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Justin's fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 10 of 2025. He looks at surprising performances from Joe Flacco, Kyle Monangai, Tory Horton, Andrei Iosivas, and Colston Loveland.
Four of the five players in this week's Fact or Fiction column played in the same football game this week. That game? The thrilling 47-42 contest between the Bengals and Bears.
But that wasn't just a high-scoring game. It was a high-scoring game where the best performances came from unexpected places. Backup running backs. No. 3 receivers. Tight ends who'd struggled all season. Was it all just a weird, fluky week? Or a sign of something to come from those two offenses?
Let's take a look at those four surprise performances as well as another from a different game. Were they a Fact, i.e., a sign of stronger showings to come, or a Fiction, i.e., a performance that was just a weird one-off? We'll be looking at Week 9 performances from Joe Flacco, Kyle Monangai, Tory Horton, Andrei Iosivas, and Colston Loveland.
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Joe Flacco, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Week 9 stats: 31-for-47 for 407 yards and four touchdowns and two interceptions -- overall QB2
Flacco's move to Cincinnati has paid dividends for fantasy managers. In four starts with the Browns, Flacco's best finish was QB19. In four starts with the Bengals, his worst finish is QB15, with three straight top-10 fantasy finishes after his monster Week 9 showing.
I guess that's what happens when you go from a team with no support to a team with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at wide receiver. Flacco's even been sacked less in Cincinnati, which is a little surprising when factoring in all the narratives about the Bengals' poor offensive line play.
It should go without saying that Flacco isn't going to throw for 470 yards in every game. Flacco has played 204 regular-season games in his NFL career and this one was the first time he's thrown for over 400 yards. If he'd thrown for two more yards, it would have been a top-50 game of all-time by passing yardage.
Flacco won't have another game like this one, but it's still notable that this is his third game in a row to finish as a QB1. Flacco might not be a stellar athlete at this point in his career, but his arm is still as good as ever, and he finally has elite pass-catchers to take advantage of that fact.
I'm not quite ready to declare Flacco to be a set-and-forget QB1 play, but I'd be comfortable starting him most weeks. (Although the Bengals are on a bye this week, so you obviously won't be starting him in Week 10.)
Verdict: Fiction as far as, like, THIS level of performance, but Flacco is a safe high-end QB2 play
Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
Week 9 stats: 26 carries for 176 yards, three catches for 22 yards -- overall RB3
I wrote about Monangai two weeks ago after he had 13 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown and two catches for 13 yards in a win over the Saints. He finished as the RB12 for the week, which was his best weekly finish so far in his career.
My conclusion was pretty wishy-washy: "Verdict: This is like...a soft Fact, if that makes sense"
What is a "soft Fact," even? Well, it basically boiled down to the idea that Monangai was playable with a high ceiling in the right matchup, but didn't feel likely to do it consistently.
He had just seven carries for 24 yards against Baltimore in Week 8, but then he exploded for 176 yards on 26 carries against the Bengals this week. So, I may still be concerned about consistency, but seeing what his ceiling is has changed my perspective a bit.
NFL leaders in % of carries that have resulted in a 5+ yard gain:
1. James Cook, BUF (45.8%)
2. Kyle Monangai, CHI (44.1%)Great example of a talented RB who got pushed down in an extremely crowded RB class. Crazy value in the mid-7th.pic.twitter.com/y3lvNR7RAA
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 3, 2025
Obviously, this was partially the product of D'Andre Swift missing the game with a groin injury, and it's also partially the product of neither defense remembering to show up for this game. Still, the Bears have to be impressed with what the rookie out of Rutgers did, and this should mean more opportunities going forward.
It doesn't mean a healthy Swift won't continue to play a major role, though. Because of that, Monangai is a high-ceiling, low-floor RB3 for the rest of the season, with a bump up into the middle of the RB2 tier if Swift misses more time.
Verdict: x
Tory Horton, WR, Seattle Seahawks
Week 9 stats: four catches for 48 yards and two touchdowns -- overall WR7
I'm frustrated here! I woke up Tuesday morning and was super excited to write about Horton. I loved his game in college ,and I was excited to talk about what he did in Week 9.
See, Horton played a career-high 72.5 percent of snaps on Sunday against the Commanders and caught two touchdowns. With Cooper Kupp out with heel and hamstring injuries, Horton got his chance to shine. He was good enough that he seemed likely to cut into some of Kupp's usage even once he's back.
Alas, the dream of a fantasy-relevant Horton was short-lived, as the Seahawks traded for Saints' wide receiver Rashid Shaheed at Tuesday's trade deadline, giving quarterback Sam Darnold an electric deep threat to help push this Seahawks offense to the next level.
And just like that our Tory Horton hopes and dreams have been crushed https://t.co/XtWIvCPO67
— Adam Koffler (@AdamKoffler) November 4, 2025
Where does that leave Horton? Probably around where he had been before this game. Coming into the week, Horton was averaging 2.6 targets per game and had three games with zero receptions while playing more than half the team's snaps just once.
While I like Horton a ton in dynasty, he's a boom-or-bust WR6 going forward after the Shaheed trade.
Verdict: Fiction
Andrei Iosivas, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Week 9 stats: five receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown -- overall WR12
When your quarterback throws for 407 yards, your wide receivers are going to end up with absurd numbers. Higgins and Chase both went over 100 yards this week, with Higgins catching two touchdowns, but the production also trickled down to Iosivas, who caught five of his seven targets for 66 yards and a touchdown.
But does this mean anything for fantasy? Not really!
Iosivas is a solid depth receiver in real life, but his fantasy production is just far too uneven to trust him. In nine games this season, Iosivas has been held without a reception three times and to one reception three other times. Before this week, he'd only had one other week as a top-36 wide receiver.
Is it possible we see more good games from Iosivas? Sure, as long as Flacco keeps playing like this. But Flacco was good the last two weeks before this as well, and Iosivas was okay in one (three catches for 49 yards against the Steelers) and a non-entity in the other (zero receptions on three targets against the Jets). That doesn't inspire confidence in me as a fantasy manager.
Iosivas is a solid football player, but he's too unpredictable for fantasy managers to roster him in anything but a 14-team league.
Verdict: Fiction
Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago Bears
Week 9 stats: six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns -- overall TE2
It took a bit, but Loveland finally proved why the Bears drafted him over Tyler Warren in Week 9. Loveland caught six of his seven targets for 118 yards and two touchdowns, with all four stats representing career-best totals for the rookie.
COLSTON LOVELAND ARE YOU KIDDING?
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/OMOzjsl6vC
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 2, 2025
The numbers themselves need to be taken with a grain of salt for all the reasons we've already discussed when talking about that game. It was a perfect confluence of bad defenses facing offenses that were fully locked in.
A more notable number is that Loveland played 81.3 percent of snaps, the second week in a row that he topped an 80 percent snap share. It shouldn't come as a shock that these past two games were the two highest-target games of his career.
Sure, it took a little while for Loveland to put things together and to pass Cole Kmet on the depth chart, but he's the starting tight end now and is a key part of this offense. Fantasy managers should take note of that.
At the same time, this game was pretty clearly not something that's easily replicable. Loveland has streaming appeal because of his increased role and his high ceiling, but he hasn't broken into the top tier of tight ends. He's still behind Warren and Oronde Gadsden II as far as rookie tight ends go.
Verdict: Don't expect a game of this caliber every week, but it's a Fact that Loveland is now a low-end TE1
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 10 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Joe Flacco, Kyle Monangai, Tory Horton, Andrei Iosivas, and Colston Loveland.. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 9. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 10 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Joe Flacco, Kyle Monangai, Tory Horton, Andrei Iosivas, and Colston Loveland.. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 9.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
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Popular Week 10 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 10 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 10 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 10 for Joe Flacco, Kyle Monangai, Tory Horton, Andrei Iosivas, and Colston Loveland:
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