Arguably, the most frustrating thing in fantasy football is seeing someone in your starting lineup struggle that week. Therefore, the logic behind this article is simple – identify fantasy football lineup landmines.

These are players you’re leaning towards starting this week but could end up being a landmine that blows up and destroys your starting lineup, potentially costing you your matchup.

Brace yourself and take cover. These six players could blow up in your face this week.

• Pat Fitzmaurice’s Weekly Rankings
• Andrew Erickson’s Weekly Rankings
• Derek Brown’s Weekly Rankings

Fantasy Football Lineup Landmines: Week 8

Tua Tagovailoa (QB – MIA)

Tagovailoa has been an MVP candidate this year and a top-five fantasy quarterback. However, he comes with boom or bust production. The star quarterback has thrown two or more touchdowns in four matchups, averaging 23.7 fantasy points per game in those contests. By comparison, Tagovailoa has averaged only 12.2 fantasy points per game in the three games with only one passing touchdown, scoring 14 or fewer in every matchup. More importantly, one of those games was against the New England Patriots in Week 2. The star quarterback played well but only scored 12.3 fantasy points in an easy win for Miami.

New England gave up 265 passing yards, two touchdowns, and 24.3 fantasy points to Josh Allen last week. However, they have shut down all other quarterbacks this season, surrendering 217.3 passing yards, one touchdown, and 12.3 fantasy points per game. Furthermore, Tagovailoa has the second-fewest fantasy points scored by a quarterback against New England, only behind Zach Wilson. This matchup between AFC East rivals will be a blowout win for the Dolphins, limiting Tagovailoa’s need to throw the ball, or a low-scoring defensive slugfest. Either way, it’s bad news for the star quarterback’s fantasy production.

Josh Jacobs (RB – LV)

After a slow start this year, Jacobs had a couple of impressive performances in Week 4 and Week 5. However, the past two weeks have been a nightmare for fantasy players. The star running back has gotten the volume over the past two weeks with 39 touches but has scored only 14.9 total half-point PPR fantasy points. More importantly, Jacobs has seen his yards per rushing attempt drop. The veteran averaged 3.43 yards per rushing attempt and two yards after contact per attempt in Week 4 and Week 5, compared to 3.11 and 1.69 over the past two weeks.

Unfortunately, Jacobs won’t bounce back this week even with Jimmy Garoppolo under center. Last week, Gus Edwards scored 20.9 fantasy points against the Detroit Lions thanks to an 80-yard reception. However, he would have scored only 12.4 fantasy points without the long catch. More importantly, the Lions have surrendered only 13.2 fantasy points per game to running backs this season, the third-fewest in the NFL. Furthermore, they held running backs to fewer than 12.4 fantasy points in all but one of their first six matchups. Unless Jacobs has a massive performance in the passing game, he will have a disappointing fantasy outing.

Aaron Jones (RB – GB)

Week 1 seems like forever ago, but that’s the last time we saw Jones healthy. The veteran running back has missed three games since opening weekend and played two others at less than 100%. In those two games, he has averaged only 8.5 touches for 35.5 scrimmage yards and 4.6 half-point PPR fantasy points per contest. More importantly, AJ Dillon outperformed Jones last week. The former Boston College star played more snaps (36-23), had more touches (17-11), and averaged a higher missed tackles forced per rushing attempt (0.33-0.25) than the veteran (per Fantasy Points Data) in Week 7.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings have had an excellent run defense this year when they aren’t facing the Philadelphia Eagles. They have held running backs to only 58 rushing yards and 12.3 fantasy points per game in the other six contests this season. Furthermore, Christian McCaffrey had all but one of his team’s backfield touches in Week 7 and still needed both San Francisco 49ers touchdowns to score 21.1 fantasy points against the Vikings. Until Jones is 100% healthy and the Packers put him back into a featured workload, fantasy players should avoid starting the veteran.

Brian Robinson Jr. (RB – WAS)

Robinson was outstanding to start the year. He was the RB3, averaging 20 touches for 97.5 scrimmage yards, 1.5 touchdowns, and 20.5 half-point fantasy points per game over the first two weeks. Unfortunately, his numbers have plummeted since the hot start. Over the past five weeks, Robinson is the RB18, averaging 11.2 touches for 48.6 scrimmage yards and 9.3 fantasy points per game, scoring three total touchdowns. Furthermore, the second-year running back averaged 3.95 yards per rushing attempt and 1.27 yards before contact per attempt over the first two weeks but only 3.73 and 0.75 over the past five contests (per Fantasy Points Data).

While he scored 12.1 fantasy points in the Week 4 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, Robinson averaged only 3.2 yards per rushing attempt and 1.93 yards after contact per attempt in that contest. Furthermore, he needed a touchdown to score double-digit fantasy points in a game that went into overtime. Meanwhile, the Eagles have held running backs to only 11.4 fantasy points per game this season, the fewest in the NFL. Last week, the Commanders gave Chris Rodriguez Jr. seven rushing attempts compared to eight for Robinson. Washington’s backfield might be on its way to a full-blown committee.

Marquise Brown (WR – ARI)

I loved Brown during draft season and still do moving forward. The former Oklahoma star was the WR14 over the first five weeks, averaging 12.7 half-point PPR fantasy points per game despite a poor performance in Week 1. Brown’s success has come from a massive target share. He has a 26.5% target share since Week 1, the 15th-highest in the NFL (per Fantasy Points Data). Unfortunately, the veteran has struggled over the past few weeks because of the drop-off in Joshua Dobbs‘ accuracy. Over the past two weeks, Brown has a 21.3% target share but only a 62.5% catchable target rate.

Thankfully, Kyler Murray should make his season debut in a few weeks. Yet, it won’t be this week against the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, the Ravens have held wide receivers to 23.9 fantasy points per game, the seventh-fewest in the NFL. More importantly, Baltimore has shut down opposing passing attacks with sub-par quarterbacks, holding the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Titans’ wide receivers to only 13.7 fantasy points per game. Brown’s schedule is awful for the next few weeks but gets more appealing around when Murray should make his season debut.

Evan Engram (TE – JAC)

Engram might have one of the widest ranges of outcomes depending on your league’s scoring. He is the TE6 in PPR, the TE8 in half-point PPR, and the TE12 in non-PPR scoring this season. The reason is that the veteran ranks third among tight ends in receptions (41) but last in receiving touchdowns (zero). Unfortunately, his production has slipped over the past few weeks. Engram scored at least 7.4 half-point PPR fantasy points in the first four games. Yet, he has scored under 7.7 fantasy points in the past three contests.

More importantly, the veteran has an awful matchup this week. The Pittsburgh Steelers have held tight ends to only 5.7 fantasy points per game, the fourth-fewest in the NFL. They also surrendered only one receiving touchdown to the position. Tight ends have totaled more than 5.5 fantasy points against the Steelers only twice this season. One of those games was in Week 5 against the Baltimore Ravens. Mark Andrews had six receptions on 10 targets for 65 receiving yards and 9.5 fantasy points in that contest. If Zay Jones plays this week, fantasy players should avoid starting Engram like the plague.

Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.