Hot Fire Fantasy Football Questions: Week 8
Our “Hot Fire Fantasy Questions” series examines Week 8 following up recent news, fantasy performances, and implications for owners moving forward. Our Hot Fire contributors from our Fantasy Footballers writing staff includes Matthew Betz (@TheFantasyPT), Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive) and Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg). Give them a follow on Twitter along with all of our Footballers accounts to get goodness like this:
Graham, 1 catch
Njoku, 0 catches
Burton, 3 for 18
Uzomah, 0 catches pic.twitter.com/uROWVaLYYD— Andy Holloway (@andyholloway) October 29, 2018
1. Which player surprised you the most in Week 8?
We’ve gotta go back to Thursday Night Football for this one. Did you all see what DeVante Parker did? He put up a very impressive stat line of 6 for 134 on 9 targets. Now, I’d be misleading you all if we didn’t talk about the fact that he caught a ball that bounced off a helmet for a big gainer, but even without that play, it was a nice performance by Parker. With Kenny Stills injured and Albert Wilson on IR, Parker stepped up big time out of nowhere. –Matthew Betz (@TheFantasyPT)
The biggest surprise for me was Derek Carr for sure. I literally wrote this entire Raiders team off before the season started and after their injuries and fire-sale, I thought the Colts would steamroll this offense. Instead, Carr came out and scored 4 TDs, 3 thru the air, one on the ground, and really stood up when his team needed him to. He’ll need to do that week in and out because his supporting cast is one of the worst I’ve seen. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
Drew Brees and the Saints scored 30 points last night… but if you owned him in fantasy he scored less than 8 points in standard 4-point per passing TD leagues. The dome matchup set up well and Brees was a top-6 QB for me entering the week. The game hit the under thanks to Kirk Cousins so it was mostly a game flow issue as the Vikings couldn’t keep pace in the second half. The success Alvin Kamara found on the ground as well as the pick-six by Kirk Cousins doomed any upside owners had with Brees going into the night. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
2. Which WR would you rather have ROS: Tyler Boyd, Sammy Watkins, or Marvin Jones?
Tyler Boyd hands down. I love his situation more than Jones and Watkins because of the fact that I know he’s the second option in the offense every week. The same cannot be said for Jones who at times is the third option behind Tate and Kenny G or Watkins who is at times the fourth option behind Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and Kareem Hunt. The rapport with Dalton is real, and it’s helped make Boyd a weekly starter as a WR2 to help bolster your lineup. –Matthew Betz (@TheFantasyPT)
I almost picked Jones or Watkins for question 1 and for that very reason, I’ll take Boyd. Boyd’s Week 8 was no surprise, it’s the continuation of a career season. Boyd scored his 5th TD of the year and went over 100 yards for the 3rd time. Consistency is key and after his Week 9 bye, I don’t see many teams able to slow Boyd down. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
Watkins is by far the most talented and finds himself in an offense that will continue to push the issue on being a historic squad. So if a ceiling is what you’re looking for, Watkins I think showed that he has it still with Patrick Mahomes. Boyd seems so much safer than the other two in the slot where he’s running 71% of his routes. Some of his TD production might digress but he’s a WR2 especially in plus matchups. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
3. Which RB was the most disappointing in Week 8?
Isaiah Crowell was brutal on Sunday, and if you had him in your lineup, you know why. “Crow” rushed 13 times for a measly 25 yards for a 1.9 YPC average – yikes! He should have at least been able to provide flex type numbers with the backfield largely to himself after Bilal Powell was sent to IR. He didn’t have the best matchup this week against a very good Bears defense, but Khalil Mack didn’t play in this one. Crowell was brutal this week. –Matthew Betz (@TheFantasyPT)
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
All of the Eagles RBs but specifically Corey Clement. When Ajayi went down, the expectation was that Clement would handle the bulk of the workload and to this point he has done nothing with this opportunity. He has shown none of the play-making ability that he showcased in the Super Bowl last year and his 4 carries for 6 yards on Sunday were disappointing to say the very least. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
If you thought about starting Colonel Mustard this week, you would’ve been met with sheer disappointment as Matt Breida somehow resurrected from the dead once again. Raheem Mostert only saw 2 carries and 1 target. Hopefully, you saw the news and didn’t start him. But as we reviewed in last week’s Waiver Wire Film Study, he is not a talented player by any means. Breida paced the rest of the backfield with 16 total rushes for only 42 yards. The Cardinals came into the game giving up the most fantasy points to RBs and the 49ers backfield laid a goose egg. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
4. Give us one player owners need to sell-high after Week 8.
Sell high on Marvin Jones. I discussed his situation a bit in my answer to the second question, but just to reiterate, I don’t trust his usage on a consistent basis given the emergence of Kenny Golladay this season. If there’s a wide receiver-needy owner in your league, you may be able to flip Jones for a more reliable option after his 2 touchdown performance. –Matthew Betz (@TheFantasyPT)
Lamar Miller. Miller has strung together his best 2 games of the year over the last 2 weeks but this is the exception, not the rule. Miller will regress and D’Onta Foreman should be back after the Houston bye. Foreman was cutting into Miller’s playing time last year and will likely do the same in 2018. Thank your lucky stars that Miller gave you this moment and move him fast. Maybe your league-mates will think you can’t afford to hold him thru his Week 10 bye and not look too deep into this. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
It’s time to sell Adrian Peterson coming off 149 yards and making the Giants look like the scum of the NFL universe. Watching the game, AP had some punishing runs and ran with power. His usage is incredible at his age but you can’t continue to count on someone to run the ball 25+ times and stay healthy. I’d be willing to package AP with a WR to trade up for a more established stud RB. Maybe someone is sick of Ezekiel Elliott‘s Week 7 dud and his bye week. Regardless of who it is, I wouldn’t be counting on AP for the rest of the year and would rather cash in now. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)