Here are my fantasy football rankings, tiers and outlook for notable players Week 8.
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Fantasy Football Rankings, Tiers & Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Week 8
Quarterbacks Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Quarterbacks
Bo Nix gets a juicy Week 8 matchup against a Dallas defense that’s giving up a league-high 25.5 fantasy points and 276.9 passing yards per game to quarterbacks. But Nix hasn’t been particularly sharp this year. He’s averaging 6.1 yards per pass attempt for the season and 5.8 yards per attempt over his last three games. A matchup with the Cowboys isn’t necessarily going to turn Nix into John Elway. I have him ranked QB8, which is below consensus.
As good as Jaxson Dart has been, I’m slightly worried about him this week. Dart’s best wide receiver right now is Wan’Dale Robinson. The Eagles get a rematch against the Giants this week after the Giants embarrassed the Eagles in a Thursday-night game two weeks ago. The defending champs are going to be out for vengeance in this one. The Eagles didn’t have wrecking-ball defensive tackle Jalen Carter for that first game against the Giants, but this time Carter is playing. I’m ranking Dart as a high-end QB2.
The narratives are running rampant for the Sunday-night Packers-Steelers game, with Jordan Love squaring off against his former mentor in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers. Love is a mildly disappointing QB16 in fantasy points per game, largely because Packers are the fourth run-heaviest team in the league. The Packers have a strong defense, so Love isn’t going to play in a lot of shootouts. A 40-40 tie with the Cowboys in Week 4 was the only true shootout the Packers have been in this year. Love threw 43 passes in that contest. In every other game the Packers have played this season, Love has had 31 or fewer pass attempts. Love has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in three of his six starts, and he’s thrown multiple TD passes in only one of his last four starts. I’m ranking Love outside of QB1 range.
Running Backs Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Running Backs
Quinshon Judkins has a tough matchup against a Patriots defense that ranks sixth in DVOA vs. the run and is giving up the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs. But Judkins has had 20 or more carries in three of his last four games, and he’s done well in other daunting matchups this season, with 18-94-1 rushing against the Packers and 21-82-1 against the Lions. More concerning than the matchup is that Judkins hasn’t been very involved as a pass catcher since Dillon Gabriel took over as the Browns’ starting quarterback. Judkins has only three targets and one catch in Gabriel’s three starts. Still, Judkins checks in as a low-end RB1 this week.
The Bengals’ win over the Steelers last week gave us hope that the Bengals’ offense can be something like 80% of what it would be with Joe Burrow at quarterback. If that’s the case, Chase Brown should at least be able to provide fantasy managers with RB2 value. Brown’s rushing volume hasn’t been great in Joe Flacco‘s two starts — nine carries in Week 6, and 11 carries in Week 7 — but Brown has averaged 7.5 yards per carry in those two contests. Expect the volume to perk up for Brown if Flacco can continue to keep the chains moving for the Cincinnati offense.
It appears that Isiah Pacheco is once again the lead back in Kansas City. Pacheco had a 62.5% snap share in Week 5, a season-high 76.6% snap share in Week 6, and he was dominating snaps last week until the Chiefs emptied the bench late because they were blowing out the Raiders. The Chiefs have the highest pass rate over expected in the league, but there’s still value to being the lead back in a good offense. The arrow is pointing up for Pacheco. Even if Kareem Hunt were fully healthy — he’s questionable with an ankle injury — Pacheco would probably have something close to a workhorse role in a good Week 8 spot against the Commanders. But Hunt injured his ankle last week, and even in he plays this week, he isn’t likely to be 100%.
Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard (CAR)
As much as Rico Dowdle investors would love to have Chuba Hubbard to go away, that isn’t happening. The Panthers gave Hubbard a four-year, $33 million contract extension in the offseason that included $15 million in guaranteed money. Hubbard isn’t going anywhere. Hubbard out-touched Dowdle 38-33 last week against the Jets, although Dowdle out-touched Hubbard 18-16. It’s a split backfield now. The Panthers will face a Bills defense that has struggled against the run, so maybe both Carolina backs could make their fantasy quotas. But if the Bills open up a big lead and the Panthers have to abandon the running game, Dowdle and Hubbard could both run aground in Week 8. I’m ranking Dowdle as a midrange RB2 and Hubbard as a high-end RB3.
It’s dangerous to assume that Kendre Miller‘s season-ending knee injury will pump up Alvin Kamara‘s workload. Miller’s snaps and touches could just go directly to Devin Neal, an intriguing rookie from Kansas who lost a training-camp battle with Miller for the No. 2 RB spot. Besides, Kamara has looked bad this season. He’s averaging 3.6 yards per carry and 4.9 yards per catch, and he’s shown little of the burst for which he’s known. This is Kamara’s age-30 season. Maybe he’s simply running out of steam. I’m ranking him as a lower-end RB2.
In a week with six teams on bye, you could probably start Tyler Allgeier in a pinch. Allgeier is Bijan Robinson‘s backup, but the Falcons face a Miami defense that has been routinely getting rocked by opposing RBs. Rico Dowdle had 206 rushing yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins in Week 5. Kimani Vidal had 124 rushing yards against them in Week 6. Quinshon Judkins had 84 rushing yards and three touchdowns against the Dolphins last week. Allgeier has gotten double-digit carries in four of the Falcons’ six games so far and in all three of Atlanta’s home games. If Allgeier gets double-digit carries against the Dolphins’ Charmin-soft run defense, he could potentially post double-digit fantasy points. Just make sure he’s active. Allgeier is listed as questionable with hip and knee injuries.
Bears rookie Kyle Monangai had 14 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown against the Saints last week and added a couple of catches. D’Andre Swift is still the Bears top RB, but Bears head coach Ben Johnson presided over a terrific two-man backfield when he was the offensive coordinator in Detroit, and the hope among investors is that Monangai can be Johnson’s new David Montgomery. We should probably tap the brakes, since the Bears had a run-friendly game script last week in a contest they led nearly the entire way, and it was a very windy day in Chicago. We can’t count on another 14 carries for Monangai this week in a game where the Bears are road underdogs against the Ravens. But Baltimore’s run defense has been terrible, so Monangai could at least be a desperation flex play in a week with so many teams on bye.
Wide Receivers Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Wide Receivers
DeVonta Smith‘s weekly production has been all over the place this season. He’s had three games in which he’s scored 19.4 or more PPR fantasy points, and four games in which he scored fewer than 10 PPR points. The FantasyPros Expert Consensus Rankings initially had Smith as a high-end WR2 this week, which seemed like an overreaction to his 9-183-1 performance against the Vikings this week. ECR has oscillated wildly for Smith all year because of his roller-coaster production. Most weeks, fantasy analysts don’t know how to rank him, and fantasy managers aren’t sure whether to play him. With A.J. Brown out for Week 8 with a hamstring issue, Smith surges into lower-end WR1 territory.
I’m ranking Tetairoa McMillan as a high-end WR2 this week. For McMillan to be averaging 7.8 yards per target when Panthers QB Bryce Young is averaging 5.8 yards per pass attempt hints at what a terrific player the rookie receiver is. And with Young likely to be out this week with an ankle injury, McMillan could potentially benefit from playing with veteran backup Andy Dalton instead of the struggling Young.
George Pickens has scored six touchdowns over his last six games and has averaged 96 yards a game over that stretch. He has a tough matchup this week against the Broncos. But let’s look at this in the reverse: The Cowboys’ passing attack is a difficult matchup for the Broncos’ defense. There’s a chance Pickens gets a lot of face time with Broncos CB Patrick Surtain Jr., one of the NFL’s best cover men. But CeeDee Lamb is only lining up in the slot 32.5% of the time, according to PlayerProfiler.com, and when Lamb lines up outside, maybe that’s who Surtain will cover. But even if Pickens does see shadow coverage from Pickens, it’s worth remembering that Pickens saw shadow coverage from the Jets’ Sauce Gardner earlier this season, and Pickens had a 43-yard touchdown catch in that game. It was the sort of acrobatic contested catch for which Pickens is known. That’s the magic of Pickens: He makes difficult contested catches against tight coverage. I worry about coverage matchups with Pickens than with just about any other receiver.
Xavier Worthy faded into the woodwork last week with Rashee Rice back from his six-game suspension. Worthy had 3-35-0 receiving on four targets, plus one carry for 13 yards. But I’m not that worried about Worthy. He and Rice have complementary skill sets, and Patrick Mahomes has been throwing like crazy. The Chiefs have the highest pass rate over expected in the league by a wide margin. We haven’t really seen Worthy and Rice play together yet. Sure, technically they played together early in 2024 before Rice got hurt, but Worthy wasn’t fully integrated into the Chiefs’ offense at the time. Now he is, and we saw what Worthy is capable of late last season when he had that torrid stretch run. Worthy’s ceiling isn’t as high with Rice around, but in a week with six teams on bye, Worthy is a solid WR2.
Matthew Golden had three catches on the Packers’ first possession against the Cardinals last week. He had just one more catch the rest of the game and finished with 4-37-0 on four targets. Golden is averaging 3.8 targets a game, and there’s a chance that Christian Watson returns this week from last season’s ACL tear, which would further complicate Golden’s target outlook. I have Golden ranked just outside WR3 range. With his speed, Golden is capable of providing a splash play or two, but it’s hard to imagine him giving you a seven- or eight-catch game when his targets have been so sparse. Golden is listed as questionable with a hip injury, although he got in a limited practice on Friday.
A matchup against the Cowboys’ leaky pass defense makes Troy Franklin a playable fantasy option this week, but he isn’t necessarily an attractive option. Franklin has played between 58% and 62% of Denver’s offensive snaps in four straight games. He’s simply not a full-time player.
Tight Ends Rankings & Tiers
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Lineup Advice: Tight Ends
Dalton Kincaid hasn’t had more than six targets in any game this season (although he’s had six targets in three of the five games he’s played). But Kincaid has been highly efficient. He’s averaging 12.0 yards per target and has scored three touchdowns on 20 receptions. Although he’s not going to average 12.0 yards per target all season, it stands to reason that Kincaid will continue to be a high-efficiency pass catcher because his quarterback is Josh Allen. There are few must-starts at the TE position this week, but Kincaid is one of them.
We keep waiting for Jets rookie Mason Taylor to have a watershed game. Maybe he’ll have one against a Bengals defense that’s giving up a league-high 18.8 fantasy points per game to tight end. Only one other team, the Packers, is allowing more than 14 fantasy points per game to TEs. Cincinnati gave up four TD passes to three different Pittsburgh tight ends last week.
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