The halfway point is upon us in the NFL with Week 8 kicking into gear.
Week 8 is going to be an interesting one. It’s a small main slate on most sites with all the byes, games on Thursday and Friday and the absences of Sunday and/or Monday night games.
A factor we have to consider for really the first time this season is a slew of rainy and windy football games. The following contests all have forecasted rain, high winds or both:
Chargers at Patriots
Cowboys at Redskins
Falcons at Jets
49ers at Eagles
For this reason, you won’t see many players listed as official picks at the end of this week’s Index; though based on the forecasts closer to lock, I will likely change my mind where the weather feels more favorable.
Keep that in mind this week with roster construction and follow the weather GOAT, Kevin Roth, on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates and a full Week 8 forecast. You’re welcome if you haven’t discovered him yet.
Let’s get to this week’s rankings (we will eliminate price and pretend weather isn’t a factor).
Quarterbacks
- Tom Brady
- Dak Prescott
- Drew Brees
- Matt Ryan
- Russell Wilson
Running Backs
- Melvin Gordon
- Ezekiel Elliott
- LeSean McCoy
- Devonta Freeman
- Mark Ingram
Wide Receivers
- Julio Jones
- A.J. Green
- MIchael Thomas
- Dez Bryant
- Keenan Allen
Tight End
- Rob Gronkowski
- Zach Ertz
- Jordan Reed
- Hunter Henry
- Jason Witten
Defense/Special Teams
- Philadelphia Eagles
- New Orleans Saints
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Seattle Seahawks
- Buffalo Bills
Top Stacks
- Dak Prescott/Ezekiel Elliott/Dez Bryant/Jason Witten
- Tom Brady/James White/Rob Gronkowski
- Carson Wentz/Alshon Jeffery/Zach Ertz
- Russell Wilson/Doug Baldwin
- Matt Ryan/Devonta Freeman/Julio Jones
- Andy Dalton/Joe Mixon/A.J. Green
- Drew Brees/Mark Ingram/Michael Thomas
- Jameis Winston/Mike Evans
- Tyrod Taylor/LeSean McCoy
- Derek Carr/Michael Crabtree
I am skipping fades and narratives this week as this slate is short, so really fading completely might not be the best idea and the biggest narrative this week is weather, which we already discussed. With that, let’s get down to business.
Russell Wilson – QB – Seattle Seahawks – $6,500
Analysis: Quarterback looks very strong on this slate. I think there are only a few quarterbacks that are just not even fathomable. But one guy that sticks out to me is Russell Wilson, who returns home to face the Houston Texans, whose defense has been inundated with injuries. A few plusses in Wilson’s favor this week; Houston is coming off a bye, they will be rest and ready to play. 2. Houston has been a more potent offense since DeShaun Watson has taken over the starting role. This uptick in production should give Wilson’s opponent a higher floor for points scored and keeping it close until the end. Lastly, the Seahawks can’t run the damn ball and the Texans are still a good team against it. As long as Watson doesn’t have a huge meltdown on the road against this defense, the Seahawks should be scoring points through the air via Wilson’s arm, which torched the New York Giants last week.
Joe Mixon – RB – Cincinnati Bengals – $4,700
Analysis: Joe Mixon is the squeaky wheel this week. After him and the rest of the Bengals running backs getting very little work in the second half of their loss to the Steelers last week, Joe Mixon came out and expressed his disappointment for not getting the ball in the second half. For whatever reason, the Bengals feel Jeremy Hill playing is necessary, but I think this is the week Mixon gets the work in a potential blowout. The Colts are on the road and are offensively trashy against good defenses. They have been gashed through the air and on the ground. I expect the Bengals to build a lead early and then handoff to their running backs, benefitting Mixon and hopefully Mixon only.
