Our own Pat Fitzmaurice has been among the most accurate fantasy football experts in the industry over the last several years. Fitz was THE most accurate in-season ranker in 2020. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football start/sit lineup decisions than by reviewing his fantasy football rankings? You can do just that below.
You can also find our expert consensus fantasy football rankings for the week here. And you can sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings, and analysis.
Fantasy Football Rankings: Week 8
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Takes: Week 8
Jared Goff has been flat-out dealing. He’s averaging 9.3 yards per pass attempt, leading the league in that category. Over his last four games, Goff has completed an astounding 83.5% of his passes. The only small quibble with Goff is that he’s averaging a modest 29 pass attempts per game. The Lions love to run the ball, they’ve very good at it, and they’ll lean on the running game heavily at times, especially against overmatched opponents. That could be the situation this Sunday with the Lions heavily favored at home against the Titans. But I don’t really care about that, nor do I care much about the two-game suspension for Lions WR Jameson Williams. I want the sizzling Goff in my lineup and have him ranked inside the top 10 at quarterback for the week.
In the first three weeks of the season, D’Andre Swift was RB42 in half-point PPR scoring. From Weeks 4 to 6, Swift was RB2 in half-point PPR scoring behind only Derrick Henry. I’m slightly below consensus on Swift because (1) I still don’t entirely trust the Bears’ offensive line, which was awful early in the season when Swift was struggling, and (2) during Swift’s three-game surge, the Bears went 3-0, and two of those wins were blowouts. One of those games was against the Panthers, who make every RB they play look like Walter Payton. Admittedly, the Commanders aren’t an especially tough matchup this week, especially not with their best defensive lineman, Jonathan Allen, injured. All I’m saying is that it isn’t a lock that Swift will deliver another bravura performance.
I’m certainly not giving up on Marvin Harrison Jr. despite a disappointing start, and it’s worth noting that MHJ has a very favorable schedule from Week 12 to Week 17. That said, Harrison should not be considered an auto-start in Week 8. He’s averaging 6.1 targets a game — a curiously low number for a player picked fourth overall in the NFL Draft by a team that desperately needed an alpha receiver. Harrison might run quite a few of his routes this Sunday into the coverage of Miami’s Jalen Ramsey, who’s still one of the better cornerbacks in the league. I’m ranking Harrison as a midrange WR3.
Since Week 3, Cade Otton has averaged 7.4 targets and 5.2 catches a game. One would imagine he’ll remain heavily involved now that WR Chris Godwin is out for the season and WR Mike Evans is probably going to miss about a month. Otton is close to a must-start this week vs. the Falcons.
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