To freak out, or to keep calm? That’s the question almost any fantasy manager will have about at least one player on their roster each week. It can be easy to overreact and lose control over a disappointing performance, but each week, we’ll dive into a few of fantasy football’s biggest names and help you decide if we should panic over a poor fantasy output or if we should stay the course and keep them in our lineups. Are there reasonable excuses for why the player had a down week or a few concerning performances? Is it an outlier, or is there something to their struggles and time to look for alternative options? That’s what we’ll aim to answer in Patience or Panic each week throughout the season.
You might be thinking, why is this being posted late in the week? Shouldn’t we decide to panic or be patient right after the previous week’s games? The goal is to look forward to the following week regarding lineup decisions, while being a few days removed from the emotions of a down performance.
Week 8 has six teams on bye, so it’s critical to know who we should panic over and who we should show some patience as our lineups might be thinner than usual.
Rome Odunze, Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears
The second-year Bears WR is coming off two straight down performances, totaling just four receptions and 63 yards between Weeks 6 and 7. It could be easy to see just five PPR points each of the last two weeks and throw him out of your lineup, but that might be a mistake. First, Odunze still had a 24% target share in Week 7, according to JJ Zachariason, showing Caleb Williams was looking his way plenty. If his target share recently became a concern, it could possibly be a reason to start panicking, but that’s not the case for Rome.
Odunze’s Week 6 showing against the Commanders could have looked a lot different if it were not for an illegal formation call that had nothing to do with the play. Rome makes an incredible catch, only to be stolen away from him due to a procedural error, a true shame. Without that penalty, Odunze’s two straight disappointing performances turn into just one, and the cause for concern is significantly lower. The point here is to look deeper than just the box score, and knowing the context of a performance is helpful in understanding if we should panic or stay patient with a player.
The Las Vegas native also leads the Bears in end zone targets, according to NFL Network, proving Caleb Williams makes Odunze a priority in the red zone. We want our fantasy players getting high-value opportunities, and Odunze is getting those in this Bears offense. With Ravens QB Lamar Jackson possibly returning in Week 8 against the Bears, the Bears are 6.5-point underdogs. A game script where the Bears may be forced to throw often against a Baltimore defense that has given up the third-most fantasy points to receivers over the last four weeks, according to NFL.com Fantasy, has the ingredients for a bounce-back performance from Odunze.
Verdict: Patience
Xavier Worthy, Wide Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs
The 2024 first-round pick has overall had a disappointing sophomore campaign to date. Worthy was hurt almost immediately in Week 1 when he dislocated his shoulder. Since his return in Week 4, his fantasy results have been a mixed bag. Between Weeks 6 and 7, Worthy has only totaled five receptions and 55 yards on eight targets, with a short six-yard touchdown in Week 6 saving his fantasy day from being a complete dud.
That’s the 22-year-old’s only trip to paydirt so far this season, and with the return of Wide Receiver Rashee Rice last week, Worthy’s touchdown and overall opportunities are only going to become tougher to come by. The Chiefs showed Rice is the focal point of their offense immediately upon his reentry, getting ten targets compared to Worthy’s four. Even without Rice in the lineup, Worthy’s best fantasy output was Week 4 when he faced an injury-plagued Ravens defense and put up 83 yards in the air and another 38 on the ground, which was good for just WR16 on the week in full PPR formats. That’s his highest fantasy finish so far, and with an alpha receiver like Rice chewing up his targets and opportunities, it’s hard to envision too many weeks where he tops that finish. Of course, Worthy’s blazing speed will show up at some point in the form of a long touchdown, but predicting when that happens will be challenging.
The Texas product does have a decent matchup in Week 8 when the Commanders, who give up the 10th-most fantasy points to Wide Receivers, come to town on Monday night. With the Commanders missing QB Jayden Daniels, however, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Chiefs lead most of the game and lack the need to throw the ball all over the yard. With six teams on a bye, you may feel forced to put Worthy in your lineup, and that’s understandable, but there are some different avenues to take if you’re in total panic mode on Worthy.
Verdict: Panic
Alternative options: Ravens Wide Receiver Zay Flowers likely gets Lamar Jackson back as his quarterback in Week 8 and has an advantageous matchup against the Bears. Panthers pass catcher Tetairoa McMillan may actually benefit from QB Andy Dalton entering the lineup while Bryce Young deals with an ankle sprain. Jaylen Waddle has overtaken the Dolphins’ WR1 role with the absence of Tyreek Hill. Last week was disappointing for Waddle, but it was against a tough Cleveland defense in bad weather. Now the Dolphins travel to Atlanta, where they’ll play indoors and may find themselves in a game script that forces them to push the ball down the field. Falcons QB Michael Penix is clearly more comfortable playing at home, having thrown for an average of 287 yards in three games inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2025, which may force the Dolphins to try to keep up through the air. One of Flowers, McMillan, or Waddle could have been drafted on teams that also selected Worthy, especially if you went heavy in the middle rounds at WR, and all look to be more attractive options than Worthy in Week 8.
Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)