Week 8 Top Plays and Fades

Photo by Wesley Hitt, Getty Images

Welcome to Week 8 of the NFL season; which is to say, welcome to pain. After a fairly injury free start to the season, the injury bug has finally caught up to us. Injuries in Week 7 included Breece Hall being out for the season, Jamarr Chase and Mike Williams being out long term, and shorter term injuries to Metcalf, Deebo and Zeke. On top of the injuries, the Chiefs and Chargers are on bye this week, so there are plenty of holes in people’s lineup. If you’re making it through this mess unscathed, count your blessings (and rack up a few wins).

Here at Go For Two, we’ve split players into a few different categories. We’ll give you a Go For Two option, a field goal play, and a turnover on downs. The Go For Two option is a player that is rostered in very few leagues, but has the potential to blow up and win you the week. This is a player that you start and bask in the glory when they go off. The field goal option is a player that is a borderline start, but we are giving you confidence this week. Start them and enjoy the points that you collect. The turnover on downs player is a highly rostered player who is set up to disappoint you. Do what you can to avoid a turnover on downs.

Field Goal Plays

Irv Smith Jr, TE (Min) – With the tight end landscape the way it is right now, it is tough to find a reliable player on the waiver wire that you can start. Most tight ends don’t have an established role, or the talent to succeed if a role develops. Sometimes, instead of focusing on a player you like, it’s worthwhile to exploit a terrible defense. That is what I am doing this week with Irv Smith Jr. While I don’t love the player, and his role has been inconsistent, the Cardinals are terrible at defending the tight end. They just flat out refuse to do it. The Vikings have shown that they are willing to make a game plan around Smith, with him seeing 8 and 6 targets in weeks 2 and 3 respectively. If Smith sees that type of volume again this week, he should have no problem getting to 50 yards, and I fully expect him to end up in the end zone at some point. Fire him up with confidence if you were the Njoku owner, or are just sick of seeing Pitts disappoint on a weekly basis. – Derek

DJ Moore, WR (Car)- Although he has undeniably been one of fantasy’s biggest disappointments thus far, Moore at the very least showed signs of life last week. Perhaps it was not an aberration given that A)the CMC trade has freed up opportunity for other Panthers skill position players, and B) PJ Walker could conceivably be better for his fantasy prospects than one Baker Mayfield. When you take those points into consideration, and also the fact that he will be facing a leaky Falcons secondary missing stud cornerback AJ Terrell,  and maybe Moore’s production will continue this week. Although the jury is still out whether he can tear it up for the second half and at least somewhat salvage his 3rd round ADP from this past summer, he does deserve to remain in fantasy lineups this week at the very least.- Ryan

Turnover on Downs

Parris Campbell, WR (Ind) – A fantasy darling of seemingly every offseason is finally starting to breakout. After years of waiting, Parris Campbell szn is finally upon us.  That means he should be locked into lineups forever right? Not so fast. Campbell was a huge winner of Matt Ryan’s inability to pass the ball down field. Campbell was able to just soak up high percentage targets, and used two TDs to give impressive fantasy results the past two weeks. Sam Ehlinger is now the QB in Indy, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how he will distribute the ball. Ehlinger has the ability to scramble, and as such, will take off running instead of doing quick passes to Campbell a few yards from the line of scrimmage. Young QB’s that can scramble often can’t support two starting WRs (see Fields, Justin), and my bet would be on Pittman being the only usable piece in that receiver room. Leave Campbell on your bench for the week. – Derek

Darrell Henderson, RB (Lar)- Although the touchdown that he scored last game helped give him a usable fantasy output, it was actually a relatively disappointing output given the circumstances. When Cam Akers was ruled out a mere 48 hours prior to the game, many were optimistic that Henderson would be thrust into a true workhorse role. However, he was more so the leader of a committee, in an offense that has been difficult to get excited about to boot. It is not unreasonable to suggest the Rams will use the bye to get the likes of Malcolm Brown and Ronnie Rivers more incorporated into the offense, which would make Henderson even more TD-dependent than before. When you also consider that San Francisco is one of the worst possible matchups For running backs, and fantasy managers should consider looking elsewhere at this point. – Ryan

Go for Two Option

Malik Willis, QB ( Ten)- With Ryan Tannehill being ruled out due to both injury and illness, the 3rd round rookie out of Liberty is set to make his first career start. If you are in the business of streaming quarterbacks and your team needs a spark, perhaps Willis can be that guy for you. While the jury is still out whether he is a good real-life quarterback, both his prospect profile and 18-175-1 rushing line from the preseason suggest that he will be heavily involved as a runner, which is potentially great news for his fantasy prospects. When you also consider that Houston isn’t exactly an overwhelming opponent, perhaps he can make more noise in the passing game than we think, even in one of the league’s run-heaviest offenses. While the range of outcomes is admittedly extremely wide here, it is tough to argue against the fact that Willis does possess a week-winning ceiling under more optimistic scenarios.