Options are aplenty in Week 8 of DFS, with no teams on a bye and plenty of intriguing matchups on the slate.
There are some attractive bargain bin options and a couple leaky defenses to attack. Plus, there’s a defense that is underpriced and playing at home.
It’s time to put together a DFS team that will take you to the promised land. Let’s go!
Week 8 DFS Picks
All stats are from TruMedia unless otherwise stated.
- QB: Jordan Love at JAX
- RB1: Breece Hall at NE
- RB2: James Cook at SEA
- WR1: Romeo Doubs at JAX
- WR2: Jaylen Waddle vs. ARI
- WR3: Sterling Shepard vs ATL
- TE: Noah Fant vs. BUF
- FLEX: De’Von Achane vs. ARI
- DST: Detroit Lions vs. TEN
DFS Strategy: Attacking Weak Secondaries
For those who tend to identify the one or two games that should be high-scoring, the Philadelphia-Cincinnati matchup will draw attention. While that matchup doesn’t boast the highest over/under point total in Vegas, it does contain a myriad of attractive and popular fantasy options from Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and A.J. Brown to Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins.
While most of your competitors flood their lineups with the same players and, thus, cancel each other out, we are going to veer away from that crowded mess and focus our attention on two vulnerable pass defenses — the Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars have allowed the most touchdown passes (16), second-most yards (1,917), and are fifth-worst in yards per attempt allowed at 8.0. Suffice it to say, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur will be of a pass-happy mindset on Sunday.
So, we’ll take LaFleur’s trigger man, quarterback Jordan Love ($7,100). Love has 478 passing yards and seven touchdowns in his last two games. His 15 passing touchdowns this season rank third in the NFL, and he’s done that despite playing in two fewer games than most other passers.
We may not be the only ones eyeing the Jaguars’ pass defense. In anticipation that other DFS players will be keen on Green Bay’s top pass-catching weapon, Jayden Reed, we’ll pivot to Romeo Doubs ($5,700). He was targeted 10 times last week and has two other seven-plus target weeks in 2024.
We’ll also take a bilateral approach in attacking the suspect Cardinals defense, especially with Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa officially back as his team’s starting quarterback.
No team has allowed more receiving yards per target than Arizona (8.3), and only three teams have allowed more rushing first downs than the Cardinals. These negative explosive-related statistics compel us to tap on dual-threat running back De’Von Achane ($6,200). He averaged more than 20 fantasy points per game with Tagovailoa as the starter (fewer than seven fantasy points per game without him).
Another Dolphins playmaker in our lineup this week is Jaylen Waddle ($5,400). We surely won’t be the only ones to note Tagovailoa’s return. Most of our competitors will immediately look to Tyreek Hill. We’ll pivot to the boom-or-bust Waddle, who has been mostly a bust this season with no touchdown receptions. He did have over 100 receiving yards in Week 1 with Tagovailoa as the starter.
To round out our wide receivers, let’s head to the bargain bin for a player who doesn’t cost much at all but he’s suddenly thrust into a position where he should see a massive increase in target share.
Tampa Bay will be without starting receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. That will compel many of our competitors to tap on the Tampa running game — Rachaad White and Bucky Irvin — as well as reliable tight end Cade Otton.
We will counter their approach by going with Sterling Shepard ($3,800). Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer will be popular options for those looking to vulture the targets normally allocated to Evans and Godwin, but let’s lean into veteran Baker Mayfield eyeing fellow veteran Shepard this week.
Two More Stud Running Backs
Our budget-friendly wide receiver corps and modestly priced quarterback allow us to select two studs at running back. We already have Achane, a strong option, but now we’re adding more firepower.
At RB1, we’ll go with New York Jets playmaker Breece Hall ($7,300), who has both a 100-yard rushing game and 100-yard receiving game to his credit since the Jets made a change in play-callers after the team’s Week 5 loss to Minnesota. He goes against a New England Patriots defense that ranks 29th against opposing running backs, according to DraftKings, and that surrendered 18.3 points to him in their earlier meeting this season.
At RB2, we stay in the AFC East by tabbing Buffalo Bills starter James Cook ($7,000), who will challenge the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon. DraftKings ranks Seattle’s defense just 23rd against opposing running backs, surrendering 19.5 points per game.
Speaking of Seattle, we’ll stay in that matchup to fill out our tight end position by taking Noah Fant ($3,700). Seahawks stud receiver DK Metcalf will likely not play in this game, meaning Geno Smith has some targets to dole out.
Fant has not found the end zone yet, but he catches almost everything Smith throws his way. He has hauled in each of his last 21 targets and has three games this season with at least 60 yards receiving and two games with six catches.
Getting Defensive With Detroit
We are getting such good value with our defense that it almost feels like stealing.
The Tennessee Titans are last in the NFL in passer rating (71.2) and last in the NFL in passing yards (875). They’ve also thrown more interceptions (eight) than touchdowns (six).
This does not bode well for them this week, considering they’re going on the road to play a high-powered Detroit offense. It won’t be surprising if Detroit jumps out to an early lead, leading to Tennessee getting one-dimensional on offense.
It’ll be a snowball effect that results in a high point total for the Lions’ defense, which we have on our roster for just $3,800.