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Fantasy Football QB1 Targets: Week 8 (2020)

Fantasy Football QB1 Targets: Week 8 (2020)

There is almost always a decent crop of quarterbacks available on any given week, whether it’s your spare quarterback on the bench or the host of them on the waiver wire. In today’s NFL, most quarterbacks will probably be at least “fine” from a fantasy perspective, but quarterbacks have massive scoring potential, and, as such, they should get as much attention as the rest of your roster.

There are a few guys who should be locked into your lineup regardless of matchup. They are Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray. There are a couple of guys angling to be in that tier, but you won’t see any of the above moving forward for the purposes of this piece. If you have them, play them.

Let’s take a look at a few typically-solid options with overall QB1 upside, a couple of mid-range quarterbacks who aren’t automatic starters but could be hanging out on your bench, and a bunch of decent streaming options for Week 8.

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Solid Likely-Rostered Options with Massive Upside

Aaron Rodgers (GB)
Rodgers evolved from borderline draftable quarterback to a weekly stud, so you’re likely starting him anyway. There haven’t been many sure things in football this season: all of the allegedly incredible teams have shown their weaknesses, and we’ve learned time and time again that a win probability of 95% means absolutely nothing (please consult the entire city of Atlanta for additional proof). One thing I do know, however, is that the Vikings are… not good. They’ve allowed more than 20 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks on four occasions this season, and Rodgers will almost assuredly make it five.

Justin Herbert (LAC)
Herbert was mentioned last week in the next section, but I am happy to report that he has graduated to the “likely-rostered” section moving forward. After an absolute eruption against the Jaguars, in which he posted almost 40 standard-scoring (four-point touchdown) points, Herbert better be rostered and started in every league. He averages 25.2 points per game with only one outing below 22, and he is currently the QB4 on a points per game basis. The Broncos have allowed at least 18 fantasy points to opposing signal-callers in every game this season, and they’ve also allowed rushing touchdowns to quarterbacks in two of their last three outings. Fire him up again.

Mid-Range QBs That May be Available

Ryan Tannehill (TEN)
I finally feel comfortable admitting that Tannehill is just good and not a fluke anymore. Tannehill has ten total touchdowns in his last three games, and he has just one game with below 17 fantasy points on the season. Even in an average showing against Pittsburgh in Week 7, Tannehill still posted a respectable 220 yards and two touchdowns, which is a decent outing against a good Pittsburgh defense. The Bengals have allowed 20 fantasy points to opposing signal-callers in four of their last five, including five touchdowns against Baker Mayfield last week, so Tannehill should be in for another very nice outing.

Joe Burrow (CIN)
In the same game, Joe Burrow is another solid option. Other than a dismal outing against the Ravens in Week 5, Burrow has posted at least 15 fantasy points in every game this season. The Titans have allowed at least three touchdowns to opposing quarterbacks in half of their games this season, and I think that this game will turn into a shootout very quickly. Burrow has a pretty wide range of outcomes considering his ongoing development, but I like him as a nice upside play in Week 8, although he’s a slightly risky one.

Carson Wentz (PHI)
Because of the connotation around the Eagles, Wentz could have fallen into any of the three categories here. There’s a world where he has been locked into a starting quarterback spot all season, and there’s also one where he’s been a free agent the whole time. That’s the 2020 Eagles for ya.

Anyway, Wentz is playing the Cowboys, which would be a good matchup for literally any quarterback in the league. The Cowboys have allowed 28 fantasy points or more on three occasions this season, though they have, admittedly, had some decent outings as well — they held both Jared Goff and Daniel Jones to sub-11 fantasy point outings. Wentz averages 20.4 fantasy points per game, and he has none below 17 in his last five outings. He should have a great showing in a crucial divisional primetime game.

Streamers!

Jimmy Garoppolo (SF)
Jimmy G was in this section last week, and he put up quite the stinker. The 49ers scored all of their touchdowns on the ground, and, despite his 80% completion rate and only five incompletions, Garoppolo threw two interceptions, which transformed his fantasy day from below average to just simply bad. Fortunately for him, the Seahawks can’t stop anyone in the league, as they’ve allowed at least 21 fantasy points to all opposing quarterbacks not named Kirk Cousins. That includes 27 or more on three separate occasions. If you need a fill-in quarterback on a week where Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson are on bye, Garoppolo may very well be available and productive.

Baker Mayfield (CLE)
I generally run far away from Baker, as he typically ranges between wildly inconsistent and painfully average from a fantasy perspective, but he can be used in a tough bye week. While last week’s game against Cincinnati was sadly his first game with over 16 fantasy points this season, the Raiders have been absolutely gashed by quarterbacks over the past three weeks, as they’ve given up an average of 30.7 fantasy points per game in that span. It makes me very nervous, but if there ever a week for Baker to produce, this is it.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of potentially high-scoring games on the docket this week, and there should be plenty of solid quarterback performances. In a week where a few solid signal-callers are on bye (Murray and Watson) and a few others have nasty matchups (Ben Roethlisberger and Matthew Stafford, among others), I hope that you can snag one of the guys mentioned here and coast to another fantasy victory.

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Donald Gibson is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Donald, check out his archive and follow him @DonaldGibsonFF

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