(Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
Week 8 Bye Weeks
Tennessee
Players to replace:
DL – Jurrell Casey
LB – Wesley Woodward, Brian Orakpo, Jayon Brown
DB – Kevin Byard, Malcolm Butler, Malcolm Butler, Adoree’ Jackson
LA Chargers
Players to replace:
DL – Melvin Ingram
LB – Denzel Perryman, Jatavis Brown
DB – Derwin James, Jahleel Addae, Casey Hayward
Dallas
Players to replace:
DL – Demarcus Lawrence, Taco Charlton, Randy Gregory, David Irving
LB – Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch
DB – Chidobe Awuzie, Jeff Heath, Byron Jones
Atlanta
Players to replace:
DL – Takk McKinley, Vic Beasley
LB – Duke Riley, De’Vondre Campbell
DB – Damontea Kazee, Brian Poole
Positive / Negative Home Stat Crews
Here is this week’s list of positive and negative matchups. We break down the top and bottom three matchups where home stat crews either hand out tackles and assists or are stingy with them. We can use these games to break ties for our lineups.
Top 3 TPO Games at Home this week = Redskins @ NY Giants, Patriots @ Bills, Colts @ Raiders
Bottom 3 TPO Games at Home this week = Buccaneers @ Bengals, Ravens @ Panthers, Broncos @ Chiefs
Week 8 Notes
The Houston Texans may feast on Thursday Night so be sure to get DE J.J. Watt, DT Jadeveon Clowney, and the Honey Badger S Tyrann Mathieu, in your line-ups this week. Clowney looks every bit like the number one overall draft pick that he is with 4.5 sacks in 4 weeks. Watt is currently the top defensive lineman in most formats. The Texans defense is starting to come on and they are a team that should dominate the depleted Miami Dolphins.
Browns DE Miles Garrett was my sleeper Defensive POY in the pre-season and he remains on pace for a Top 5 finish at DE. However this week he draws Pittsburgh, a solid offensive line. Pittsburgh has only allowed 9 sacks the year and just 23 QB hits. Lower your expectations for Garrett but it’s hard to sit him.
I recommend you sit Broncos LB Von Miller this week, he draws a tough matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs The Chiefs have allowed a league-low 8 sacks and I expect the Chiefs to light up the Broncos this weekend. Miller is a big-play defender but he must only be played in positive matchups, and this week is not one of them.
Indianapolis S Mike Mitchell looks right at home in the Colts backfield. Mitchell was signed late in the year but has earned a full-time role quickly. Get Mitchell in your line-ups this week. The Raiders haven’t found a way to push the ball down the field and the home stat crew is favorable. Mitchell should clean up in the backfield this week.
The Arizona Cardinals secondary has been a goldmine for fantasy production this season, with S Budda Baker leading the league in scoring so far. However, the player to watch for this week is S Tre Boston, who is expected back from injury this week. Boston has been so productive in the Cardinals three safety defense and will be welcome if he can find his way to the field this week.
For IDP owners, it is hard to recommend any Jacksonville Jaguars players at this point in the season. S Barry Church has been a shadow of his former self and LB Myles Jack has not been consistent so far midway through the season. The Jags plays the Eagles this week and we may want to look elsewhere if you own any of the LB or DB from Jacksonville.
Don’t be fooled by the big game from Tampa Bay DE Carl Nassib, who sacked Browns QB Baker Mayfield twice last week. It was a classic ‘revenge’ game for Nassib who has been quiet all year. The Bengals just don’t give up much production to the DE position so look elsewhere this week if you are looking for a DE to plug and play.
Keep an eye this week on Tampa Bay LB Adarius Taylor, who seems to have taken over for injured Kwon Alexander. He could have second-half production in for a defense that sees plenty of time on the field.
In Dallas, LB Sean Lee was back in the lineup and played the majority of the snaps at 63%, while Leighton Vander Esch was delegated to a part-time role. here were a couple of dime packages that saw Lee and Vander Esch on the field together but LB Jaylon Smith played in 97% of the snaps and is the only full-time backer in Big D. Dallas is on bye this week but I’d like to see if they can put a package together to get all three linebackers on the field together. Until we see that, rookie Vander Esch is a hold or drop for fantasy owners.
One of my favorite second-tier LBs this year has been Kansas City LB Anthony Hitchens but the Chiefs threw us a curveball last week. Hitchens was not on the field for the majority of nickel snaps, deciding instead to put quick linebacker Dorian O’Daniel in on most nickel packages. If this continues, we can expect Hitchens production to plummet. Let’s keep an eye on that this week.
Below are the full IDP rankings for Week 8 thanks to this widget from FantasyPros: