Fantasy Football start/sit advice, Week 8

The San Francisco 49ers get a week off in Week 8 which likely does not impact your fantasy team in the slightest. Most fantasy owners are more likely impacted by the loss of players from the Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Weeks 8 and 9 are the biggest bye week challenges for fantasy owners as six teams will be out those weeks. There will be plenty of studs on bye this week so fantasy owners must find value in other places,

We’re back with some start/sit advice as you set your lineups for Week 8.

Quarterbacks

Starts: Aaron Rodgers has had a surprisingly slow start to the year and has not been a surefire starter this year. This week he travels to face a Falcon defense that allows nearly 300 yards passing per game and has yielded 15 passing touchdowns this year. Another signal caller that may be underperforming, based on draft position, is Kirk Cousins. He has only passed for multiple scores in three of his seven starts this year. Cousins faces a Bengals defense that does not allow a ton of yardage but has been unable to clamp down in the red zone. Jameis Winston has a fantastic matchup against our friends across the bay. The Raiders are allowing the most yards per game to quarterbacks this year and Winston has done a better job of protecting the ball the last couple weeks.

Sits: Dak Prescott has had a surprisingly nice season to this point and will continue to start this week against the Eagles. Unfortunately for Prescott, the Eagles have only allowed one more touchdown than interception they have tallied and quarterbacks are only throwing for just over 200 yards per game. Phillip Rivers has his second game against the Broncos in the past 3 weeks. His first outing against them, in San Diego, the Broncos held Rivers to the tune of 178 yards and one touchdown. Fantasy owners should not expect him to fare much better when playing in the hostile atmosphere of the mile high city. A clear prospect to sit on your bench this week is Jay Cutler. Fantasy owners will need to start a different quarterback and not rely on Cutler on Monday night. He will be seeing his first action since his injury in Week 2. To welcome him back to action is a Vikings defense that holds quarterbacks to under 200 yards per game and astonishingly has picked nine passes to only five touchdown passes allowed.

Running Backs

Starts: Spencer Ware has had a great past two weeks and has not lost touches to Jamaal Charles. Charles is clearly not health and Ware is the clearcut centerpiece of the Chiefs offense. This week, Ware will face a Colts defense that is allowing nearly 120 yards on the ground each game. For fantasy owners with Christine Michael, hopefully Thomas Rawls does not return this week against a porous Saints defense. The Saints have allowed an NFL-worst 11 rushing touchdowns this year and Michael should have plenty of opportunities to find the endzone. Devontae Booker should be a popular name in waiver wire pickups given the injury to C.J. Anderson. Booker should lead the Broncos ground attack against a Chargers team that has allowed nine rushing touchdowns this year.

Sits: It appears that Lamar Miller will play this week, but he should not be starting for you if he does suit up. Miller is hobbled by a shoulder injury and has only scored in one game this year. Against a Lions defense that has only allowed two rushing touchdowns this year owners should not have faith in Miller finding paydirt this week. Devonta Freeman may be seeing the lion’s share this week with Tevin Coleman likely sitting out. Against a Packers defense that has allowed an NFL-best one rushing touchdown and boasts an NFL-best 71.8 yards per game on the ground, Coleman may have difficulty finding any running room this week. Isaiah Crowell should not be trusted this week against a stout Jets defense. The Jets run defense is the second best team in the league based on yards per game allowed. The Browns will see Josh McCown returning this week so how that affects Crowell’s performance is anybody’s guess.

Wide Receivers

Starts: I absolutely love T.Y. Hilton’s matchup against the Chiefs. He has posted touchdowns in four of the past five weeks and he has become a top-5 wide receiver in fantasy land this year. Davante Adams lit up the Bears last week and should continue being an integral part of a pass-heavy Packers offense moving forward. With Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson still not looking like the duo from the past, Rodgers is spreading the ball out more. Adams should get a hefty workload with Rodgers likely to pass for more than 300 yards this week. Mike Evans has six touchdowns this year and is producing consistent numbers each week. He faces the league’s worst pass defense (by yards per game), in the Raiders, and is Jameis Winston’s favorite target. All that being said, Evans should have a monster week.

Sits:Tyrell Williams has been the Chargers best receiver this year but a game in Denver, against the reigning Superbowl Champs and Superbowl MVP, should qualify Williams for your bench. Marvin Jones has stepped into the WR1 role this year and from a fantasy perspective has been playing lights out. He has the 5th most receiving yards in the NFL but faces the 2nd stingiest pass defense in Houston this week. I also don’t love Kelvin Benjamin against the Cardinals elite pass defense. They have only allowed five passing touchdowns to their nine picks and generally stymied opposing quarterbacks. While Benjamin is on of Cam Newton’s favorite targets, I would expect him to look at Greg Olsen more this week.

Tight Ends

Starts: With Dwayne Allen week-to-week, Jack Doyle should be slotted in as a TE1 for the Colts and your fantasy team. He has caught touchdown passes in back-to-back weeks and leads all tight ends with four touchdown receptions this year (tied with Martellus Bennett). With the Broncos stellar cornerbacks clamping down on the Chargers wideouts, fantasy owners should continuing riding Hunter Henry. Henry has three touchdowns in the past four weeks and has Phillip Rivers’ trust in the redzone. Fantasy owners are hoping and expecting Jordan Reed to suit up this week in London for the early game. Reed has tallied no less than 53 yards in any contest this year and if Kirk Cousins is to get back on track this year he will need Reed to be a contributor.

Sits: Given how tight ends have produced this season, the sits will almost be everyone else but I’ll single out a few that may have higher expectations. Zach Miller should have a disappointing week with the return of Jay Cutler and a matchup against a stellar Vikings defense. The Falcons love giving up points to tight ends but guess who doesn’t like throwing to them? Aaron Rodgers has thrown Richard Rodgers one touchdown pass and only 84 yards this year; that trend should continue this week. Coby Fleener has two great weeks (accounting for all three of his touchdowns) and and four forgettable weeks this year (accumulating 98 yards total). Against the Seahawks I expect Fleener to have his fifth forgettable week.

If you have other start/sit questions drop them in the comments below!