RADIO
Matt's wide receiver (WR) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 8 of 2025. His WR lineups advice for Week 8 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
The “Bye-Apocalypse” has been a fantasy landmine since the dawn of fantasy football. Here in Week 8, we have six teams on bye, with many of the top receivers taking their talent to Cancun for the week. That’s right, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Cooper Kupp, Jakobi Meyers, Brian Thomas Jr., Davante Adams, Puka Nacua (ankle), and Marvin Harrison Jr. are all unavailable this week.
So, who is available? Well, if you have a stud receiver, you’re plugging them into your lineup regardless of the matchup. There are also several debatable options fantasy managers are likely facing this week, and we are here to help.
Here are RotoBaller's Week 8 starts and sits at the wide receiver position.
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Week 8 Starts - Fantasy Football Booms
George Pickens - WR, Dallas Cowboys at Denver Broncos
While the Denver Broncos are on paper the most difficult matchup for wide receivers in fantasy, if you can get an option that isn’t across from Patrick Surtain II, you have yourself a path to those rare fantasy points. Last week, Wan'Dale Robinson caught six passes for 95 yards, operating primarily from the slot and avoiding Surtain.
George Pickens, while there will be times he faces Surtain, he will have an opportunity to produce as Surtain will certainly be tasked with CeeDee Lamb on occasion. Pickens has run 89.6% of his routes out wide this season, and Lamb has done so 70.3% of the time. While Lamb has missed several contests this season due to an ankle injury, Pickens has picked up much of that lost production, accumulating 607 receiving yards, the fourth most, and doing so with an average depth of target of 14.0 yards.
4️⃣4️⃣ YARDS TO GEORGE 🎯
📺: #WASvsDAL on FOX
📲: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/RmDxAeCG4M pic.twitter.com/g4bhWzBw7u— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 19, 2025
Both Lamb and Pickens have accounted for 30% or more of the Cowboys' receiving yards market share this season. Even with Lamb's return last week, Pickens continued his streak of five consecutive games with 12 or more fantasy points while being targeted on six occasions, hauling in four passes for 82 yards. If Lamb gets a little extra attention from the Broncos defense this week, Pickens would likely be in line for a huge week.
DeVonta Smith - WR, Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants
Back in Week 6, when the Eagles last faced the Giants, DeVonta Smith caught four of five targets for 49 yards, finishing behind both Dallas Goedert and A.J. Brown in receptions, targets, and yards.
So, why so high this week? Smith enters this contest as the WR21 in fantasy, averaging 14.3 fantasy points per game and coming off a career day against the Minnesota Vikings, where Jalen Hurts looked in his direction 11 times. With those 11 targets, Smith converted those opportunities into nine receptions for 183 receiving yards and a touchdown and came out of Week 7 with 33.3 fantasy points.
Every DeVonta Smith catch from yesterday's game, enjoy! pic.twitter.com/ylnrZ8plhZ
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 20, 2025
This season, the Giants have been susceptible to the pass, allowing 245.3 passing yards per game, the seventh most, while the 39.8 fantasy points per game they allowed trail only the Colts and Cowboys in fantasy futility. Smith is a boom-or-bust play. We knew that when we drafted him in August, and it’s kind of been his thing since entering the league.
With a matchup this good, the reward certainly outweighs any risk.
Rome Odunze - WR, Chicago Bears at Baltimore Ravens
Suppose the Chicago Bears sign any of you to a 10-day contract with the intent of putting you out there this week. In that case, I may consider starting you against a Ravens secondary that has been plagued with injuries and failed promises this season. What once looked to be a strength heading into the 2025 season has resulted in 246.7 passing yards per game, the fifth most.
The bye week for the Ravens could not have come at a better time, considering they had been allowing 39.98 fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers and over the last four weeks had allowed eight touchdowns and 568 receiving yards on 50 receptions. Hopefully for Ravens fans, the time off allowed some players to get right as they look to rebound from a disappointing start to their season.
As for Rome Odunze, he, too, is looking to bounce back after back-to-back five-point fantasy performances that have slowed his trajectory. He’s now averaging 15 fantasy points per game, the 17th most among receivers after averaging 19.9 through the first four weeks. He was the WR3 heading into the Bears' Week 5 bye.
In a favorable matchup, Odunze should see those fantasy points come in bunches as long as he is being utilized similarly as he has this season. Looking at the data, Odunze’s average depth of target is 14.2 yards, and he has seen a target share of 24.2% with a first-read target share of 27.4%.
Week 8 Sits - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Kayshon Boutte - WR, New England Patriots vs. Cleveland Browns
Over the last two weeks, Kayshon Boutte has averaged 19.9 fantasy points per game and is the WR7. In those two games, Boutte has been the recipient of three Drake Maye touchdown passes and has 148 receiving yards on seven receptions. Yes, seven receptions.
That kind of production is not sustainable with that little volume; in fact, it’s somewhat suspect. Boutte ranks 93rd in targets with 24, yet he is WR29 in fantasy. Boutte has been a nice complement to Stefon Diggs, with 18 of his 20 receptions resulting in a first down. Boutte’s 0.103 first down per route run rate is right there with Courtland Sutton, Drake London, DK Metcalf, and Tetairoa McMillan this season.
Another reason Boutte's success is not sustainable this week is the matchup. Cleveland is allowing the third-fewest passing yards per game this season, averaging 173.7 yards per game. For fantasy, it had been allowing roughly 30 fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position before limiting Dolphins receivers to 21.6 last week.
Tetairoa McMillan - WR, Carolina Panthers vs. Buffalo Bills
Buffalo is another team that ranks inside the top 10 for fantasy points against when breaking down the wide receiver position for fantasy. On a per-game basis, the Bills are allowing the second-fewest passing yards per game, allowing an average of 167.2 per contest.
Carolina also got some bad news as it appears that Bryce Young, who had guided the team to three wins in the last four games, is likely to miss this contest with an ankle injury, giving way to “Red Rifle” Andy Dalton.
The insertion of Dalton into this contest has a wide range of outcomes. On one hand, it could be an absolute dumpster fire facing an elite pass defense, or it could align with the NFL’s resurrection policy, which we’ve seen over the last two seasons with Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Flacco. The quarterback Lazarus Pit is a real thing.
While McMillan has had a successful rookie season to date, it hasn’t been an overpowering fantasy performance as the rookie is averaging 11.9 fantasy points per game, which has him a WR36, a solid flex option with WR2 upside in good matchups, which this is not.
Jaylen Waddle - WR, Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons
It’s the second straight week that Jaylen Waddle finds himself here, and the whole one catch for 15 yards last week against the Browns didn’t do him any favors in the eyes of fantasy managers. Neither does a matchup with either A.J. Terrell or Mike Hughes. With Darren Waller (pectoral) likely to miss this week, the secondary can focus its attention on Waddle with no other threats in the passing game outside De'Von Achane.
Waddle left last week's game early after taking a hard hit, but with the game already out of hand, the Dolphins likely exercised caution with an asset they are likely to flip ahead of the NFL trade deadline in a couple of weeks. Waddle has proved he can be a WR1 in this league, but with a target share under 20%, he’s hard to trust as a WR1 in your fantasy lineups in a dysfunctional offense.
Heading into Week 7, Atlanta was the second stingiest defense against opposing wide receivers, allowing 25.02 fantasy points per game. It further solidified that hold by containing Jauan Jennings to four catches for 31 yards and Kendrick Bourne to two grabs for 14 yards.
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