Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings Standouts: Dak Prescott Highlights Rankings Upgrades
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Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings Standouts: Dak Prescott Highlights Rankings Upgrades

Alex Cupps breaks down the biggest outliers in his Week 8 fantasy football rankings.

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Welcome to the Week 8 fantasy football rankings edition of Cupps’ Cupboard! Every Friday this season, I’m going through my rankings for the upcoming week of games - identifying the players I have the biggest deltas on compared to Fantasy Life’s expert consensus, along with examining advanced metrics and utilization data.

As someone with a data-heavy background and overall approach to fantasy football, my rankings are created using a blend of several inputs:

  • Fantasy Life's weekly fantasy football projections, adjusted using fantasy football defense vs. position (DvP) rankings
  • Prediction market data (essentially taking the current prices on various yardages, touchdowns, receptions, etc., and creating implied fantasy point projections)
  • Vegas prop lines (rush/rec yards + receptions for pass catchers, pass/rush yards for quarterbacks). I will commonly refer to this as a player’s ‘Vegas Base’ projection: essentially, the floor a player offers without any touchdown odds

Using these sources as a baseline, I create my own hybrid projection system for each position and adjust from there.

Let’s get right into it.

Quarterback That I'm Higher On In My Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings

DAL_cowboys-logo.svgDak Prescott

  • Fantasy Life: QB5
  • My Rank: QB2 (+3)

Unless your name is Josh Allen, I have Dak Prescott higher than you in my Week 8 quarterback rankings.

This matchup against the Arizona Cardinals is simply too juicy to pass up. It’s tied for 1st on the Sunday slate in terms of O/U at 54.5, and the Cowboys have the highest implied team total at 30.5 points. I’m a fan of pretty much everyone in this game (another player mentioned later in this article), but it feels like you can’t go wrong with Prescott here:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 24.1 points (QB1)
  • Prediction markets: 22.8 points (QB2)

If you roster Dak, lock him in as a top-3 option in week 8.

KC_chiefs-logo.svgPatrick Mahomes

  • Fantasy Life: QB15
  • My Rank: QB21 (-6)

Last week in this article, I had Mahomes in this same spot as a QB I was lower on. That worked out better than I could have imagined, with Mahomes finishing as the QB25 with 6 fantasy points.

The Chiefs did not have a single play in the red zone last week against Seattle. Do I think that will happen again this week? Absolutely not. But things aren’t going to get a whole lot easier against the Broncos at Mile High, who are 12th in DvP against QBs this year (-1.5 less fantasy points on average).

The data has him way out of the QB1 conversation for the second week in a row as well:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 13.7 points (QB18)
  • Prediction markets: 16.6 points (QB16)
  • Vegas base projection: 10.2 points (QB16)

Mahomes obviously has the chance to go scorched earth in any given game and make these rankings look silly, so take that for what you will. I’d just be tempering expectations here in another brutal matchup.

Running Back I'm High On In My Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings

JAC_jaguars-logo.svgBhayshul Tuten

  • Fantasy Life: RB16
  • My Rank: RB14 (+2)

While the rankings aren’t drastically different here between myself and Fantasy Life’s consensus, I just wanted to write about Bhayshul Tuten. Sue me!

There aren’t many RBs in the league that have shown more potential over the past several weeks than Tuten. He’s averaged nearly 17 expected fantasy points per game over the past three weeks, and I’m expecting that trend to continue against an Indianapolis defense that ranks 24th in DvP against RBs this year.

The data behind his projections this week is bullish as well:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 13.2 points (RB15)
  • Prediction markets: 14.3 points (RB13)
  • Vegas base projection: 8.9 points (RB12)

Bhayhsul Tuten has officially entered the backend RB1 conversation, and I have a feeling he’s here to stay.

RB I'm Lower On In My Fantasy Football Rankings For Week 8

IND_colts-logo.svgJonathan Taylor

  • Fantasy Life: RB9
  • My Rank: RB15 (-6)

I cannot remember the last time Jonathan Taylor fell outside my top 12 running back rankings in any given week. Definitely not this season, or last season … it certainly feels odd.

This ranking stems from the data behind JT this week being the lowest I can remember as well:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 11.9 points (RB18)
  • Prediction markets: 14.2 points (RB14)
  • Vegas base projection: 8.8 points (RB13)

We all know how talented JT is, but this is the type of thing that raises an eyebrow for me. Why is the market so low on him all of a sudden? Are there larger forces at work with the trade deadline looming? Could the Colts limit his workload even further this week if there is something in the works?

If you have Taylor, it’s obviously going to be very difficult to bench him. That being said, I would not be surprised to see some funny business happening here in Week 8.

Wide Receivers I'm Higher On Than Consensus Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings

ARI_cardinals-logo.svgMichael Wilson

  • Fantasy Life: WR19
  • My Rank: WR17 (+2)

My rank here isn’t far off compared to Fantasy Life consensus, but I really wanted to call out Wilson as a guy I think could be an absolute smash in Week 8.

I mentioned the Cowboys/Cardinals game being a massive blowup spot earlier with Dak Prescott, and while I’d expect the Cardinals to be on the trailing end of this matchup, it still has insane fantasy potential written all over it.

While Wilson has been disappointing in recent weeks, don’t let it diminish how awesome his role has been this year. His 16.5 expected fantasy points per game has him as the WR8 on the year - and yes, while we haven’t gotten one of those massive spike weeks since Marvin Harrison Jr. left, the underlying data behind his role has not changed.

The data behind Wilson is encouraging as well:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 10.6 points (WR18)
  • Prediction markets: 10.4 points (WR17)
  • Vegas base projection: 7.6 points (WR19)

I’m locking in Wilson as a mid-WR2 with high-end WR1 upside in an awesome matchup this week.

BUF_bills-logo.svgKhalil Shakir

  • Fantasy Life: WR44
  • My Rank: WR39 (+5)

Shakir is a classic example of a wide receiver who finds their way into this article as a guy that I’m higher on. Nothing sexy, but just a rock-solid and underrated play in the data:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 7.3 points (WR38)
  • Prediction markets: 8.0 points (WR29)
  • Vegas base projection: 5.7 points (WR31)

I mentioned the Cowboys/Cardinals as a matchup I’m targeting players in, but the Bills/Ravens is definitely the favorite to be the game of the week - especially for WRs. Buffalo is dead last in DvP, and Baltimore is 24th against the position, providing large boosts to pass catchers all around.

This includes Khalil Shakir, and I could easily see him finishing as a top-24 option in this spot.

WR I'm Lower Than Consensus On In My Week 8 Fantasy Rankings

CHI_bears-logo.svgLuther Burden

  • Fantasy Life: WR18
  • My Rank: WR22 (-4)

I love Luther Burden. In fact, he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite WRs to watch across the entire league. It brings me no joy to say that I have a couple of concerns here.

His route participation. Last week, Burden exploded for 23.7 points against the Patriots. The problem? He only ran 69% of the routes. His 8.5 expected fantasy points made him the single largest overperformer across over 100 receivers on the week.

The matchup. Chicago plays Seattle in Week 8, who are 1st in DvP against receivers this year - allowing a whopping 5.2 fantasy points less per game to the position.

The projection data echoes these concerns for Burden as well:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 9.3 points (WR25)
  • Prediction markets: 9.6 points (WR20)
  • Vegas base projection: 7.4 points (WR21)

It would be hard for me to actually sit Burden here, but we’ve seen how insanely hard this Seattle defense has shut down opposing receivers this season. I’d definitely temper expectations here.

Tight End I'm Higher On In My Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings

DET_lions-logo.svgSam LaPorta

  • Fantasy Life: TE6
  • My Rank: TE3 (+3)

I know LaPorta was disappointing last week, finishing with one reception for 18 yards. I know the Minnesota matchup is scary at 4th in DvP against TEs, allowing 3.6 fewer points per week to the position. But I’m here to tell you … we need to keep the faith.

Fantasy Life’s projections massively dock LaPorta here when considering the matchup, putting him at 6.7 points (TE13). Outside of this, the market data looks absolutely awesome:

  • Prediction markets: 9.6 points (TE3)
  • Vegas base projection: 7.2 points (TE3)

I’m not looking to get cute and pivot off of LaPorta here. If I have him, I am starting him - full stop.

TE I'm Low On In My Fantasy Football Rankings For Week 8

ATL_falcons-logo.svgKyle Pitts

  • Fantasy Life: TE10
  • My Rank: TE12 (-2)

There’s no denying that Kyle Pitts has looked better over the past couple of weeks:

Weeks 1-4: 

  • 2.25 tgt/game
  • 16.75 rec yd/game
  • 0 TD
  • 2.9 FPPG

Weeks 5-7:

  • 6 tgt/game
  • 41.3 rec yd/game
  • 4 TD
  • 17.1 FPPG

This improvement has been great to see, and even outside of the TD efficiency, Pitts has been averaging 13 expected fantasy points per game. That being said, he isn’t skyrocketing up my ranks - I still find myself right on the edge of TE1 range with him in week 8.

The Falcons play Tampa Bay in week 8, who have actually been a pretty encouraging matchup for TEs this season - they currently rank 24th in DvP, allowing around 1.5 points more on average per game. This shines through in Pitts’ DvP-adjusted projections:

  • Fantasy Life’s DvP-adjusted projections: 8.3 points (TE8)

But the market data has him more in the back-end TE1 range:

  • Prediction markets: 7.6 points (TE12)
  • Vegas base projection: 5.4 points (TE12)

Pitts is definitely moving his way up in the weekly ranks, but I would expect him to settle somewhere between the cold spell he started the year with and the heater he’s been on the last three weeks. 

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