Fantasy Football Week 8 Busts? Players Who May Disappoint Include Josh Jacobs, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, Tyler Lockett

October 28, 2023

Who should I start or sit for fantasy football in Week 8 of the 2023 season? Andrew Ball identifies potential fantasy football busts and duds to avoid for this upcoming week.

The NBA season has tipped off. The World Series begins Friday night. There's a handful of NHL games every night. And of course, we're right in the middle of football season. How do sports fans find the time to do a little fantasy football research?

RotoBaller has you covered. All the stats and analysis that you need to make informed roster decisions are just below these paragraphs.

As you prepare to set your lineups for a victorious Week 8, make sure potential fantasy landmines stay on your bench. Below are my 10 fantasy football busts for Week 8 of the NFL season.

Russell Wilson vs. Kansas City

Remember earlier in the season when there were rumblings of a Russell Wilson redemption tour? He threw for over 300 yards in back-to-back games in Weeks 2 and 3 and some fantasy managers took notice. Mr. Unlimited found himself in the streaming quarterback pool and was listed by many outlets as a fringe QB1/high-end QB2 in Weeks 6 and 7.

Let's examine Week 6 a little closer, shall we? His opponent then happens to be who he's facing off against again in Week 8, the Kansas City Chiefs. In that matchup on Thursday Night Football, Wilson didn't even surpass the 100-yard mark through the air. A touchdown and 31 rushing yards pushed him to 8.9 fantasy points. That was a QB23 finish.

Will Wilson be held under 100 passing yards again? That's extremely doubtful. DraftKings lists his passing yards prop (as of this writing) at 210.5. It's still not a great number but far better than the Week 6 disaster. The Chiefs' defense is ranked seventh in passing yards per game (294.6) and surrenders only 15 points per game.

Josh Jacobs at Detroit

Josh Jacobs is third in the league in rush attempts this season. Usage is about the only thing that the 2022 rushing champion has done well. He's averaging a meager 2.94 yards per carry and under 50 yards per game. Jacobs is also tied for first for targets among running backs (but Alvin Kamara will surely claim sole possession of the throne soon). 11 of those targets, however, came from rookie Aidan O'Connell, who started his first game ever in Week 4. The safety valve was his best friend.

Efficiency won't be Jacobs' friend on Monday night. The Lions allow the second-fewest rushing yards (76.3) per game to opposing teams. They've been consistently strong against the run since the opening kickoff of Week 1. Yes, the defense was dreadful against Baltimore. It would be a surprise to see them get shellacked again.

Dameon Pierce at Carolina

The Carolina Panthers run defense is a matchup you want to attack in fantasy football, not avoid. The unit gives up the second-most fantasy points to running backs so far this season.

The concern here is all about playing time. The Texans' coaching staff (which, by the way, were not employed when Dameon Pierce was drafted) may have hit their tipping point when it comes to Pierce's production. The second-year back has received double-digit carries in every game this season. He's topped 67 yards just once and is averaging 2.9 yards per attempt.

In Houston's last contest, right before their bye week, there was a sudden shift. Pierce wasn't the leading actor anymore. Rather, there were two supporting roles. Offseason addition Devin Singletary received one fewer carry than Pierce (12 to 13) but was on the field for 13 more snaps. He was also far more effective with the ball in his hands (4.83 yards per carry compared to 2.62 for Pierce).

The temptation will be there when managers look at their roster and see an easy Carolina matchup listed next to Pierce's name. It's a risky bet to leave him on the bench and it's fine if managers want to give him one more shot.

If this backfield is a true 50-50 split, as was signaled in Week 6, then Pierce may bust. He didn't run with enough efficiency when he was receiving the majority of the carries.

Najee Harris vs. Jacksonville

He did it! For the first time all season, Najee Harris outscored his backup Jaylen Warren in PPR formats. His first touchdown of the season propelled his efforts, although Warren actually scored one before Harris found paydirt.

Fantasy managers may not get the benefit of a touchdown from the former first-round pick this week. The Jaguars have only allowed two running backs to find the end zone this season. That was Dameon Pierce in Week 3 and Zack Moss in Week 6. Jacksonville ranks in the top five in fantasy points allowed to running backs in non-PPR leagues.

Where the Jaguars get beat is through receptions out of the backfield. It's not just because Alvin Kamara was spoon-fed 12 catches on Thursday Night Football. Quarterbacks have been targeting their backfield mates all season long against Jacksonville.

Typically speaking, the pass-catching running back in the Pittsburgh offense is Jaylen Warren. It's not a weakness of Harris' game. He did catch 74 passes in his rookie season. In their current rotation, the coaching staff prefers Warren to relieve Harris in those situations. If the ex-Crimson Tide back is uninvolved in the passing game, fantasy players could be looking at another meager box score when the game comes to a close.

Brian Robinson Jr. vs. Philadelphia

When the Washington Commanders traveled to Philadelphia prior to Week 4, I listed Brian Robinson Jr. as a bust candidate. Here's what I wrote back then:

"Through three weeks, we've collected a clear picture of how Washington head coach Ron Rivera wishes to deploy his running backs. If the Commanders are ahead, Brian Robinson Jr. takes control. If they're playing from behind, Antonio Gibson plays a majority of the snaps."

That's more-or-less remained the case through seven weeks now (although Rivera insisted on getting rookie Chris Rodriguez Jr. involved against the Giants). When the Commanders fell behind quickly to Chicago, Gibson was the star of the backfield. Robinson helped keep their lead against Atlanta. Down just two touchdowns to New York for a majority of the game, Robinson led the way with 49% of the snaps but Gibson (38%) and Rodriguez (13%) contributed.

Robinson salvaged his Week 4 performance with a touchdown against Philadelphia (the first rushing score that the Eagles allowed on the season) but totaled just 51 yards otherwise. The Eagles have since only given up one other rushing touchdown (Breece Hall in Week 6) and don't allow entire running back groups to top double-digit non-PPR fantasy points on a weekly basis.

The Commanders took the Eagles to overtime in Week 4 which kept the second-year running back active throughout the game. Once again, Philly is nearly a touchdown favorite. There's reason to worry that the game script could take Robinson off of the field.

DeAndre Hopkins vs. Atlanta

DeAndre Hopkins has one great fantasy performance this season. Ryan Tannehill was throwing him the ball then and he wasn't playing well either. But it can get much, much worse.

Tannehill is dealing with an ankle injury and isn't likely to suit up against Atlanta. That means second-round rookie Will Levis will get the first start of his career. But wait, there's more! Coach Mike Vrabel says that Levis will split time at quarterback with Malik Willis.

There's no better way to get your passing offense in a groove than rotating two mediocre quarterbacks (that's sarcasm, by the way). Oh, and the Atlanta Falcons only allow 190.1 passing yards per game. Find a spot for Hopkins on your bench (if he wasn't there already).

Marquise Brown vs. Baltimore

The Joshua Dobbs experiment was fun for a little while but that ship has sailed. With several weeks of film on the veteran quarterback and Jonathan Gannon's offensive schemes, the Arizona offense went from scrappy underdogs to downright bad. They were averaging 21.6 points per game in Weeks 1-5. In the last two contests, that number is at 9.5.

The target numbers for Hollywood Brown haven't declined but his catch rate is suffering. 65.35% of Brown's targets found a way into his hands in Weeks 1-4. That number is down to 39.76% in the three games since.

The Ravens' defense was already listed among the league's elite but cemented their status when they shut down the Detroit offense. Largely due to that blowout and allowing Amon-Ra St. Brown to catch a million underneath passes, Baltimore's rank when it comes to WR fantasy points against them fluctuates based on format. In standard scoring, they're in the top three. In other formats, they are still in the top 10 but further down the list. It's tough to trust Hollywood Brown with this matchup and the recent play of the Arizona offense.

Amari Cooper at Seattle

We're reaching a point in the year where season-long stats sometimes become misleading. The Seattle Seahawks allow the fourth-most points to opposing wide receivers when looking at the bigger picture. When you zoom in on the last couple of weeks (coinciding with the emergence of rookie first-round pick Devon Witherspoon and the return of safety Jamal Adams), the Hawks are significantly better in the secondary.

Pete Carroll, after taking a hiatus from his tried-and-true game plan last season, has returned to trying to win with defense and a reliance on the running game. They've held their last two opponents, Cincinnati and Arizona, to an average of 13.5 points. The leading receivers (Ja'Marr Chase and Marquise Brown) were both held below their seasonal averages. Brown only registered three catches for 49 yards.

With P.J. Walker leading the Cleveland offense, the Browns are running the ball just as much, if not more, than passing. That could change with the ankle injury to lead running back Jerome Ford but the strategy has been delivering wins. The target numbers haven't dropped for Amari Cooper as a result, at least not yet. But in the last three games, the four-time Pro Bowler has secured seven passes. He caught that many in both Weeks 2 and 3 alone.

Tyler Lockett vs. Cleveland

In a roundabout way, the same argument made against Amari Cooper could be made against Tyler Lockett. As stated above, Carroll is getting back to his roots of a strong run game and defense. That means fewer pass attempts and therefore fewer targets for Lockett.

Geno Smith isn't throwing the ball deep as often this season, which is where Lockett has made his mark throughout his career. It's not all Smith's fault, either. Lockett's 2.25 average yards of separation ranked fifth in the NFL in 2022. This year, that number is down to 1.29 yards. That's 76th among receivers. Age may have finally caught up to the 31-year-old.

The Browns' secondary did strangely get torched by Gardner Minshew, Michael Pittman Jr., and Josh Downs in Week 7, which dropped the unit to second-best against opposing wideouts. The matchup is still brutal and the over/under line for the contest is under 40 points. Scoring won't be easy for Lockett. Outside of Week 6 against Cincinnati, the veteran wideout hasn't been good for fantasy football without an end zone catch.

Trey McBride vs. Baltimore

Trey McBride should find his way onto rosters across fantasy football following the injury to Zach Ertz (quad). The veteran has been placed on injured reserve and will miss at least four games. McBride entered the NFL as an excellent prospect and won the John Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end in college. He showed last season (when Ertz tore his ACL) that he has no problem manning the tight end role for the Arizona Cardinals.

The position is of vital importance to the offense that is being run in the desert. In fact, there are only a few teams that target tight ends more often than Joshua Dobbs.

Ertz himself saw 43 targets through seven games this season. That's just over six targets up for grabs in addition to what McBride was already earning in his limited playing time.

However, his time as the new man atop the depth chart could not have come against a worse opponent. The Baltimore Ravens allow the fewest points per game to opposing tight ends. Nobody has found the end zone and that includes names like Sam LaPorta, David Njoku, and Dalton Schultz.

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