Fantasy Football Trust or Bust: Week 8
Ben Mooney and Zech Lambert break down Week 7's biggest performances and preview Week 8 from a fantasy football perspective:
Week six was one of the more unusual fantasy weeks, this proven when you see that Aaron Rodgers and Marvin Jones were the two highest fantasy scorers of the week. Both respectively were not startable fantasy options previously. With injuries to stars and bye weeks in full swing, let’s break down which performances to trust and the ones that were a fluke and will bust next week.
Quarterbacks:
Aaron Rodgers, Packers
Rodgers had a monster game throwing for 429 yards and six total touchdowns totalling 43 fantasy points on the day. His team beat the Raiders 42-24 and Rodgers was the highest scoring QB of the week. After concerns of Rodgers slowing down, he proceeded to have his biggest performance of the year by a mile. Against a mediocre Chiefs defense, the Packers QB can now be considered in top ten territory and is more than startable.
Decision: TRUST
Sam Darnold, Jets
Darnold’s performance was the complete opposite as he finished with an atrocious negative seven points. Stat wise he threw 86 yards, no touchdowns and four picks, getting shutout 33-0 in the loss to the Patriots. Darnold had no response for the aggressive Patriots defense, looking clueless on his reads. However, his schedule gets much easier and is still a solid option in two QB leagues. Next Sunday against the Jaguars, he obviously will have a better performance but Darnold is a risky play.
Decision: BUST
Running Backs:
Chase Edmonds, Cardinals
Edmonds ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns and catch two balls for 24 yards during the team’s victory Sunday win over the Giants. Ironically no one saw this 34 PPR point performance coming as David Johnson was expected to be the feature back, resulting in Edmonds being left in many fantasy benches. Going forward he will continue to see an increased usage rate as David Johnson deals with an ankle injury. Edmonds is a must start with RB1 upside when he is the starter, keep up with the injury report during the week to stay updated.
Decision: TRUST
David Montgomery, Bears
Montgomery had two rushing attempts for six yards and caught two passes for 13 yards in a losing effort against the Saints on Sunday. He finished with just one PPR point, a very disappointing performance. At the beginning of the season, the rookie RB was getting all the hype and he has been a fantasy let down thus far. Part of the blame is owed to horrendous offensive play and under utilization by head coach Matt Nagy. Going forward, he cannot be trusted until he gets more work and the Bears perform better as a team. Keep Montgomery on the bench against the Chargers.
Decision: BUST
Wide Receivers:
Marvin Jones Jr., Lions
Jones had an outburst of 10 catches for 93 yards and four touchdowns for 43 PPR points in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. No one could have predicted this performance as many believed he had fallen behind fellow receiver Kenny Golladay on the depth chart, but he led the team in targets and scored three more touchdowns in every other game this year combined. He has been fantasy relevant in past years and be in WR2 territory next week’s matchup against the Giants.
Decision: TRUST
Kenny Stills, Texans
Stills caught four passes for 105 yards in a loss Sunday against the Colts. This was Stills' best performance as a Texan finishing with 14 PPR points. Now with teammate Will Fuller expected to be out, he is a waiver wire add. With a great QB in Deshaun Watson, opportunities will be there. He has the talent and warrants flex consideration against the Raiders in Week 8.
Decision: TRUST
Matt Noah is a freshman majoring in journalism. To contact him, email matthewnoah29@gmail.com.