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Week 8 Need to Know: Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet

News and notes to help you set your fantasy lineups

Matt De Lima

Fantasy football fans, we’ve arrived at Week 8! The Thursday night barnburner between the Packers and Cardinals gave us a thrilling ending with Green Bay sealing the win in the final seconds off an interception in the end zone. You don’t often see an ending like that! Wild and crazy, kids. We’re almost halfway through the season now, so let’s talk about what’s newsworthy and noteworthy heading into Sunday’s action.

1. Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon split backfield

In case you hadn’t already noticed, this backfield is growing closer in touches per game. Over the first three games of the year, it was one-sided in favor of Jones (51 touches to Dillon’s 19, 2.6:1 ratio). From Weeks 4-7, Jones has 64 touches and Dillon has 43 (1.5:1 ratio). All culminating in a 22-16 divide in Week 8. So what can we glean from this information? Well, while the numbers are inching closer together, we can’t deny the Week 8 game plan was more focused on this backfield because of the COVID-19 related absences of Davante Adams and Allen Lazard, while Marquez Valdes-Scantling remained sidelined with a hamstring injury.

With this split, it’s hard for me to ever rate Jones consistently higher than RB6 in any given week. And right on cue, our very own Michael Fabiano had him ranked seventh in his Week 8 RB rankings. It’s a given that Dillon is the handcuff here; however, I think the more savvy play in deeper leagues is to consider adding Kylin Hill. Now he was carted off last night so we have to monitor the injury status of his knee this week.

Green Bay will need to sign or trade for a replacement RB if Hill’s out for a while, as they have no other running backs on their active roster. A healthy Hill or that TBD new player will also be a name to watch in deeper leagues, because if Jones or Dillon misses any significant time, a replacement has a great opportunity to be a flex-level contributor in PPR formats.

Random TNF stat: Chase Edmonds got his first touchdown last night. It took him nearly 100 touches this year (96 to be exact) to finally find paydirt. His backfield partner-in-crime, James Conner, has been a prolific touchdown vulture with eight rushing touchdowns so far. A popular sleeper choice this offseason, Edmonds has been a bit underwhelming despite his obvious burst and play-making skills.

2. Bills vs. Dolphins pass defense

While the Washington Football Team has been especially bad against opposing receivers (117-1,504-14) by allowing about 34.3 fantasy points per game to the position, the Dolphins have been even worse of late. Over their last three games (at TB, at JAC, vs. ATL), Miami has given up a whopping 124.6 fantasy points to WRs, or about 41.5 per game. Now, anybody going up against Tom Brady this year has had it rough, but let’s not pretend like the Jaguars and Falcons have been anything resembling world-beaters in their passing attacks.

You were already going to start him, but Josh Allen will be a chalk DFS play and has huge scoring potential in this matchup. I think the more pertinent down-low here is that both Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley are smart flex plays. Sanders clocks in ranked 26th in Fabiano’s WR rankings and Beasley isn’t far off at 33rd. In fact, the ever-savvy Fabs has Sanders listed as a Week 8 WR Start ‘Em, I’d just take one step further and include Beasley on that list as well.

With tight end Dawson Knox ruled out, backup third-year TE Tommy Sweeney isn’t a bad streaming play or a possible flier in TE-premium formats. He’s not the smoothest athlete or route runner, but he’s the rumblin’-stumblin’ after-the-catch type who can fight for more yards and fight for 50-50 balls in the end zone.

Random Stefon Diggs fact: Diggs is seeing 51% of the Bills’ targets when the defense is in man coverage. The Dolphins use a ton of man coverage compared to the rest of the league.

3. Week 8 Buy, Hold, Sell

BUY 📈

Khalil Herbert looks like an exciting addition to this backfield and gives the Bears someone to share the workload even when David Montgomery returns… He still hasn’t quite taken off in the stat sheet, but Kadarius Toney looks like an unreal playmaker with the ball in his hands. This one’s only a matter of time… T.Y. Hilton is back and getting some attention, but the Colts’ receiver you want remains Michael Pittman Jr. He looks effortless across the route tree.

HOLD ↔️

  • Eagles QB Jalen Hurts
  • Raiders TE Darren Waller
  • Saints RB Mark Ingram

There aren’t many players as divisive as Jalen Hurts given his penchant to struggle with his accuracy and converting third downs. He sometimes just seems a bit too hasty in abandoning a play to take off running. That said, the Eagles are stuck between a rock and a hard place since the only alternative is now Gardner Minshew. I don’t see them moving from Hurts anytime soon… After an impressive Week 1 debut (10/105/1), Darren Waller has been steady and reliable. Unfortunately, most expected him to push Travis Kelce to be the top TE scorer and that’s not been the case at all. Ultimately, I’ll gladly take consistency and reliability with my tight ends. The grass isn’t always greener! ... I feel strongly that Mark Ingram will be used as Alvin Kamara’s primary backup and handle the rock around the goal-line. If you drafted or added Ingram this year, any kind of production at all is a pleasant surprise. He’s not a league-winner but he’s a safe, boring bet at the tail end of your roster.

SELL 📉

  • Bears WR Allen Robinson
  • Packers TE Robert Tonyan
  • Steelers WR Chase Claypool

The Bears’ offensive struggles are evident. Allen Robinson went from historically “QB-proof” to a fantasy bust. Can he turn it around? Not without a little help from QB Justin Fields. Somebody is probably willing to give A-Rob a try and I’d gladly take what I can get for him at this stage… With the Packers providing so few fantasy points at WR beyond Davante Adams, you’d think that’d funnel more offense to their tight end, Robert Tonyan. He’s seen a slight uptick in his last two games, but it’s not enough... Another player failing to meet expectations is Chase Claypool. With JuJu Smith-Schuster out for the year, you’d anticipate more production for Claypool and therefore, something for fantasy managers to look forward to. I just don’t believe in this offense to deliver on that optimism and I would move on if given the chance.

4. Week 8 SI Fantasy Must-Reads

Before setting your lineups, make sure you check out some of the world-class fantasy lowdown from our SI Fantasy analysts:

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Matt De Lima
MATT DE LIMA

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