Whether you're a veteran or a newcomer, the mission is to find the best value plays, identify favorable matchups, and build a winning lineup. In this early-week breakdown, we'll kickstart your DFS prep with a high-level overview of the Week 10 Main Slate on DraftKings and FanDuel.

We'll analyze the opening lines and team totals to pinpoint teams in the best spots for an offensive explosion. This helps us focus on players who could provide the best return on investment. We will also highlight the players standing out in our early-week projections as the best values. Late in the week, much of your research should be dedicated to determining which of the best points per dollar (PPD) plays you trust more than the others. Our goal is to arm you with sharp insights and data-driven visualizations so you can start honing in on the best plays before the week unfolds. 

Matchup Overview

I like starting my week with this simple visualization, which shows how much each team is favored on the X-axis and the implied team total on the Y-axis. Let's go clockwise, starting in the upper-left quadrant, and highlight teams with interesting angles in Week 10.

Note: The Sunday night Lions-Texans game is on the FanDuel Main Slate but is not included on the DraftKings Main Slate.

Upper Left: Teams in this quadrant are underdogs but still projected to score above the slate's average, making them prime candidates for potential shootouts. The Buccaneers are 5.5-point home underdogs against the 49ers, but this game's 50.5-point total is the highest on the slate, indicating clear shootout potential. Cade Otton stands out as a strong play once again. The Jets are slight 1.5-point road underdogs at Arizona. The Cardinals give up the 11th-most DraftKings points to opposing wide receivers and the 7th-most points to opposing running backs, positioning New York's key skill players well this week. Finally, the Texans are 3.5-point home underdogs in the Sunday Night Football game (FanDuel only), providing a strong game environment with likely solid ownership on the FanDuel main slate.

Upper Right: These teams are favored and expected to score above-average points, making them key targets for both cash games and GPPs. Positive game scripts in this quadrant make it ideal for targeting running backs. The 49ers stand out in their matchup against the Buccaneers, who are allowing the 5th-most DraftKings points to opposing running backs. Deciding how to approach Christian McCaffrey (assuming he is active) will be crucial this slate. The Buccaneers also give up the 3rd-most DraftKings points per game to opposing tight ends, which could make George Kittle a popular pick.

Bottom Right: These teams are favored but expected to score below average. Running backs from this quadrant are worth considering due to anticipated positive game scripts; however, caution is advised when selecting players from their passing games given the low projected totals. Notably, no team favored this week has a below-average implied team total.

Bottom Left: Teams in this quadrant are underdogs and expected to score below average, so it's best to roster only players in whom you have high confidence.

Week 10 Best Matchups

Season-to-date averages as valuable data points. In this section, we'll highlight teams expected to score more points than their current season average. This is a simple yet effective way to identify teams and players projected to perform better than in previous weeks.

In the table below, we compare each team's implied total points ("Total") to their season-to-date average points per game ("PPG") and calculate the expected scoring boost for the current week ("Week 10 Boost"). Here are the top matchups:

• The table above highlights why the Week 10 main slate is expected to be lower-scoring than usual. Only two teams have implied totals more than 7% higher than their season-to-date scoring averages.

• With a relatively unexciting slate and few standout matchups, ownership may concentrate on the limited appealing options. One of those spots is the 49ers matchup against Tampa Bay. With an implied total of 27.8 points, San Francisco's key players are likely to be popular picks.

• Justin Herbert has been performing at an elite level since the Week 5 bye, averaging 286.8 passing yards per game over his last four games and achieving an impressive adjusted yards per attempt of 9.45.