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Should I start Rhamondre Stevenson, Chase Brown, Quinshon Judkins for Week 8? Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks and recommendations for the 2025 NFL season.
Running backs like Rhamondre Stevenson, Chase Brown, and Quinshon Judkins, the starting RBs for the New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns, are mostly locked into starting lineups in leagues with 12 or more teams.
However, if you're in any league with 10 or fewer squads, the decision to start or sit these players becomes more complicated. In those leagues, teams tend to score more points, since the talent pool is less diluted, meaning you run a much higher risk of losing when one of your players has a bad game.
Stevenson, Brown, and Judkins have all been prone to poor games this season, and it seems that matchups are massively important to their fantasy output in a given week. So which players have good matchups, and should you start Stevenson, Brown, and Judkins for fantasy football in Week 8? Let's dive in.
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Should I Start Rhamondre Stevenson for Fantasy Football?
Despite drafting rookie back TreVeyon Henderson in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, it's been consistently Stevenson who's handled the majority of the workload. The fantasy community has leveled their target of blame onto the offensive coaching staff for being incompetent as a result.
But the fact is that despite the fumbling issue Stevenson's had for over a season now, he's still playing much better than Henderson. The rookie simply lacks the ability to force missed tackles and create yards after contact. He ranks near the bottom of the league in both categories.
TreVeyon Henderson through 7 weeks:
+Forces a missed tackle on 7% of his runs (4th-worst of 42 RBs)
+Gains just 1.72 YAC per Attempt (2nd-worst)
Possibly the worst RB at playing through contact in the NFL
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) October 22, 2025
I've been consistently citing Henderson's poor play because it seems that most of the community is ignoring it, and simply pointing to his draft capital and pre-draft expectations, and the "great" training camp that he had, as proof that he will get a bigger role.
But for now, Stevenson is actually a pretty solid flex start. Not only is he a better pure runner than Henderson, he stacks up well against him as a pass-catcher in terms of actual production, not potential.
Should I Start Chase Brown for Fantasy Football?
Brown's miserable 2024 season is equal parts the injury to his starting quarterback, Joe Burrow (toe), poor offensive line play, and Brown just not being that great of a running back. He was graded as a below-average RB by Pro Football Focus in 2024.
He doesn't have a great elusiveness skill set -- he's a fantastic athlete, but he's a bit undersized for and RB, and doesn't have the power to bull through tacklers for extra yards. That puts him in a difficult situation behind a poor run-blocking offensive line.
That's a 30-yard TD run by No. 30! @chasebrown____
📺: #CINvsNYG on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/aubBTs5Ekh— NFL (@NFL) October 14, 2024
A look at his film shows that most of his big plays are well-blocked plays in which he's not contacted, both in the pass and run game. Though his Week 7 contest was impressive, it came against the extremely porous Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
That said, he's a fine flex start this week. He'll face the New York Jets, who unfortunately have to start quarterback Justin Fields again due to the injury to Tyrod Taylor (knee). The Jets are also missing wide receivers Garrett Wilson (knee) and Josh Reynolds (hip), and tight end Mason Taylor (quad) is questionable to play.
The Bengals shouldn't have much trouble taking care of the Jets, and a winning game script against a bad defense could be good news for Brown.
Should I Start Quinshon Judkins for Fantasy Football?
Judkins faced the easiest rush defense in the NFL last season, the Miami Dolphins, and put up great numbers. He finished the game with 25 rushes for 84 yards and three touchdowns. But he faces a much, much stiffer test against the New England Patriots in Week 8, who have one of the NFL's toughest run defenses.
In Week 6, Judkins totaled just 3.6 PPR fantasy points, taking 12 carries for 36 years. The Browns have an awful passing offense, and as the season wears on, it's possible teams key in even more on the run game. They genuinely have little to nothing to fear from Cleveland's passing attack.
put 'em through the spin cycle!#MIAvsCLE on CBS and NFL+ pic.twitter.com/wkMxYFth1Q
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 19, 2025
When the blocking is good and he can build up speed to get past the line of scrimmage, he's a physical force to be dealt with by linebackers and defensive backs. But he might not have much room to run at all against a stout run defense. He's a flex start with a very low floor due to a lack of pass-catching upside to this point.
Who Should I Start Tool
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 8 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Rhamondre Stevenson, Chase Brown, Quinshon Judkins. 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 - Rhamondre Stevenson, Chase Brown, Quinshon Judkins. 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 Rhamondre Stevenson, Chase Brown, Quinshon Judkins compared to others:
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