The New Orleans Saints will host the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8. We have fantasy football start-sit advice for every fantasy-relevant player for the Saints so you can make the best decisions for your lineups.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Derek Carr, QB
Updated at 11:30 AM ET on November 3
On Friday, the Saints removed Carr from the injury report. He has recovered enough from his oblique strain and is active.
Carr looked like an MVP candidate through two weeks of leading the new generation’s Greatest Show on Turf. But before his injury, the clock had struck midnight, and now without the field-stretching talents of Rashid Shaheed (knee, out for the season), asking Carr to return anything close to viable production when cleared is a long shot.
In the season’s first two games, Carr completed 61.5% of his deep passes with a 113.0 passer rating on such passes. Since then, his numbers (45.4 passer rating and 35% complete) look more like Spencer Rattler than an MVP candidate.
The Chargers are a top-10 pass defense across the board and ultra-methodical on the offensive end. If we get word that Carr will be returning this weekend, the value change sits with Chris Olave, but Carr shouldn’t be anywhere near your radar in any format.
Spencer Rattler, QB
Despite posting a quick pass rate of at least 65% in both of his starts, Rattler has been sacked on over 11% of his dropbacks in both of those outings, a clear sign that this offensive line is struggling the way we worried it might when evaluating this team in the preseason.
Of course, getting Chris Olave (concussion) back is a boost, but Rattler needs much more than that when you consider that he hasn’t finished as a top-20 producer at the position in either start, and we now have all 32 teams in action.
The Chargers are a top-8 defense in yards per completion, touchdown pass rate, and interception rate – Rattler himself isn’t close to fantasy relevant, and his ability to support any of his talented teammates is a legitimate concern.
Alvin Kamara, RB
Updated at 11:30 AM ET on November 3
Kamara was not listed on the Saints final injury report and is active.
I got some pushback when I said it a few weeks ago when Kamara was still running hot, but the more time passes, the more I like it.
Isn’t Kamara just expensive Rachaad White but without a Bucky Irving behind him?
Kamara doesn’t have a 10+ yard carry (or a top 15 finish at the position) in three straight games. Over his past four, despite having a pair of rushing touchdowns, the majority (56.9%) of his points have come as a receiver because there simply is nowhere to go on the ground (0.98 yards per carry before contact) behind an iffy offensive line.
Does Kamara magically become efficient on the ground if Derek Carr is back in the mix? I’m skeptical; he doesn’t have a 20-yard run this season and picked up just 3.4 ypc in Carr’s most recent three starts.
Kamara is going to return viable fantasy production because of his role in the passing game, but the ceiling isn’t that of a top-10 option without much efficiency on the ground, and this isn’t the matchup for him to turn around his success rate on handoffs.
You’re playing Kamara, but you need to be aware that the 290-yard, five-touchdown version of him that we saw through two weeks is nothing more than a distant memory.
Chris Olave, WR
After exiting Week 6 with a concussion, it wasn’t a surprise that Olave, who has now missed time in all three of his professional seasons, sat out Thursday night’s loss to Denver. New Orleans’ WR1 had a nice stretch of production (WR12 in Weeks 2-4) bookended by a pair of finishes outside of the top 75 at the position, making him a frustrating player for fantasy managers who drafted him with dreams of consistency this summer.
We learned last week that Rashid Shaheed’s (knee) season is over, and while that might initially increase the optimism moving forward for Olave managers, I’d be careful.
In two of Olave’s three viable games this season, Shaheed earned a target on 28.8% of his routes, catching 12 of 15 passes for 179 yards in the process. Shaheed had established himself as a legitimate WR2 in the NFL, and with the league respecting his development, Olave was in a position to thrive (in those two highlighted games, he averaged 3.43 yards per route and saw a 32.7% target share).
Shaheed’s growth was additive to Olave’s profile. now that we are without it, I fear that Olave’s path to returning value on his ADP is cloudy at best.
You’ll need to keep tabs on his progression through concussion protocol this week, but one week is reasonably standard in terms of time missed, making me comfortable slotting Olave into lineups and pivoting if need be.
This is a tough matchup in what profiles as a low-possession game, no matter who is under center for the Saints. I think the production floor is still reasonable, but the ceiling doesn’t project as friendly as it did a few weeks ago, and that’s enough to keep Olave out of my DFS player pool.
Taysom Hill, TE
Fantasy managers may want to get cute by playing Hill at tight end, with the thought process that he could see an extended run under center and thus prove to be something of a cheat code.
I’m not fully against the idea, but facing the seventh-best red zone defense in the league (45.5% touchdown rate) makes New Orleans’ offensive weapon a bit tougher to sell.
Hill is cleared to play (ribs), and a good fit for what projects to be a physical battle, but his opportunity count is unlikely to impress, and with an implied team total of just 17 points, I think streamers can do better.
New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Chargers Game Insights
New Orleans Saints
Team: The Saints have lost five straight since starting 2-0. They’re the first team since the 2015 Dallas Cowboys to lose at least five in a row after starting 2-0 (that Cowboys team fell to 2-7 after starting QB Tony Romo was injured in Week 2).
Team: The Saints have won the past 11 games played in Week 8, out-scoring opponents 361-227 (+12.2 PPG) during that run.
QB: In the first two weeks of this season, Derek Carr completed 61.5% of his deep passes with a 113.0 passer rating on such passes. His numbers since (45.4 passer rating and 35% complete) look more like Spencer Rattler than an MVP candidate.
Offense: All the passing game injuries have also killed the running game. Since Week 3, the Saints are averaging 3.1 yards per carry on running back carries, second-worst in the NFL. That includes the third-fewest yards before contact per carry (2.2).
Defense: The Saints have allowed 502 rush yards in the last two games, their most in a two-game span since 1980. For the first time since 2012, New Orleans has given up 200+ rush yards in consecutive games; the last team to allow 200+ rush yards in three straight games was the 2019 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Fantasy: Alvin Kamara has not had a 10-plus-yard carry in three straight games, and over his past four, despite having a pair of rushing touchdowns, the majority (56.9%) of his fantasy points have come as a receiver.
Betting: The Saints have seen 13 of their past 14 games played on extended rest go under the projected total (most recently, Week 5 at Chiefs, a 26-13 loss with a 43.5-point closing total).
Los Angeles Chargers
Team: The average NFL game this season has seen 44.8 points scored – not a single Chargers game has reached 40 points yet.
QB: On Monday night, Justin Herbert became the first QB since Ryan Tannehill (Week 2, 2021) to throw for 345 yards without a touchdown or interception.
Offense: JK Dobbins was the story of the first two weeks this season (27 carries for 266 yards, 9.9 yards per carry), but he has failed to average even 4.0 yards per carry in the four games since, checking in under 3.0 in three of those games.
Defense: Los Angeles allows a score on just 25% of drives this season, the lowest rate in the league and 13 percentage points better than the league average.
Fantasy: The Chargers are amongst the most run-centric offenses, and on Monday night, when they took to the air, the early passes weren’t exactly going to the players on fantasy rosters – Will Dissly and Simi Fehoko saw eight of Justin Herbert’s first 10 targets.
Betting: Seven of Justin Herbert’s last eight home starts have finished under the total, including each of the past four.