Don’t look now, but we’re officially past the halfway point of the fantasy football season. With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, here are the NFL Week 8 fantasy risers and fallers, with a couple of particularly interesting names highlighted.
3 Risers
Dalvin Cook
As a guy who was unfortunate enough to play against Dalvin Cook this week, I can tell you that it was an unpleasant experience. Cook ran the ball 30 (yes, THIRTY) times for 163 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground. But that wasn’t enough. So he had a couple catches for 63 more yards and scored again. So, yeah. He had 226 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns.
Was he bothered by the groin injury he suffered three weeks ago? Man, I hope not. Because if he was hampered in any way and this was not the best version of Dalvin Cook, the Lions might as well not even show up next week. Our guy The Wolf says he would consider Cook as his No. 1 overall guy for the Rest of Season.
Tyreek Hill
Tyreek Hill has raised expectations surrounding his production so high that when he went two games in a row (against the Bills and the Raiders in Weeks 5 and 6) without a touchdown catch, there were actually some people who wondered if the sky was falling. He returned to the end zone last week, and then yesterday he reminded us all just how dangerous he was on the way to scoring twice and racking up 95 yards on four catches. Hill has caught seven touchdown passes this year, and scores an average of once every five catches he makes—only he and Adam Thielen score at such an impressive clip. Right now, Hill is “only” the WR13. I would bet just about anything he finishes the season in the top 10, the top eight, or maybe even a little higher.
Corey Davis
The fact that my buddy The Wolf has come around to being a supporter of Corey Davis should tell you just how real his ascension has been. While it seems like A.J. Brown has gotten most of the love from folks investing in the Tennessee WR corps, Davis has established himself as one of the best WR2’s in the game—possibly even deserving a WR1A designation. His floor production level is excellent—Davis has never been below 11 in PPR scoring.
This week he caught eight balls for 128 yards and a score and was targeted 10 times. This is the second consecutive week Davis has been targeted 10 times, suggesting Ryan Tannehill is not playing favorites between Davis and Brown and is completely comfortable throwing in either of their directions. Don’t sleep on this guy—his stock could actually continue to go up even after his most recent booms.
3 Fallers
Jonathan Taylor
Wow, Jonathan Taylor was a massive disappointment in Week 8. A lot of people thought the Taylor-led Colts’ backfield was going to absolutely feast in Week 8 against the Lions, and they weren’t wrong—except about the Taylor part.
Taylor ran the ball 11 times and only managed 22 yards, adding 2 receptions for a paltry 9 yards through the air. Meanwhile, the far lesser known Jordan Wilkins got the nod for a whopping 20 carries which he turned into a very respectable 89 yards on the ground and a score. Not to be outdone, fellow Indianapolis RB Nyheim Hines had 3 catches for 54 yards and 2 touchdowns. In other words, if you were a Colts RB and your name wasn’t Jonathan Taylor, you had a great game.
The fact that Taylor was out-carried by such a large margin should be a huge concern to anyone banking on him to be an RB1 for the rest of the season.
Mike Davis
The Mike Davis era is about to end in Carolina. Despite the fact that he certainly helped out some fantasy owners an awful lot since the CMC injury, Davis has faded noticeably in the past couple games, carrying the ball 20 times for only 78 yards combined over those two contests.
Maybe it’s that he knows what’s coming and he’s looking over his shoulder—Christian McCaffrey is set to return any day and he’s bringing his 25 PPG pre-injury average with him. I’m not sure Davis has any real value moving forward. If I needed the roster spot, I might actually consider cutting him. Sorry Mike, and thanks for the memories.
Kareem Hunt
Speaking of guys who may be about to lose their job or at least a big chunk of it, Kareem Hunt is one of those dudes. Leading into a very appetizing Week 8 matchup against the supposedly hapless Raiders defense, the ECR had Hunt sitting as the RB3 (our very own Wolf of Roto Street liked him even more) and he seemed primed to absolutely explode all over the fantasy world.
Not so fast.
Instead, Hunt put up a pedestrian 66 yards on the ground and added a pathetic two catches for seven yards in the air. He once again failed to score, and Hunt has not averaged five yards a carry for a game in a full month. Couple this with the fact that Nick Chubb seems likely to return in a week or two which will drastically cut down on Hunt’s opportunities and the days of Hunt being a top 10, 15, 20, or even 25 RB look like they’re numbered. He’s not a potential cut guy like Mike Davis, but he is very unlikely to be a fantasy centerpiece again this year.
