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Should I start Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Jaylen Warren, Cam Skattebo for Week 8? Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks and recommendations for the 2025 NFL season.
Week 8 of the NFL season brings the biggest wave of bye weeks, leaving some fantasy managers scrambling for potential replacements. That's often easier to do with running backs, but it still leaves some tough lineup decisions.
In this article, we will look at three players who have mostly operated as their team's lead back to this point of the season: Washington Commanders Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Pittsburgh Steelers Jaylen Warren, and New York Giants Cam Skattebo.
So, should fantasy managers start Croskey-Merritt, Warren, and Skattebo in Week 8? Let's dive in.
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Should I Start Jacory Croskey-Merritt for Fantasy Football?
Croskey-Merritt had two dream matchups the past two weeks against the Bears and Cowboys, but fell flat in both spots. The Bears were allowing 6.1 yards per carry coming into the Week 6 matchup, but Chicago loaded the box and bottled the seventh-round rookie up for only 61 yards on 17 carries. Then, he was primed to bounce back in Week 7 against a porous Dallas defense, and again couldn't find consistent running room, rushing for only 33 yards on 13 carries.
The injuries to Washington's wide receivers have had a trickle-down effect on the entire offense. Defenses played a ton of man coverage, loaded the box with extra men, and forced Washington's depth receivers to win one-on-one matchups and sold out to stop the run game.
Currently, Washington appears to be getting both Terry McLaurin (quadricep) and Deebo Samuel Sr. (heel) back for Monday night against the Chiefs, but will lose star QB Jayden Daniels (hamstring). The return of McLaurin and Samuel will help open up some rushing lanes for Croskey-Merritt, who has still maintained a strong hold on the rushing work ahead of Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols.
Bill Croskey-Merritt keeps getting yards
WASvsLAC on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/j0gXwwNO6n
— NFL (@NFL) October 5, 2025
Croskey-Merritt has posted his three highest rush attempt shares of the season over the last three weeks. The receiving part of his profile is lacking, which limits some of the upside. But he's still a dynamic, explosive runner in a lead role. The game script could work against him on Monday night against the Chiefs if they're able to light up the horrendous Washington defense early. However, with Marcus Mariota in line to make his third start of the season, Kliff Kingsbury could opt for a heavy run game plan to slow the game down and limit possessions.
In Mariota's two starts in Weeks 3 and 4, they had their two lowest pass rate over expected games of the season, at -8% against the Raiders and -5.8% against the Falcons. The Chiefs' run defense hasn't been as stout as in previous seasons, ranking 22nd in rush success rate (42.6%). Croskey-Merritt is ranked as RotoBaller's RB23 in PPR for Week 8, making him a solid RB2 start.
Should I Start Jaylen Warren for Fantasy Football?
Warren took back his role as the Steelers' workhorse in Week 7 against the Bengals. The 26-year-old missed Pittsburgh's Week 4 matchup in London against the Vikings and saw backup Kenneth Gainwell explode for 134 total yards and two touchdowns to go with six receptions.
Before that game, he had been trending toward a workhorse role, playing 46.3% of the snaps in Week 1, 57.6% in Week 2, and then a season-high 77.6% snap share with 23 touches in Week 3. Then out of the bye in Week 5, Gainwell stayed more involved than expected and only had one less touch than Warren (12 to 13).
Most worries about Warren were wiped away last Thursday night in Cincinnati, where he looked fantastic, handling 16 carries for 127 yards and catching four of five targets for 31 yards. It marked the highest single-game yardage total of his career. It's still a bit of a concern that Gainwell has run more routes than him in all but one game this season, but Aaron Rodgers loves to dump off passes to both backs.
Warren looks to be back in the driver's seat of the Pittsburgh backfield, and rookie third-round pick Kaleb Johnson continues to be a non-factor. His peripherals are elite, ranking first in missed tackles forced per attempt (0.29) and fifth in yards after contact per attempt (3.09), per Fantasy Points Data Suite.
Jaylen Warren went crazy on this catch and run 🔥
SEAvsPIT on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/fKSeR78pKg
— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025
He faces a Packers defense on Sunday Night Football that's been gettable against the run, posting the fifth-worst rush success rate (46.3%) since their Week 5 bye. Warren is ranked as RotoBaller's RB15 in PPR leagues for Week 8. Fire him up.
Should I Start Cam Skattebo for Fantasy Football?
Skattebo is ascending close to must-start status with his fantasy-friendly workload. The 23-year-old gobbles up high-value touches, as he has caught multiple balls in every game and has scored five touchdowns. His physical, always falling forward running style is perfectly suited for converting short-yardage touchdown opportunities.
His receiving ability has remained a big part of his fantasy profile, even with the QB change to fellow rookie Jaxson Dart, who has taken sacks and scrambles at among the highest rates in the league.
Already a 2x Angry Runs winner 💪 pic.twitter.com/gHsVXIyhYD
— New York Giants (@Giants) October 17, 2025
Second-year back Tyrone Tracy Jr. has taken a backseat to Skattebo, playing 29.9% of snaps in his Week 6 return and bumping up to 37.7% in Week 7 while handling nine carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. So perhaps the workload split will narrow between the two in the coming weeks.
Skattebo meets the Philadelphia Eagles again in Week 8 after terrorizing them just two weeks ago on Thursday Night Football, rushing for 98 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries and adding two catches for 12 yards. The fourth-round pick out of Arizona State wore the Philly defense down, with 47 of his 98 rushing yards coming in the fourth quarter. Skattebo should again be in line for a productive day as the Eagles' run defense surprisingly ranks 30th in rush success rate (46.6%) this season. He ranks as RotoBaller's RB15 in PPR formats for Week 8.
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 8 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Jaylen Warren, and Cam Skattebo. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 8. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 8 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Jaylen Warren, and Cam Skattebo. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 8.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our Who Should I Start? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, enhanced search results with data to compare, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 8 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 8 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 8 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 8 searches and comparisons from our 'Who To Start' tool for Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Jaylen Warren, and Cam Skattebo compared to others:
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