Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings: Complete Outlook for Offensive Positions: Were about to reach the midpoint of the season, which means real-life and fantasy teams alike have to take stock of their seasons. The Oakland Raiders, New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars know theyre terrible, just as the 1-6 team sitting at the bottom of your league standings and still riding the Toby Gerhart bandwagon does. The Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts know theyre good, as does that (expletive) in your league who somehow ended up with DeMarco Murray and Andrew Luck. For everyone else? Its make-or-break time. Most fantasy leagues, like most NFL seasons, are defined by the much in the middle—the dozen or so teams that are hanging on the precipice of playoff contention, with their season likely heading in wildly divergent ways. Most expect the Seattle Seahawks to fix their defensive woes and A.J. Greens eventual return to bring the Cincinnati Bengals back to competency. But the Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers? Dude, I have no idea. Just as you—OK, you get the corollary. The high variance of the NFL makes it so that any of these teams could somehow sneak into the playoffs, as could middling units in fantasy leagues. And as anyone who has been a No. 1 seed in the past knows, anything can happen in that one-week playoff sample. With that in mind, lets take a look at this weeks rankings and see if we can help you get there. Sleeper: Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals Palmers name alone is enough to send a shiver down your spine. It evokes memories of weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes in Cincinnati, weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes in Oakland and weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes last season in Arizona. Save for a couple season-long flashes—2005, 2006 and cherry-picked parts of 2011 come to mind—Palmer has been a consistent generator of passes going the opposite direction. Except it appears hes temporarily halted that problem. Palmer is 112 passes into his 2014 campaign and has a sole interception, thrown in last weeks 24-13 win against Oakland. Mixing Bruce Arians-preferred downfield looks and underneath dumpoffs to running backs, Palmer has completed 66.1 percent of his passes—a mark that would be his best in almost a decade. Even Football Outsiders advanced metrics are buying in, ranking Palmer eighth in Defense-adjusted Value over Average (DVOA). Odds are this is a fluke caused by a combination of weak opposition and a small sample, but its hard not to ride Palmer against a mistake-prone Eagles secondary. Philly has picked off only three passes so far in 2014 and is 18th in pass defense DVOA. Palmer is a solid play this week over the likes of Jay Cutler and Matt Ryan. Beware: Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals Now that was the Dalton we were all expecting without A.J. Green. Dalton was an abject nightmare in last weeks loss to the Colts, completing 18 of 38 passes for a paltry 126 yards. While he avoided throwing an interception, three passes traveled longer than 20 yards through the air, and only four were completions that went for 10-plus yards. Green was absent from practice again Wednesday, and head coach Marvin Lewis didnt sound optimistic about his status for Week 8. “It’s hard for me to put a guy out there Sunday that I don’t think can last a full game,’ Lewis said, per Geoff Hobson of the Bengals official website. “If we have A.J. for part of the game doing certain things, that would be great. I think we could operate offensively…I guess we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.” The Bengals play a Baltimore defense that hasnt allowed more than 23 points all season. And while the passing yardage against numbers look promising, the Ravens are actually a top-10 unit on a per-play basis against the pass. No A.J. Green, no thanks, Andy Dalton. Sleeper: Chris Ivory, New York Jets Ivory is owned in nearly 100 percent of leagues, so hes not sneaking up on anyone. His name has been in the fantasy lexicon for five years now, back when the undrafted Tiffin University product made everyone smash their televisions in frustration as a member of the Saints. Fast-forward a few years and make a trip up north, and Ivory is quietly emerging as a good NFL running back. Despite being a member of the Jets horror show of an offense, he is on pace for a very solid 987 yards and seven touchdowns through seven games. New York continues to give the mostly washed-up Chris Johnson work, but its obvious Ivory is the more effective back. With the Jets needing all the yards after contact they can get against a stout Buffalo front, dont be surprised if Ivory winds up with closer to 65 to 70 percent of the snaps instead of his typical 50 to 55 percent. Hes being treated like a flex play when in todays running back market hes closer to a solid RB2. Beware: Anthony Dixon, Buffalo Bills Anthony Dixon is 27 years old. Despite his robust 5.1 yards per carry in 2014, he has never been higher than 3.7 in any of his four previous seasons. Three of the last four years have seen Dixon have a long carry of nine yards. While he was mostly used by the 49ers in short-yardage situations, its instructive that Jim Harbaugh didnt think to use him more often. Carlos Hyde certainly isnt hurting for semi-consistent work behind Frank Gore. I expect Dixon to get the starting nod and possibly even the majority of the carries with Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller injured, but the jury is still out on whether he can carry the load. Bryce Brown might be one or two big plays Sunday away from taking over a workhorse role for the near future. Sleeper: Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks The Seahawks trading of Percy Harvin may make their locker room healthier, but it depletes an already shaky wide receiving corps. Seattle will start Jermaine Kearse and Baldwin outside this week, two players who have been drafted a combined zero times. While both players have proved they slipped through the cracks, going with two undrafted guys is a proposition typically left to the Oaklands of the world. Rookie second-round pick Paul Richardson will also factor into the rotation after largely being irrelevant so far. Of that trio, it appears Baldwin is the top guy for now. The former Stanford standout was already pushing Harvin for the team lead in targets and made a statement Sunday, catching seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Seattle hopes Russell Wilson wont be throwing 36 times every week, but a trip to Carolina is one of those times where an aerial assault from Wilson might be baked into the game plan. Beware: Percy Harvin, New York Jets Should be pretty obvious. Harvin became a Jet less than a week ago. Even if he were a football savant, there is no way Harvin would be able to learn the entire playbook, have his route tree down and pick up all the terminology. Midseason wide receiver trades rarely workout for that very reason. There is so much chemistry-based work that happens during training camp that cant be replicated in the few practices between games. One missed read or misunderstanding of a play call, and Geno Smith is throwing a pick-six. And Geno Smith needs no help throwing pick-sixes. At least initially, the Jets will keep Harvins playing time limited to specific packages. Hell probably be utilized a ton when on the field, but banking on 25 or so plays is a dangerous game. Sleeper: Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals It appears the worse Andy Dalton plays, the better it is for Gresham. The Bengals tight end was the sole benefactor of the teams trip to Indianapolis, picking up 10 receptions for 48 yards. In the two games A.J. Green has missed, Gresham 16 receptions for 116 yards. Keep in mind that this is the same player who had a grand total of eight catches for 61 yards in the four games prior. The Ravens are among the handful of best teams against opposing tight ends this season, so dont go expecting a huge game. I mean, were far along enough into Greshams career now to know those arent coming. Fool us for four straight seasons and blame has been tossed around so many times that its feeling depressed and unwanted. But if youre looking for a short-term replacement available in most leagues, there are worse options than Gresham. Beware: Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals Dude. I just said to trust Andy Dalton and Jermaine Gresham. I mean...I totally buy everything I just said. Just...like, I have watched football at points in this half decade. Cross your fingers and say your prayers, folks. Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #NFL #FantasyFootball #Opinion
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 23:34:26 +0000
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