Week 8 of the NFL season is here, and we get a break from bye weeks with everyone playing this week. Hopefully this gives Fantasy Football managers a reprieve from having to make difficult decisions of who to plug into their lineups this week.
Make sure to check out our Fantasy In Frames IDP waiver-wire article every week to fill in your open roster spots.
Below are my educated guesses of players to Play and others to Fade for Week 8 of the NFL season. As we continue to get more data, we get a better idea of who to lean on throughout the season.
As always I am going to give you some players I think could have a better week than expected or might have a worse game than predicted.
Here we go!
Plays
- Jalen Carter, DT Eagles at Bengals
- Carter put it all together in Week 7. He had four tackles, three solo stops, and two sacks. His snap share was 79% last week and he has five QB Hits in the last two games.
- The Bengals have given up 18 sacks this season. Quarterback Joe Burrow has been sacked three or more times in five of seven games this season.
- Donte Fowler, DE Commanders vs Bears
- I’m suggesting Fowler for the second week in a row. Fowlers was one of my favorite plays last week, and he is one of my plays again. He had an impressive Week 7, finishing the game with 22 points in Fantasy Pros scoring to be DL1 for the week. He had two solo tackles and one sack. He had the biggest defensive play of the night with an interception returned for a touchdown.
- Chicago is allowing the 10th most Fantasy Pros fantasy points to the position on the season. As long as Fowler leads the way in snap percentage, he should be, even as a floor play, very reliable for fantasy managers this week
- Khalil Mack, DE Chargers vs Saints
- Mack doesn’t have a sack since Week 3, but he should be due against a team that is falling apart in front of our eyes. Mack had his best PFF pass rush grade in Week 7 against Arizona with a 91.9 score. His best grade since Week 3. Mack had a 22.7% Win Rate and 18.2% Pressure Rate against the Cardinals. Sack incoming.
- The Saints have given up 16 sacks this season, and QB Spencer Rattler is expected to get the start again. He has been sacked 5 and 6 times in his two starts.
Fades
- YaYa Diaby, DE Buccaneers vs Falcons
- Despite coming off an impressive performance which saw him tally five solo tackles, one TFL and a sack on Monday Night Football, he will have his work cut out for him when he faces the Atlanta Falcons offensive line this weekend.
- The Falcons, on the season, have allowed the fewest sacks to opposing defenses with just six. Diaby, while having the highest QB pressure frequency among Edge Rushers on the Bucs with a value of 16.3%, his sack conversion rate off of that pressure frequency is only 7.1%. Low inefficiency versus a pass blocking unit for the Falcons, that more often than not keeps their QB off the ground, doesn’t bode well for him this week.
- Nnamdi Madubuike, DL Ravens at Browns
- He only has one double-digit fantasy performance this season in Fantasy Pros scoring. Despite a 72% snap share he is not getting consistent pressure. He has two sacks, only one full sack, on the season. He is struggling to get more than one or two tackles a game and doesn’t have more than two QB Hits in any game this season.
- The Browns will want to be a run-heavy team to try to keep the ball out of Ravens QB Lamar Jackson’s hands. Madubuike is playing closer to a 50% snap share on running downs this season. With Jameis Winston making his first start in place of the injured Deshaun Watson, Cleveland will likely try to protect him as much as possible from taking sacks and turning the ball over.
- Arden Key, DE Titans at Lions
- Key is coming off his best game of the season. He had two tackles and his first sack of the year against the Bills in Week 7. Key scored 12 points according to Fantasy Pros scoring in Week 7, but prior to that he was averaging 3.88 PPG in his previous five games.
- Key is only seeing a 60% snap share, and now faces a Lions team that should be up early in this game and running the football. That does not feed into Key’s few good attributes.
Plays
- Nakobe Dean, LB Eagles Colts vs Dolphins
- Dean had 25.8 points in Fantasy Pros scoring last week against the Giants. He had his first two sacks of the season, and also added 11 tackles. Dean has double-digit points in Fantasy Pros scoring in all but one game this season.
- Dean was considered injury prone early in his career, but that hasn’t been the case this season. Dean has consistently played more than 95% of snaps on defense.
- Kenneth Murray, Titans at Lions
- The Titans just traded away Ernest Jones for Jerome Baker this week, which should ensure that Murray continues to see a huge snap share until Baker gets up to speed. Murray has seen almost 100% snap share this season, and that should continue on Sunday. Murray hurt his shoulder in Week 7, but is still expected to play this week. He has been consistent with six or more tackles in every game this season.
- The Titans defense expects to be on the field plenty this week against a high-powered Lions offense. Murray should see a lot of snaps. The Lions have been a top-five play for opposing linebackers this season.
Fades
- Patrick Queen, LB Steelers vs Giants
- I like what Queen brings to the Steelers, but he hasn’t been great for IDP managers. He is currently LB60 with an 8.8 PPG average using Fantasy Pros scoring. That is extremely disappointing for fantasy managers who were hoping he would carry the success he had in Baltimore over to Pittsburgh this offseason.
- While he plays a large majority of snaps at linebacker for the Steelers the production just hasn’t been there. His 11.1% tackle rate with a 17.5% missed tackle rate on the season is absolutely as abysmal as it comes. This week the Steelers face the Giants on Monday Night Football; a Giants team that has allowed the third fewest fantasy points to the LB position this season.
- Jahlani Tavai, LB Patriots vs Jets
- Tavai should be the man in New England with Ja’Whaun Bentley out with injury, but he is struggling to consistently put up big numbers. He only has one double-digit scoring performance in Fantasy Pros scoring this year and that was in Week 3.
- Tavai is playing nearly 85% of snaps, but he is losing work on third downs as Christian Elliss is stealing work there. With no bye weeks, you should have better options than Tavai this week.
- C.J. Mosley, LB Jets at Patriots
- Mosley has been a tackle machine throughout his career, but injuries have slowed him down and allowed other players to step up this season. With Mosley out, Jamien Sherwood has taken the green dot for the defense. He has seven or more tackles in the last four games.
- Mosley has only played in four games this season. Since coming back from injury his usage has been down-right horrible. Mosley came back from injury in Week 6, but only played 10 total snaps. In Week 7, he only played 32.4% of snaps.
Plays
- Damar Hamlin, S Bills at Seahawks
- Hamlin is the DB18 in Fantasy Pros scoring with an average of 11.2 PPG. He currently “IS” the Buffalo secondary. If this wasn’t already obvious, last week should be the evidence needed. He saw a safety leading 34.8% of box snaps, 50.7% free safety snaps, and 8.7% of slot snaps. He had five total tackles, a pass defensed, and an interception.
- Hamlin has a juicy matchup this week against the Seahawks, a team that allows the most fantasy points to the DB position according to Fantasy Pros scoring. Both Taylor Rapp and Hamlin would be decent starts for fantasy managers, but give me the more dominant producing safety in this choice matchup.
- DeShon Elliott, S Steelers vs Giants
- Elliott has been a boom for the Steelers defense this season. He has scored double-digit points in all but one game this year. He is averaging 12.4 ppg in Fantasy Pros scoring.
- Elliott has been all over the field. He has been what fantasy managers have wanted Minkah Fitzpatrick to be. With Elliott now in the Black and Yellow, he has taken over the Box Safety role. In Week 7, he saw 70.2% of his snaps near the line of scrimmage, while Fitzpatrick saw 89.3% of his snaps at Deep Safety.
- Grant Delpit, S Browns vs Ravens
- Delpit missed Week 6 with a concussion, but came back in Week 7 and had five solo tackles and a QB Hit against the Bengals. He played 41 of his 54 snaps in the box and slot areas in Week 7. For the season, Delpit has played 83.6% of his snaps close to the line.
- The Ravens are sixth in the league in tackles allowed to safeties this season. The Browns have also struggled to keep their linebackers on the field because of injuries. That paired with Baltimore likely leading most of the way in this game should mean a lot of running plays throughout the day.
Fades
- Xavier Woods, S Panthers at Broncos
- Woods is the DB31 in Fantasy Pros PPG scoring and has a tough matchup this week against Denver. The Broncos have allowed the third fewest fantasy points to the position group.
- While Woods has been OK from a tackle perspective, there haven’t been enough high-impact plays consistently as well as any high tackle volume numbers to warrant starting him this week.
- Beanie Bishop, CB Steelers vs Giants
- Bishop was the top DB scorer in Week 7, but don’t be fooled by the scoring output. He was aided by two interceptions, two passes defended, and six tackles, five solo.
- Before he scored 23.8 points in Week 7, Bishop only had 24.1 points combined in the first six games this season. I’m not chasing a one-off game like this.
- Tyrann Mathieu, S Saints at Chargers
- He started the year well, but his production has waned. He only has 14 tackles and no splash plays in his last four games. He has played 59.3% of his snaps at Deep Safety.
- His matchup against the Chargers is not ideal. They are near the bottom of the league in tackles allowed to safeties, and are dead last in points allowed to safeties according to The Football Guys points allowed tool.
