Welcome to Week 8!

If you had Tony Pollard as the week 7 RB1 on your bingo card, give yourself a pat on the back. Some of the worst games on paper (Cleveland v. Tennessee, New York v. Miami) delivered some of the best games for fantasy football, and the expected shootout between Green Bay and Detroit became a defensive slugfest, relatively speaking. The Giants also took down Houston in the upset of the week, re-instilling confidence in Cam Skattebo and making me believe JJ McCarthy might actually hold up for Malik Nabers rest-of-season. And finally, Tampa Bay beat the breaks off Carolina so bad that no one on that offense other than Bucky Irving had a productive day for fantasy football.

Week 8 has the Giants, 49ers, Saints, and Texans on bye, which, all things considered, is not the worst crop of players missing from fantasy lineups. You may be needing a WR spot start (Nico Collins, Chris Olave, Malik Nabers, Mike Evans all on bye), so go and stash an up-and-coming rookie WR off the waiver wire if you haven’t already — Omar Cooper Jr., KC Concepcion, and Antonio Williams all have solid opportunities in front of them in their respective offenses and are guys I like rest-of-season for fantasy.

Arizona vs. Dallas and Buffalo vs. Baltimore profile to be the highest scoring affairs of week 8 and will be games to target heavily for fantasy. Pay attention to undefeated Minnesota visiting Detroit — one of the best defenses in the league clashes with one of the best offenses, and on the other side of the ball, you’ll see one of the worst defenses against one of the worst offenses. The proverbial game of “something’s gotta give.” Kansas City against Denver profiles as the low-scoring affair of the week, especially after the Chiefs failed to get the ball into the redzone against Seattle last Sunday Night, which I’m attributing to the Seahawks’ defense more than the Chiefs’ offense.

As always, if you need any trade advice or bespoke start/sit decisions, my full weekly rankings, rest-of-season rankings, and trade calculator are available on grankfantasyfootball.com.

P.S. — the below rankings in my newsletter are half-PPR by default. The website will always have my full PPR and standard scoring rankings as well.

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Week 8 Rankings

QB: Dak Prescott managers can breathe a sigh of relief after seeing him finish QB6 against the Eagles. He’ll be right back in the mix to finish as a top QB this week facing an extremely lackluster Arizona defense. While I love the matchup for Lamar Jackson (assuming he’s back) against Buffalo, I’d temper expectations slightly, as it might take some time for him to get back to full mobility off the ankle injury. I think Jacoby Brissett is a sleeper start this week too — the Dallas matchup is great for opposing QBs, and we’ve seen Brissett pay off in garbage time before. I don’t think he’s a bad pick up off waivers.

RB: Javonte Williams comes in at RB3 this week for the aforementioned Cardinals matchup. He’s pretty much impossible to bench, but I’d temper expectations for D’Andre Swift playing Seattle after watching what that defense was able to do to Kenneth Walker, especially if Kyle Monangai is back in the mix as well. Tony Pollard and Ollie Gordon are two names that are moving into the “every week start” category in most leagues, and both check in as top 24 RBs against the Bengals and Patriots, respectively.

WR: I’ll be paying close attention to the Carolina v. Green Bay game on Thursday Night, as 4 different receivers should be started in almost all fantasy lineups. Tre Tucker is a guy I’d be trying to start most weeks going forward as well — while the Jets aren’t the easiest team to target for WRs (15th best against the position), the Raiders’ lack of a running game is giving Tucker ample opportunity to perform. I’d avoid Jaylen Waddle against the Chiefs and Ladd McConkey against the Rams unless I’m absolutely desperate.

TE: Welcome back, Colston Loveland. After 2 straight double-digit fantasy performances, I’m ready to declare him a top 5 TE this week — hopefully you didn’t lose faith and drop him. Don’t forget about Brenton Strange coming off the bye and playing the Colts. He’s been a viable option at the position this year and may be on waivers if you’re an Isaiah Likely manager looking for a spot start. I’d also avoid pretty much anyone on the Rams going forward, as you’ll just be guessing which one gets 6 targets and finds the endzone.

G-RANK Game of the Week for Fantasy

I’d be crazy to say any game other than the Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills is the pick here. When these 2 teams faced off to kick off the 2025 season, it was nothing short of excellent, and I expect the same this Sunday. The Ravens find themselves in need of a win after dropping 2 straight divisional games with Lamar Jackson nursing the ankle injury. Assuming he makes it back on to the field this week, the Ravens should have no problem scoring against one of the most porous defenses in the league in Buffalo. And on the other side of the ball, Josh Allen and James Cook fresh off the bye could have enormous weeks. I’ll be glued to this one on Sunday, and hopefully it delivers for fantasy.

G-RANK Weekly Sleeper Pick

Konata Mumpfield did not deliver on the opportunity laid out for him with Davante Adams on IR, as he only saw the field for 43% of snaps and caught 1 pass. It really is Puka Nacua and “spin the wheel to pick a TE” on any given week. We’ll try to get back on track with the deep sleeper picks, taking Kendrick Bourne of the Arizona Cardinals and playing the matchup / target volume game. The Cowboys are allowing the 6th most fantasy points to the WR position this year, and we’ve seen Jacoby Brissett deliver in weeks against so-so passing defenses (see Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers). I think the Cardinals are able to get a few touchdowns on the board (garbage time or not), and Bourne, who has seen 8, 8, and 6 targets his last 3 weeks, could be a deeper flex play.

Thanks for reading this week! G-RANK has you covered for full top 200 rankings (half-PPR, full-PPR, standard) for this week and the rest-of-season. Be sure to also leverage the start / sit tool, trade calculator, and more for decisions specific to your league!

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Talk soon,
G-RANK Fantasy Football
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