The Arizona Cardinals will face the New York Jets in Week 10. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Cardinals 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.
Kyler Murray, QB
Five times this season has a QB run for 30 yards or a score against the Jets, and those are the top-five fantasy outputs by a signal caller in this matchup this season. I’ll admit that it’s been a low bar to clear due to the stingy nature of the Jets, but that just further highlights the need for versatility.
Kyler Murray has had his ups and downs this season, but he has found a way to record five QB1 finishes, and I think he will make it six this weekend, even in a less-than-ideal spot. Against the best yards-per-play defense in the league.
Murray has a 20-yard scamper in five games this season and is pacing for the second-best yards per pass attempt season of his career. If you believe that Aaron Rodgers figured things out last week, then you believe that Murray will be in catch-up mode, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
James Conner, RB
James Conner continues to be a good story, but be careful — his PPR fantasy points per touch are pacing to decline for a third straight season (every year of his Arizona career), and this is still a player who has missed multiple games in every season entering 2024.
That said, it’s OK to be bullish in the short term and bearish long term. Conner has been a top-20 running back in five of his past six games, and I like his chances of continuing that trend with the Jets allowing 45.6% of yards to come on the ground, the highest rate in the league.
You’re starting him at full strength and feeling good about it, though I’d want to have depth behind him for the stretch run (even if it’s not Trey Benson).
Trey Benson, RB
Dynasty managers had to like what they saw from Trey Benson last week against the Bears, and he’s a sharp add in deeper leagues given the checkered health history of James Conner. We know that the veteran back has struggled to make it through an entire season for his career, so while there are no signs of an injury at the moment, getting ahead of things is wise.
Benson was on the field for 26.3% of snaps last week, his most since Week 2. This team is going to be competitive down the stretch, and that means they are going to continue to lean heavily on Conner (18+ carries with multiple catches in three straight games). Benson isn’t going to hold stand-alone value, but in terms of starting RBs whose health I’d be most likely to bet against, Conner is near the top of that list.
Not all waiver wire additions are designed to help you today. The goal is to build a superteam for the end of December, and Benson fits that mold.
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR
Marvin Harrison Jr. might prove to be worthy of all the hype we bestowed upon him in April, but for the moment, he’s not producing like a locked-in fantasy option.
Shoot, he’s been on the fringe of roster-worthy since September. From Weeks 5-9, Harrison has one top-50 finish. One. On the long list of receivers with more such finishes over that stretch are Noah Brown, Sterling Shepard, and Van Jefferson. I’m not saying that you’re cutting Harrison. I’m not even saying that, in all spots, you’re benching him, but you need to be considering looking past your priors.
The Jets are a top-five pass defense in terms of touchdown rate and passer rating, making this a tough spot for a struggling player. I have three rookie receivers ranked ahead of Harrison this week as he slides in as a fringe top-30 receiver, sitting behind Khalil Shakir’s elevated weekly floor.
Michael Wilson, WR
I’m man enough to admit when I was wrong, and man was this a swing and a miss on my part. Like most, I was intrigued by the upside of Arizona’s offense and how a tall/athletic secondary receiver would fit into the mix.
As it turns out, Michael Wilson doesn’t fit. Not in a meaningful way for us anyway.
Wilson has been on the field for 78.2% of Arizona’s snaps this season, and yet, he doesn’t have a 15-point game on the ledger for 2024. There was a glimmer of hope in Week 5 against the 49ers (five catches on six targets for 78 yards), but it’s been a dumpster fire since — 67 receiving yards and exactly zero of them coming last week on only a single target.
I’ll admit that I was wrong for 2024, though I’m not selling my dynasty stocks (in part because they are worth very little right now). The Cardinals have dialed back his aDOT by 23.4% this season, and that clearly hasn’t worked.
There’s a path in which Arizona puts Wilson in a position to be a fantasy asset with time — that time just isn’t 2024.
Trey McBride, TE
Trey McBride’s six-target streak came to an end on Sunday against the Bears, and yet he still reached double figures in PPR points for a fifth straight game.
Did it take a rushing touchdown? It did, but you don’t draw up plays like that for players whose hands you are not actively trying to get on the ball. McBride’s average depth of target is up 25.8% from his encouraging rookie season. Given his stable volume, that role tweak is more of a ceiling elevator than one that lowers his floor.
The Jets’ defense is great, but they are attacked vertically consistently (highest opponent average depth of throw this season), seemingly because offenses aren’t confident in their ability to sustain drives otherwise, and that lands McBride where he typically resides: my top tier at the position.
New York Jets at Arizona Cardinals Insights
New York Jets
Team: New York is allowing the second-fewest yards per pass after the completion this season (4.4, league average: 5.3).
QB: The Jets own the highest red zone pass rate in the league this season (59.3%, league average: 34.2%).
Offense: New York is making minor strides in converting third downs. In Weeks 4-5, they picked up just 26.5% of their third downs, a rate that rose to 31.8% in Weeks 6-7 and to 40.9% over the past two weeks.
Defense: A league-high 45.6% of yards gained against the Jets come on the ground (league average: 35.6%).
Fantasy: Garrett Wilson’s aDOT is 35.2% higher when Davante Adams is on the field than when he’s not – something that adds both upside (like what we saw on Thursday night against the Texans) and downside into his fantasy profile.
Betting: The Jets have failed to cover three straight road games (cumulative cover margin in those games: -38) and eight of their past 10.
Arizona Cardinals
Team: Arizona is 5-4 this season after winning just five of their previous 27 games.
QB: Three times over the past month, Kyler Murray failed to rush for 20 yards (prior to this stretch, 49.4 rush yards per game).
Offense: Arizona averages 4.78 runs per game of 10-plus yards, a figure that sits behind only Lamar Jackson’s Ravens through nine weeks.
Defense: The Cardinals have the second-worst third-down defense in the NFL (48.2%, only one-tenth of a point ahead of the Panthers).
Fantasy: James Conner continues to be a good story, but be careful – his fantasy points per touch is pacing to decline for a third straight season (every year of his Arizona career) and this is still ap layer who has missed multiple games in every season entering 2024.
Betting: The Cardinals are 2-5 ATS (28.6%) in their last seven games when their opponent enters on extended rest (the Jets beat the Texans last Thursday night).