Union

Fantasy Stat Pack: Week Eight

Ryan McDowell Posted On October 24, 2018
Save To Favorites

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a series of tweets I share on a weekly basis regarding player and team defensive performances, all from a fantasy lens. I’m going to be sharing some of that same information with you here.

I use this each week as I am making my own lineup and waiver wire decisions and thought you might find this valuable as well. If so, let me know and I can make this a weekly piece.

Note: The scoring system used for this data is always PPR with four points for passing touchdowns.

All year to date fantasy ranks are based on total points.

Quarterbacks

Week Seven QB1s (top 12 scorers)

Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky posted his third straight top-five performance but still displays a lot of holes in his game. Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield’s QB6 game is the first QB1 finish of his young career.

Year to Date QB1s

Trubisky’s big game was enough to push him inside the top 12 for the season, while Andrew Luck jumps from QB8 last week to QB3. Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers each fell to the bottom of the QB1 range due to the week seven bye.

QB1 Games this Season

  • 6 Patrick Mahomes
  • 5 Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan
  • 4 Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Deshaun Watson, Cam Newton, Philip Rivers, Tom Brady
  • 3 Blake Bortles, Drew Brees, Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Joe Flacco, Mitch Trubisky

Most QB1 Games Allowed

  • 6 ATL
  • 5 KC, CIN, TB
  • 4 NE, PIT, SF, WAS
  • 3 ARI, BUF, CHI, MIN, NO, NYG, NYJ, PHI
  • 2 CLE, DEN, HOU, IND, LAC, LAR, OAK, TEN
  • 1 BAL, CAR, DAL, DET, GB, JAX, MIA
  • 0 SEA

The Falcons remain a top defense to target after allowing Eli Manning to crack the top 12 last week. It won’t happen this week though as Atlanta is on bye. That leaves three teams to target.

The Chiefs host the Broncos and Case Keenum who has struggled even in plum matchups this season. The two teams played each other in week four and Keenum finished as the QB27 for the week. The Bengals and Buccaneers have each allowed five QB1 games and face each other in week eight, putting both Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton in play. Coming off two consecutive QB1 games, Winston is the safer bet. Dalton has two top 15 finishes on the season.

The Seahawks have yet to allow a QB1 game this season and face the disappointing Matthew Stafford and the Lions. Stafford hasn’t been throwing the ball as much as past seasons, limiting himself to just one QB1 game on the season so far.

Running Backs

Week Seven RB1s (top 12 scorers)

Marlon Mack enjoyed the best game of his career and showed that in a positive game script, he can be a major factor in fantasy football. Tarik Cohen stayed hot with his third consecutive finish of RB6 or better. Rookie back Kerryon Johnson posted his first ever RB1 game, thanks in part to the absence of pass-catching back Theo Riddick.

Year to Date RB1s

Jaguars back TJ Yeldon remains on this list but may not for much longer after Jacksonville acquired veteran Carlos Hyde, who is expected to debut in week eight.

RB1 Games this Season

  • 7 Todd Gurley
  • 6 Saquon Barkley
  • 5 Melvin Gordon
  • 4 Alvin Kamara, James Conner
  • 3 Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, Isaiah Crowell, Joe Mixon, James White, Kareem Hunt, Kenyan Drake, Tarik Cohen, TJ Yeldon

Most RB1 Games Allowed

  • 7 ATL, MIA
  • 6
  • 5 KC, ARI
  • 4 CIN, CLE, DEN, IND, DET
  • 3 SF, NYG, NYJ, HOU, OAK, JAX
  • 2 TB, NE, BUF, LAC, CAR, DAL
  • 1 PIT, WAS, CHI, MIN, PHI, TEN, GB, SEA
  • 0 NO, LAR, BAL

The Falcons and Dolphins are the clear targets here, each allowing seven RB1 games through seven weeks this season. As previously mentioned, Atlanta has the week off, while the Dolphins are in action on a short week, traveling to Houston on Thursday. Texans running back Lamar Miller ran for 100 yards in week seven, the first time he’s done that since week 14 of 2016. With D’Onta Foreman not yet healthy, Miller should again dominate touches. Kansas City and Arizona have also struggled against opposing backs this year. The Chiefs face the rookie duo of Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsay while the Cardinals host the 49ers. It would be a surprise if Matt Breida played, so we could see a lot of Raheem Mostert.

The Saints, Rams, and Ravens have yet to allow an RB1 game. New Orleans faces off against the Vikings and running back Latavius Murray and possibly Dalvin Cook. This remains a messy situation to figure due to the injury to Cook. The Rams host the Packers and I want no part of the trio of Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams and Ty Montgomery. Baltimore held electric running back Alvin Kamara to an RB16 finish last week and face a similar challenge against the Panthers and Christian McCaffrey this week.

Wide Receivers

Week Seven WR1s (top 12 scorers)

It might surprise you to learn that this was actually the first WR1 game of the season for Browns receiver Jarvis Landry. Chargers deep threat Tyrell Williams made his second consecutive appearance in the top 12, while veteran Danny Amendola took advantage of all the injuries the Dolphins have endured.

Year to Date WR1s

Veteran Emmanuel Sanders jumped from WR8 last week to WR3 this week and remains underrated. While his name is being thrown about in trade rumors, dynasty owners should also be targeting him in trades. Giants Odell Beckham leaps into the WR1 range all the way up to WR6 overall. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown were hurt with their bye week and tumbled down the list. I have a feeling both will be back near the top soon.

WR1 Games this Season

  • 6 Adam Thielen
  • 5
  • 4 Michael Thomas
  • 3 Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Stefon Diggs, Alshon Jeffery, Emmanuel Sanders, Odell Beckham, Tyreek Hill

Most WR1 Games Allowed

  • 6 TB, PHI
  • 5 TEN, NO
  • 4 ATL, CLE, GB, LAR
  • 3 KC, ARI, CIN, DET, NYJ, CAR
  • 2 NYG, OAK, JAX, NE, LAC, DAL, PIT, CHI, MIN, SEA, BAL
  • 1 MIA, DEN, IND, SF, BUF, WAS
  • 0 HOU

The Eagles are one of two teams to allow six WR1 games already this year but I’m still not confident the Jaguars and benched quarterback Blake Bortles can do much with this matchup. The outlook is much better for AJ Green and Tyler Boyd, who face the Bucs defense. The Bengals also recently lost wideout John Ross, not that he was seeing much action anyway. The Titans and Saints are next, though Tennessee is on bye this week. That leaves New Orleans to face the Vikings. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are already licking their chops but you don’t need me to tell you to use both of them every week.

The Texans have yet to allow a WR1 game and should keep that streak alive against the Dolphins, who lost receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson to injuries last week.

Tight Ends

Week Seven TE1s (top 12 scorers)

Like Trubisky and Cohen before him, tight end Trey Burton is another member of the Bears offense who has stepped up his scoring in recent weeks and enjoyed his first TE1 overall finish of the year. Jets rookie Chris Herndon cracks this list for the second straight week.

Year to Date TE1s

Raiders veteran Jared Cook has started to slow down after a white-hot start to the season. Cook has finished outside of the top 20 fantasy scorers at his position in three of the past four games.

TE1 Games this Season

  • 7 Zach Ertz
  • 6
  • 5 Eric Ebron, George Kittle, Travis Kelce
  • 4 Jimmy Graham, OJ Howard, Trey Burton
  • 3 Austin Hooper, Kyle Rudolph, Rob Gronkowski, Ben Watson, David Njoku

Most TE1 Games Allowed

  • 6 TB
  • 5 KC, CAR
  • 4 ATL, CIN, NE, PIT, CHI, MIN, IND, SF
  • 3 CLE, LAC, MIA, HOU
  • 2 LAR, ARI, DET, DAL, BAL, DEN, BUF, WAS
  • 1 PHI, TEN, GB, NYJ, NYG, OAK, JAX, SEA
  • 0 NO

I’m sure you’ve noticed a theme at this point with many of the same teams topping the list of key offenders. The Bucs are one of those and face CJ Uzomah of the Bengals this week. Uzomah has done well in place of injured Tyler Eifert, posting weekly fantasy finishes of TE20, TE14 and TE11 over the past three weeks. He’ll be a hot target this week.

The Chiefs have struggled against tight ends, which might make Broncos Jeff Heuerman worth a dart throw. He had his best game of the season against the Chiefs in week four but that only resulted in 9.7 fantasy points and a TE17 finish.

The Ravens have been rotating four different tight ends, including rookies Mark Andrews and Hayden Hurst. They face the Panthers this week though it is difficult to predict which Raven to use. I’d go with Andrews, who has a pair of touchdowns on the season.

The Saints have yet to allow a TE1 game and face veteran Kyle Rudolph and the Vikings this week. Rudolph has had a solid but unspectacular season. He began the year with four straight TE1 games but now has a streak of three games outside of the top 12 scorers, including last week’s one catch dud.

Finally, here’s the full defensive chart you might’ve already seen on Twitter.

word image 26

Ryan McDowell
Latest posts by Ryan McDowell (see all)

Related Items:

Latest Articles

See All Articles
Group-3386-min

Part of the Betsperts Media and Technology Group

Betsperts
BNF - horizontal - dark
Betsperts Golf
Bleachernation
4for4

Copyright 2006-2025 Betsperts Media Group. All rights are reserved.

Find us here