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Unexpected fantasy football performances and waiver wire sleepers and trade targets for Week 9 (2023). Will these NFL players sustain their Week 8 success?
As it has been with most weeks during the 2023 NFL season, Week 8 was an interesting one. There were obviously some entertaining games, but the story of the day was the amount of notable quarterbacks that went down. Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, Tyrod Taylor, Kenny Pickett, and Desmond Ridder all exited their games with various injuries. Although, in Ridder’s case, he may have been benched rather than injured.
With these rough injuries, skill position players from those respective teams’ stats took a hit while fans had the pleasure of watching household names like Jaren Hall, Brett Rypien, and Tommy Devito attempt to run their respective offenses.
Even with these unfortunate injuries to important players, there were still plenty of productive outings from consistent studs, sleeping giants, and emerging talents. In this article, we’ll be going through the most unexpected of these productive outings while providing some insight into each of them. Before I ramble on any longer, let’s end this intro here and get into the five best unexpected boom performances from Week 8.
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Surprise Fantasy Football Performances
Will Levis, Tennessee Titans
Expectations were not high for Will Levis’ first career start. With starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill on the mend, the rookie was set to have his first career start against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8. Before Levis even set foot on the field, many were down on him.
The combination of him falling in the NFL draft, drinking mayo-mixed coffee, and eating unpeeled bananas seems to have scared many off of him as a prospect. While all of those things are unappealing (some more than others), his potential was being ignored, mostly because he seemed like kind of a weirdo.
However, all of those biases should be thrown out the window after the aerial assault he laid upon the Falcons’ defense. Levis looked like a man with one plan, and that plan was to throw the deep ball.
FOURTH TD OF THE DAY @will_levis
📺: Watch #ATLvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/Lp2xarvRDA
— Titans (Oilers Version) (@Titans) October 29, 2023
During his first career start, he completed 19-of-29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns along with seven carries for 11 yards. Levis’s surprising statistical output resulted in him ranking as the QB6 in Week 8 with 26.62 fantasy points.
The Tennessee Titans’ plans for this season still appear to be up in the air. As the trade deadline quickly approaches, there have been plenty of rumors surrounding this team as a seller. There are more than two sides to this situation, but if the team decides to sell, it’s likely that Levis will be the locked-in starter for the rest of the season.
If that ends up being the case, he could provide value for QB-needy rosters as a true gunslinger who can put up big numbers.
DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans
Now, in an effort to not spoil this next boom performer, I left their name out of the previous section. Now that we’re here, DeAndre Hopkins was clearly an unexpected boom performer in Week 8.
Upon joining the Tennessee Titans, the comparisons for Hopkins wrote themselves. While being on the older side, it was easy to throw the veteran receiver in with the past star receivers Tennessee has employed who were clearly past their prime.
Randy Moss, Andre Johnson, Julio Jones. Hopkins just seamlessly fit in with that group. In Week 8 with some new blood under center, the 11th-year veteran finally bucked the comparison while looking unstoppable.
HOPTOBER
📺: Watch #ATLvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/IvTtbjgdkV
— Titans (Oilers Version) (@Titans) October 29, 2023
Against the Atlanta Falcons, Hopkins had a strong connection with rookie Will Levis as he caught four-of-six targets for 128 yards and three touchdowns. His amazing totals resulted in 32.8 half-PPR points, making him the WR2 and the second-highest-scoring player on the week only behind Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
If Levis remains the quarterback for the rest of the season, there’s a solid chance we see more of these long bomb touchdowns to Hopkins. For a player whose value looked completely dead in the water a couple of weeks ago, this performance should make the veteran a valuable asset once again.
If you have Hopkins on your roster, rejoice in the fact that he’s no longer just dead weight.
Jahan Dotson, Washington Commanders
Few players have been a bigger disappointment this season than Washington Commanders wide receiver Jahan Dotson. Despite having a promising rookie season and appearing to have a strong connection with quarterback Sam Howell in the offseason, his second year has been off to a rocky start.
Whether it be looking like an afterthought in this offense or failing to produce just 50 receiving yards in any game this season, the supposed breakout for Dotson has fallen flat on its face.
That was the case until Week 8 rolled around, however.
SAM. HAN. TOUCHDOWN.
📺 #PHIvsWAS: FOX pic.twitter.com/YfvWIxHyTP
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 29, 2023
Against a tough division rival in the Philadelphia Eagles, Dotson came to play as he caught eight-of-10 targets for a team-leading 108 yards and a touchdown. His breakout performance led to 20.8 half-PPR fantasy points, making him the WR7 in Week 8.
Now, it’s just one week, but this could be the jumpstart that Dotson needed to get his miserable season back on track. Many probably gave up on the second-year receiver already, so he’s likely out on waivers in plenty of leagues. If you can pick him up heading into Week 9, there’s a chance he cashes in as a solid rest-of-season option.
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints
There’s always one or two of these performances every season from New Orleans Saints gadget player Taysom Hill. Whether he’s listed as a tight end, quarterback, or whatever else, he’s been a thorn in the side of fantasy players everywhere for years.
This week was no different as he played the role of touchdown vulture during New Orleans’ Week 8 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. Considering the Saints have been brutal in the red zone this season, having Hill in might be better for this team than having quarterback Derek Carr flub things up in the most important portion of the field.
Taysom making people miss, making defenders run into each other, and running into the endzone. 💪
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/Al4tr52Vol
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 29, 2023
With Hill taking over at random areas of the field and offense, he completed one-of-two passes for 44 yards, had nine carries for 63 yards and two touchdowns, and caught one pass for 14 yards. That smorgasbord of offensive usage resulted in 21.96 half-PPR fantasy points, making Hill the TE1 in Week 8.
The argument surrounding Hill’s gadget usage is that he doesn’t really fit in with any position that makes sense for fantasy purposes. As of now, he’s listed as a tight end and could be a relevant option if he continues to see consistent red zone work in this Saints' offense. Even with his erratic usage, the tight end landscape is desolate, making Hill at least an interesting play for managers who are sick of fruitless streaming game.
Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
With Arizona Cardinals veteran tight end Zach Ertz heading to IR, the door was opened for a new name to emerge in this middling offense. While being a lower-end group coming into Week 8, the Cardinals had been targeting tight ends the fourth most in the NFL.
That’s what made tight end Trey McBride look like an interesting play.
The second-year pro hasn’t had many opportunities to show out this season, with Arizona deciding to run it back with the veteran Ertz. But on Sunday, he saw plenty of work.
just a lil teamwork 😉 pic.twitter.com/PoN0PxeJpb
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) October 29, 2023
Against the Baltimore Ravens, McBride caught 10-of-14 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown. While seeing by far the most work he’s had this season, the former second-round pick finished with 20.5 half-PPR fantasy points, good for a TE2 finish in Week 8.
Although a lot of his production came during garbage time, that may be the recipe for success in this Arizona offense. They appear to be fully embracing the tank now while playing from behind plenty.
That could make McBride a real starting option in fantasy for the time being. As long as Ertz is out, he will get peppered with targets in an offense that will be in consistently negative game scripts. If he isn’t rostered already, make it a priority to add him heading into Week 9.
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