Fantasy Fallout: Welcome Back, D.J. Moore and Alvin Kamara

Week 8 featured a few players returning to fantasy relevancy.

Week 8 of the 2022 NFL season will go down in the books as “the wake-up call.” Several players who have been notable fantasy studs in the past, but have been missing in action this season, finally decided to make their presence felt. For fantasy managers dealing with the frustration of missed opportunities through the first two months of the season, Week 8 provided some relief. That said, it might have created more frustration for those who benched their disappointing players and couldn’t reap the benefits of their big weeks.

Here is a look at some of the players who broke out in Week 8:

D.J. Moore: With an average draft position of 39 (WR14), Moore was shaping up as a major bust through seven weeks. He showed signs of life last week with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, but that was by far his best game of the year – until this Sunday when he had 152 yards and a score. Who knew it would take P.J. Walker to bring out the best in the Panthers wideout?

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Alvin Kamara: The Saints’ top offensive threat wasn’t completely missing in action; he did produce 194 all-purpose yards in a Week 5 win over Seattle. But Kamara’s real value has always been his ability to score touchdowns, and he had none on the season before Week 8. Now he’s got three after scoring all of the saints’ touchdowns in a 24-0 win over the Raiders. Kamara rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown and caught nine passes for a season-high 96 receiving yards and two more scores.

Aaron Jones: The Packers running back hasn’t been invisible; he had a pair of 100-yard rushing games earlier this season. But it seemed crazy that Jones averaged a mere 11 rushing attempts per game through the first seven weeks of the season. Especially with the Packers struggling to establish much of a passing game, why not put the ball in Jones’s hands more? Well, Jones had a season-high 20 carries Sunday night in Buffalo, resulting in 143 rushing yards. You can expect that workload will continue.

Terry McLaurin: Just as a change at QB has helped D.J. Moore in Carolina, McLaurin’s season seems to have been resurrected with Taylor Heinicke under center. McLaurin caught six passes for a season-high 113 yards Sunday in Indianapolis. He’s had 186 receiving yards over the last two weeks after averaging just 61 yards per game over the first six weeks.

Dalvin Cook: Cook hasn’t been terrible, but he also hasn’t delivered like a player who was drafted in the first half of the first round, which he was. Coming off a bye, Cook had his first 100-yard rushing game in Minnesota’s 34-26 win over the Cardinals, and he added five receptions for 30 yards – both season highs for him. Fantasy managers who drafted Cook as high as they did need this to be the norm.