Need a break from a narrow fantasy loss, a one-sided rout or all those injuries piling up on a weekly basis? This is the place for you!

Here are 20 of the most interesting facts from around the fantasy football world entering Week 8:

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1. If you could identify the best positions in the NFL for fantasy production, slot receiver for the Seattle Seahawks might be at the very top of the list. Here’s a look at how Seattle’s primary slot options have fared over the past 5+ years:

Receiving Touchdowns, 2015-17

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Receiving Touchdowns, 2018-20

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Touchdowns can be difficult to predict from week to week or season to season, but you can’t ignore these results. The Seahawks have the most passing TDs in the NFL since the start of the 2015 campaign, and Lockett has been the biggest beneficiary. He should be one of the first eight wide receivers off the board in 2020.

2. On the flip side, it’s incredibly rare to see a wide receiver combine hefty air yard and target shares with low drop numbers – and it’s even more rare for those players to not find the end zone. Here are the three NFL receivers who have an AY% north of 30 percent, a target share higher than 25 percent and one or fewer drops:

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If you manage any of these players, you should remain patient: it’s quite likely those first three trends will continue, and with them, the touchdowns will come. And if you believe you can buy low on any of them, you absolutely should. They might have struggled to score, but they’re terrific candidates for positive regression in that regard.

3. Those of you with Tom Brady MVP futures tickets (I know, there aren’t many of you) have to be pleased with TB12’s start to his Tampa Bay tenure. And all that talk about diminished arm strength can be put to rest, with Brady entering Week 8 ranked third in the NFL in completions of 20+ yards (26). And Brady’s incredible stats could be even better: He has had the most dropped passes of any quarterback in the league to date (21).

4. On the other end of the spectrum: New England QB Cam Newton, who ranks dead last in completions of 20+ yards (nine) among quarterback with at least 100 attempts. And it gets much, much worse: his 5.3 air yards per attempt is the lowest of his career, as is his 1.5-percent touchdown conversion rate. Newton was a great story in the first few weeks of the season, but after being replaced by Jarrett Stidham in Week 7, his future looks murky.

5. Hayden Winks points out how D’Andre Swift managers are being rewarded for their patience:

D’Andre Swift doesn’t have the entire backfield to himself, but he’s getting all of the high value touches since the bye.

The Post-Bye Rookie Bump™ pic.twitter.com/DFIV7Y5Fgx

– Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) October 28, 2020

Swift still isn’t quite in RB-slot must-start territory – he hasn’t played more than 45 percent of Detroit’s offensive snaps in a game – but with 30 touches over the previous two games, it’s clear that the rookie running back is the focal point of the Lions’ backfield. He’s an every-week FLEX option moving forward.

6. If you frequent this space, you know that I love Dalvin Cook as a dark-horse RB1 in 2021 if he can stay healthy – and here’s one more reason why. In addition to being able to gain chunks of yards at will and being one of the better pass-catching backs in the league, Cook is money in the red zone, turning six of his nine carries inside the 10-yard line into a TD. He’s one of only three players with six red-zone rushing TDs – and has only played five games.

7. Red-zone stats also portend well for Los Angeles Rams running back Darrell Henderson, who continues to share the bulk of the backfield work with Malcolm Brown. Here’s a look at how the season carries and red-zone attempts break down for the Rams’ three-headed running back monster:

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Henderson and Brown might run neck-and-neck in carries to date, but Henderson is clearly the go-to option when the Rams get close to the end zone. He’s an intriguing weekly option in daily fantasy thanks to a sneaky-high upside.

8. It might have been premature for fantasy managers to give up on A.J. Green, who has turned in 8-96-0 and 7-82-0 lines the past two weeks after looking completely washed after a 0-0-0 showing (on one target) in Week 5. The stats suggest that Green’s previous two games are no fluke: He’s second in the league in air yards (806) and has just one drop on his 58 targets. Now that he and Joe Burrow have stronger chemistry, look out.

9. Is it finally happening for Logan Thomas? The Washington tight end has now scored touchdowns in consecutive games after failing to find the end zone in four consecutive contests – and based on his red-zone usage to date, he’s full value for those scores:

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Thomas has seen just 16 targets over the previous four weeks after being targeted a whopping 21 times from Weeks 1-3 – but he’s clearly benefiting from a quality-over-quantity approach to his passes since Washington moved on from Dwayne Haskins in favor of Josh Allen. He’s still TD dependent, but is a decent weekly streaming option.

10. Is there another changing of the guard afoot in the Jets’ backfield? Frank Stampfl suggests there is:

#Jets RB usage in Week 7:

La’Mical Perine 70% snaps, 11 rushes, 3 targets, 3 red zone opportunities

Frank Gore 28% snaps, 11 rushes, zero targets, zero RZ opportunities

– Frank Stampfl (@Roto_Frank) October 27, 2020

Universally respected Jets head coach Adam Gase had said prior to Week 7 that he wanted Perine more involved, and Perine responded with 55 total yards and a touchdown on 13 touches. Nothing earth-shattering by any means, but if he’s going to see double-digit touches moving forward, he’ll be in the FLEX conversation in favorable matchups.

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11. If it seems like DeAndre Hopkins has been a bit touchdown-unlucky, it’s because he has – and he isn’t alone, based on this crazy chart:

Players With 700+ Receiving Yards & 3 or Fewer TDs, Weeks 1-7, 2016-20

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It seems like every year, one elite receiver does as expected from a receiving standpoint but comes up short in the touchdown department; here’s how the other four guys finished their respective seasons:

A.J. Green, 2016: 964 yards, 4 TDs

Antonio Brown, 2017: 1,533 yards, 9 TDs

Julio Jones, 2018: 1,677 yards, 8 TDs

Michael Thomas, 2019: 1,725 yards, 9 TDs

In each of the previous three years, players with high yardage totals and few touchdowns did see some TD regression, which bodes well for Hopkins managers moving forward.

(Also, as a footnote, imagine rostering Julio in 2018 as he averaged 116 receiving yards per game from Weeks 1 to 7 – and was still just the WR10 over that span thanks to his allergy to the end zone. Amazing.)

12. Offense is still rolling along at a league-record pace – though things have slowed down over the past few weeks. Teams are averaging an NFL-record 1.8 passing touchdowns per game (besting the previous record of 1.7 set in 2018) while quarterbacks are averaging 261.0 passing yards per game, slightly up from the record 259.2 mark established in 2015. Rushing stats are also on a record pace (118.4 yards and 1.0 touchdowns per game).

13. It’s time again to check in on how the top tight ends in fantasy measure up to the best wide receivers – and lemme tell you, the results aren’t pretty at all. Here are the top-10 TEs and where they rank on the WR list (1/2 PPR):

1. Travis Kelce, 98.1: WR8
2. George Kittle, 74.7: WR24
3. Darren Waller, 70.5: WR29
T4. Jonnu Smith, 64.3: WR34
T4. Mark Andrews, 64.3: WR34
6. T.J. Hockenson, 62.6: WR38
7. Robert Tonyan, 62.0: WR38
8. Jimmy Graham, 60.9: WR38
9. Hayden Hurst, 60.0: WR41
10. Tyler Higbee, 51.2: WR52

Like I said: Not pretty. Tight ends have accounted for just seven of the top 80 fantasy performances this season by a non-quarterback in full-point PPR scoring formats, and just seven are averaging double-digit points in 1/2 PPR. The death of the tight end as a viable fantasy contributor is nigh.

14. As if you need one more reason to love James Robinson as a locked-in RB1 moving forward, the phenom has racked up 10 red-zone opportunities over the Jaguars’ previous two games (seven rushes, three targets) while the rest of the team has seen just nine combined red-zone chances in that span. Jacksonville views Robinson as its most valuable offensive contributor, and should continue employing him as such for the foreseeable future.

15. Jacob Gibbs is here to give Chase Edmonds reason to get giddy:

The Arizona Cardinals use shotgun formation on 89.7% of offensive plays. No other team in the NFL uses it even 80% of the time.

Yards per carry from the gun:
6.44 — Chase Edmonds
3.64 — Kenyan Drake

Yards per catch from the gun:
8.48 — Chase Edmonds
4.14 — Kenyan Drake

– Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 28, 2020

There are more than a few within the fantasy industry who see Edmonds as a superior talent to Drake, and it appears that he’ll get the opportunity to shine following the Cardinals’ Week 8 bye. Edmonds might very well become what the Cardinals – and fantasy managers – had hoped Drake would be.

16. DK Metcalf is ripped, we all know that by now. But he’s also fast. Very fast. Metcalf showed off his wheels in last week’s thrilling loss to the Cardinals – and not just by stunning Arizona’s Budda Baker, who registered the 17th-fastest speed of any play this season on an interception return and was still chased down by Metcalf. The Seattle WR reached 21.66 mph on a 48-yard TD catch in OT that was subsequently overturned due to a penalty.

17. It has been a trying year for most of the upper echelon of wide receivers in fantasy football this year – but at least one is thriving in his return from injury. Green Bay Packers superstar Davante Adams has seen an incredible 41 percent target share in two games since rejoining the lineup, turning all that attention into a 19-257-2 line on 26 targets. More telling: Marques Valdez-Scantling (3-32-0 over that span) has fallen completely out of favor.

18. Don’t drop Mike Evans – at least, not yet. With Chris Godwin not in action in Week 8 due to a broken finger, Evans should see some action for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being held to a 2-37-0 line last week – his fourth game of 2020 with two or fewer catches. Evans has a team-best 21 percent target share this season with Godwin sidelined, and with new arrival Antonio Brown still a week away, Evans has fantasy value in Week 8.

19. There’s plenty of chatter surrounding how the Buccaneers will operate their backfield for the Monday nighter against the New York Giants. Tampa Bay is favored by double digits, which could mean plenty of time in the lead – and Leonard Fournette (26 attempts, 5.42 YPC) has fared better in those situational carries than Ronald Jones II (58 carries, 4.12 YPC). Fournette is an interesting FLEX play option for this one.

20. We opened last week’s 20 Interesting Facts feature with a nugget on Burrow – so let’s wrap up this week’s edition with something on the sensational rookie QB, courtesy Andrew Erickson:

Russell Wilson and Joe Burrow are tied for the league-lead in end-zone throws (27)

The difference?

Wilson owns the No. 1 end-zone TD % (7.8%)
Burrow owns one of the lowest end-zone TD% (1.7%)

Titans have faced the 2nd-most EZ throws

Burrow🚀https://t.co/AwRe26hEHd

– Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) October 28, 2020

Consider Burrow a low-end QB1 with immense upside this week against a Titans team that has been gashed repeatedly through the air so far this season.

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