It’s time for weekly bold predictions. The point here is that if you follow the consensus, you’re probably going to have a good team. But in order to go from good to great, you have to take some chances. You have to do your homework and figure out where you can zig when the rest of your league (or at least your opponent this week) zags. In short, you need to know how and when to be bold.

We asked our analysts to provide a bold prediction for Week 8. Here are a few of their picks.

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Fantasy Football Week 8 Bold Predictions

What is one bold fantasy prediction (player related) for the upcoming week and why could it happen?

“I believe this is the week that Jaylen Warren will have a higher snap count than Najee Harris, while also landing in the end zone and scoring more points than Najee. Najee may have had a bigger week last week, but Warren has been the better pass-catching back this season (Warren: 22 REC, 165 REC YDS; Najee: 8REC, 52 REC YDS) and his production will be needed against a Jacksonville team that is coming into this matchup with quite a bit of momentum. While Warren and Najee have identical Y/A this season (3.9), Warren has been a lot more consistent and has been trending up over the past 3 matchups (Warren: 3.6 Y/A, 4.4, 5.3; Najee: 5.1, 2.6, 3.8). Warren only has 1 Rush TD and 0 Rec TDs this season, but he will break into the end zone this week and be a high-tier RB2.”
– Brian Barker (Barker’s Fantasy Football Analysis)

“Tank Dell returns to light the Carolina secondary on fire with 120 receiving yards and two scores. In Weeks 2-4, as a full-time player, Dell was crushing. He led the team in deep targets while also finishing with at least 72 receiving yards in two of three games. The Panthers roll out zone coverage on 82.6% of their defensive plays (third-highest rate). In his three games as a full-time player, he leads the team with a 22.2% target share and 32.4% air-yard share against zone. In that span, he was second in YPRR (2.26) and first-read share (23.7%) against zone coverage on the team. Dell makes his return known loudly in Week 8. ”
– Derek Brown (FantasyPros)

“Josh Downs will finish as a top-20 fantasy WR in half-PPR scoring and flirt with top-10 results in full-PPR scoring. Frankly, this shouldn’t even be a bold prediction. Downs has finished as the WR19, WR27 and WR3 over his last three starts, all coinciding with Gardner Minshew taking over for the Indianapolis Colts. During this Week 5-7 stretch, he’s top 10 in both fantasy points and total yards amongst wideouts, and he now gets a Saints defense in Week 8, which funnels targets to opposing slot receivers. Downs should once again thrive in this security blanket, layup-target type of slot role for Indy, especially when Shane Steichen is operating this scheme to be one of the fastest-past, pass-happiest offenses in the league. Downs isn’t just catching short targets in the slot and scamming his way to full PPR top performances, either. His YAC (yards after the catch) have come in bunches, indicative of both his impressive burst score (89th percentile) and agility score (86th percentile) coming out of UNC), as well as his elite 97th percentile college target share of 34.1%. With Pittman often seeing shadow coverage and top DBs from the opposing team every week, it’s Downs who will get the advantageous matchups lined up against less talented corners, LBs and safeties. He’s already run 203 slot routes to Pittman’s 78 this season. So if you’re looking for a target-earner with a solid floor in a high-volume pass offense – as well as one with a high upside to break big plays and earn double-digit looks every week – look no further than Down, not just for Week 8 but for the rest of 2023 season. It won’t be long until the expert consensus rankers (ERC) wake up and move him to where he belongs: solid WR2 category. I’ve got him as WR20 this week, compared to a disrespectful WR38 by ECR.”
– Christopher Dell (Betting Predators)

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