans skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 10 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Mason Rudolph, QB
Mason Rudolph has been … fine? That’ll work for desperate Superflex managers, though a date with the Chargers isn’t ideal.
The backup QB is averaging 41.3 opportunities per game (pass + rush attempts) in his three starts, so while we can question his efficiency all we want, volume like that will allow you to fall into viable fantasy production from time to time.
I’m not tempting fate with anyone attached to this passing game in Week 10, but I thought it was worth taking 60 seconds of your time to highlight what Rudolph has done lately (he was a top-10 performer in our QB+ metric last week!).
Will Levis, QB
Will Levis’ right shoulder injury continues to nag at him, and it resulted in a third straight DNP last week. Levis doesn’t have a finish better than QB20 this season and should be off of fantasy radars, but if you’re holding onto hope in 2QB formats, I’d try hard to keep him rostered.
No, I don’t think Lewvis is going to light the fantasy world ablaze anytime soon, but a quarterback past his bye with some favorable spots down the stretch might be able to offer enough production to crack your line.
- Week 14 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
- Week 15 v. Cincinnati Bengals
- Week 16 at Indianapolis Colts
- Week 17 at Jacksonville Jaguars
Nobody is going to blame you for cutting ties, but many custom leagues come with deep benches, and Tennessee is motivated to see what its 2023 second-round pick has to offer when it comes to building out its future plans (Mason Rudolph is an unrestricted free agent after this season).
Julius Chestnut, RB
There was a groundswell around Julius Chestnut ahead of Week 9 with Tyjae Spears (hamstring) and Tony Pollard (foot) both banged up. The idea made sense in an offense that would prefer not to throw the ball in a significant way, but the Titans told us everything we needed to know by loading up Pollard with 28 carries (31 touches) instead of giving Spears’ usage to a secondary option.
No harm no foul if you added Chestnut last week with the hopes of improving your backfield depth. The move made sense when you made it and moving on a week later makes just as much sense.
Tony Pollard, RB
Tony Pollard entered Week 9 with a questionable tag due to a foot injury, but he not only played but logged his third straight game with a snap share north of 80%. He didn’t show any ill effects (a 32-yard run on the first drive, his second-longest gain of the season), and while his touchdown was pulled off the board due to a holding penalty, he showed the ability to stop on a dime and accelerate.
The Titans are a tough watch, but Tony Pollard’s role is nothing short of elite — he has multiple catches in every game and at least 16 carries in seven of eight. The Chargers boast a top-10 run defense across the board, but efficiency isn’t why you’re plugging in Pollard as your RB2. If Tennessee can keep this game close, another 18-20 touch effort is likely and that’s enough to feel good about playing Tennessee’s lead back.
Tyjae Spears, RB
Entering this season, with Derrick Henry taking his talents to Baltimore, there was hope that Tyjae Spears, a third-round pick in 2023 who was on the field for the majority of Tennessee’s offensive plays last season, would see his role expand to that of a weekly fantasy asset.
To say that hasn’t happened would be an understatement. Spears has failed to touch the ball more than eight times in four of his five games and is dealing with a hamstring injury that has held him out of three straight games. The team elected to test his health in the middle of last week before holding him out following the session, an indicator that this soft-tissue issue is lingering.
With Tony Pollard operating at full strength as well, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to hold onto Spears and hope for a role increase when deemed healthy, but by no means is that something you have to do. Over the next three weeks, 44% of the league has their byes, meaning fantasy managers are going to need to feel good about their depth. It’s hard to feel that way about Spears with this hamstring injury lingering and a limited role in the first place.
Calvin Ridley, WR
If I had a million dollars for every time I heard, “All we need for Calvin Ridley to justify being started is for Mason Rudolph to start,” my life would be no different.
Over the past two weeks, Ridley has been targeted on 31.1% of his routes, a drastic improvement from the 20.1% rate he posted in Weeks 1-7. I don’t think the recent production is here to stay, and this matchup is as good of a place as any for Ridley’s production to fall back into the abyss.
This season, the Chargers have faced the second-fewest deep passes and own the second-highest deep interception rate. I’m comfortable in betting against this passing game, which is why I have receivers like Jauan Jennings and Keon Coleman ranked higher this week.
I value the insolation they get from their respective offenses as more valuable than Ridley’s physical tools.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR
Touchdowns aren’t sticky for most. That’s the case even less often when the team rarely scores. But every once in a while, we get a player like Nick Westbrook-Ikhine — a spreadsheet-breaking, logic-defying outlier.
Fun stuff.
Westbrook-Ikhine has now scored in four straight games — an undrafted player has had a longer streak before turning 28 years old only four times since 2016 (Robert Tonyan, Tyrell Williams, Robbie Chosen, and Allen Lazard). That’s an ultra-cherry-picked list, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
In those four games, the Titans have mustered just 33 points on non-NWI touchdowns. To call this profile thin would be undershooting it; Westbrook-Ikhine has seen just 16 targets over this stretch.
I said it last week and was wrong, but I’m doubling down. You’re chasing production if you’re locking in Westbrook-Ikhine, and I think it burns you sooner rather than later.
Tennessee Titans at Los Angeles Chargers Insights
Tennessee Titans
Team: The Titans are allowing a league-low 1.75 deep completions per game this season (the Chargers rank 24th in deep passes completed per game, 2.50).
QB: Over the past two weeks, Mason Rudolph is averaging 12 yards per completion. In Week 9, per our QB+ metric, he graded out better than Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen.
Offense: Tennessee is turning the ball over a league-high 2.13 times per game this season.
Defense: The Titans own the sixth best defense in the league in terms of success rate (62.1%).
Fantasy: The Titans are a tough watch, but Tony Pollard’s role is nothing short of elite – he has multiple catches in every game and at least 16 carries in seven of eight.
Betting: The Titans went 0-2 ATS on the road in October and are 2-9 ATS on the road over their past 11 – both of those covers came against the Dolphins. They are not playing the Dolphins this week.
Los Angeles Chargers
Team: The Chargers continue to flirt with it, but they’ve yet to see 40 points scored in a game this season (32-39 points scored in all four games since the Week 5 bye).
QB: Justin Herbert has 910 passing yards over his past three games (first five games: 815 passing yards).
Offense: This season, the Chargers are 5-0 when they clear 15 points.
Defense: By total defensive EPA, the Chargers are the best defense in the league (18% better than the second-place Minnesota Vikings).
Fantasy: J.K. Dobbins is averaging 13.8 yards per carry on touchdowns this season and 4.5 on carries that don’t end up in the end zone.
Betting: Unders are 9-2 in the Chargers’ past 11 home games (3-0 this season, with each of those games going under the total by at least 7.5 points).