Nick Mullens (QB, SF) - Week 10 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens surprised everyone on Thursday Night Football, tossing three touchdown passes in the Niners’ 34-3 beatdown of the Oakland Raiders. He had a near perfect 151.9 passer rating and was named the starter for Week 10 against the Giants. San Francisco has a bye in Week 11, but barring injury or an utter meltdown, it seems likely that Mullens will hang onto the starting job after the bye week. Mullens, an undrafted free agent in 2017, played under current Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken at Southern Mississippi. Mullens was notably the Conference-USA offensive player of the year in 2015, his junior year. His Week 9 performance will probably his best-played game of the season, as it came against a checked-out Raiders’ defense playing on short rest. Still, Mullens is the starter here and for that reason worth picking up in deep leagues or two-quarterback leagues.

His Week 10 matchup against the Giants is middle of the road, as the Giants have allowed the 20th most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season. They downgraded from Eli Apple to B.W. Webb at cornerback after a trade with the Saints, but still have great talent in Janoris Jenkins and Landon Collins in their secondary. Mullens is not someone that should be eagerly targeted in standard leagues as a bye week fill-in, but in two-quarterback leagues, he is a great add.