Fantasy Football Week 8 Wide Receiver Preview: Waiver adds, starts, sits, numbers to know, and more
Everything you need to know about wide receiver for Fantasy Football in Week 8
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Any week we have six teams on a bye the rankings are going to look a little comical. This is particularly true at a position that has suffered as many injuries as the wide receivers have this year. Four of the top seven wide receivers in preseason ADP are not expected to play this week. Ten of the top 24 are not currently ranked. So yeah, Week 8 rankings do not look anything like preseason rankings. Still, there are a couple of names that really stood out in the first run of my projections: Wan'Dale Robinson and Romeo Doubs.
Robinson projects as a top-12 option this week in full PPR. I'll give you a second to digest that last sentence. Part of it is that he has earned it. The past three weeks, with Jaxon Dart at QB and Darius Slayton sidelined, Robinson has averaged 14.7 PPR FPPG, which is good enough for WR14 over that span. He is averaging a career-best 8.4 yards per target and has seen at least seven targets in five of seven games this year. He also faces an Eagles defense that he just scored 18.4 PPR Fantasy points against two weeks ago. The Eagles are seven-point favorites in this game and Robinson has averaged 13.4 PPR Fantasy points in losses, including 15 last week against a very good Broncos pass defense.
Doubs has been a target hog over the last three weeks as well. He has a 27.8% target share over the last three weeks with at least eight targets in all three games. His Packers face a Steelers defense that has allowed seven different receivers to score at least 15 PPR Fantasy points in six games. In three of those games multiple receivers have score more than 15 Fantasy points against them, so Matthew Golden could be in play as well. Doubs doesn't rank as high as Robinson does for me this week but he is a start in two wide receiver leagues.
If Slayton and Christian Watson return this week it will be slight downgrades for Robinson and Doubs but with six teams on a bye they will likely both still be starters in three receiver leagues.
Here is the rest of the Week 8 WR Preview:
Week 8 WR Preview
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
- 12 -- Emeka Egbuka saw 12 targets on Monday night in a game we didn't even think he was healthy enough to play. He may be a top five wide receiver rest of season.
- 41.2% -- Ja'Marr Chase has a 41.2% target share in two games with Joe Flacco.
- 55 -- Justin Herbert threw 55 passes in Week 7. Be careful extrapolating too much from the counting stats from this game.
- 20% -- Tez Johnson has a 20% target share this year with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin off the field. This offense makes him startable in three receiver leagues.
- 15.1 -- Jordan Addison has scored at least 15.1 PPR Fantasy points in all three games he has played.
- 52.6% -- Rashee Rice was targeted on more than half of his routes in his debut. For reference, Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with a 37% TPRR rate.
- 12.11 -- Jameson Williams' average route depth is 12.11. Jordan Addison and George Pickens are the only top 24 wide receivers with an average route depth over 11.
- 5.5 -- Rome Odunze has averaged 5.5 targets in two games since the Bears bye. He averaged 8.75 targets per game in the Bears four games before the bye.
WR Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 8 Adds (WR Preview)
Johnson has played at least two-third of the snaps for the Buccaneers in each of their last two games and it is unlikely that rate goes down with Mike Evans out for an extended period of time. He also saw a season-high nine targets last week and has at least 9.9 PPR Fantasy points in three straight games. Until Chris Godwin gets back expect Johnson to be the second best receiver in Tampa bay and a WR3 for your Fantasy team.
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It is hard to guess whether Marvin Mims or Troy Franklin will be better in a given week, but against the Cowboys they could both be good enough to start as a WR3. Mims gets a small edge thanks to the fact that he gets at least one rush attempt most weeks and has has 36 yards rushing over his last four games. Franklin struggled with his efficiency last week but did see a season-high 10 targets.
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It is hard to guess whether Marvin Mims or Troy Franklin will be better in a given week, but against the Cowboys they could both be good enough to start as a WR3. Mims gets a small edge thanks to the fact that he gets at least one rush attempt most weeks and has has 36 yards rushing over his last four games. Franklin struggled with his efficiency last week but did see a season-high 10 targets.
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We expect Nico Collins to miss Week 8 after he left Monday's game with a concussion. Jaylin Noel was the biggest beneficiary in Week 7, catching four of seven targets for 77 yards. We are always more interested in these spike weeks when they come from rookies and the 49ers have given up some big games to receivers this year.
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Stashes (WR Preview)
Luther Burden remains the best stash candidate at the receiver position, but due to all the byes I expect more people will drop him than add him. Olamide Zaccheaus has been the Bears' worst wide receiver on a per target basis and we hope at some point Ben Johnson trusts Burden enough to give those targets to the rookie. For what it's worth, Burden has been excellent when targeted, averaging a ridiculous 12.3 yards per target and catching 12 of his 14 targets.
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WR Preview
DFS Plays
Top DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Last week the top play was Chris Olave because of his high target volume and matchup against the Bears. We are going right back to the well with Zay Flowers, who has been targeted on 27.3% of Lamar Jackson's throws. To update the stat from last week, the Bears are now giving up 2.18 Fantasy points per target to wide receivers.
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Contrarian DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Despite his recent success, Robinson is still priced as a WR3. This week, I think he's closer to a WR1. Robinson had 18.4 Fantasy points against this defense a week ago and I expect this game script to be more conducive to passing than that one was. Double digit targets are possible, and so is an outburst of 20 or more Fantasy points.
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WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 8 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You'll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 8. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
