Week 8 QB Fantasy Football Rankings

Lamar Jackson aims to get a hot streak going in Arizona, Justin Herbert scrounges for answers against the Bears, and Jared Goff angles for a bounce-back effort vs. Josh McDaniels’ pathetic Raiders.

Other positions: Running Back | Receiver | Tight End/Kickers/Defense

Week 8 Quarterbacks

QB Notes: Now that’s more like it. All it took for Patrick Mahomes to have a ceiling effort was to face the Chargers’ No. 32 pass defense. Now he gets a Broncos mulligan after a sleepy short-week affair in Week 6. Denver has tightened up on defense but not enough to slow Mahomes two times in three games. … How do you overcome eight interceptions? By throwing for nine touchdowns and rushing for six more. Jalen Hurts is still working out the kinks, but it hasn’t mattered in fantasy, and categorically won’t matter against a Commanders “defense” silver plattering the second most QB fantasy points. … At long last, Lamar Jackson put it all together in Week 7 against Detroit. L-Jax has consistently been in the QB6-8 range. Now he might finally make a run at the top 3-4. The Cardinals are a beautiful place to get a hot streak going after last Sunday’s Lions destruction. … It’s sort of the worst of both worlds for Josh Allen right now, as he isn’t making as many “wild hair” upside plays but is still committing the same amount of turnovers. Oh, and he’s the QB1 by average fantasy points. The Bucs are surrendering the sixth most passing yards.

The schedule matters more than the venue, though Tua Tagovailoa’s home/road splits remain striking. He returns home for a Week 8 date against a Pats defense that appeared resurgent in Week 7, but he might be missing Tyreek Hill (hip). Tua’s floor remains high, but the QB1 overall day might not be in his range of outcomes. … Slumping even before his hand injury late in Week 6, Justin Herbert is completing just 57 percent of his throws with four total passing scores over the past three weeks. That coincides with Mike Williams’ placement on injured reserve. The Bears are a get-right spot, provided Herbert’s broken left middle finger doesn’t prove to be an ongoing hindrance. … A reinvigorated Joe Burrow comes off bye to a tough matchup with the 49ers. Or at least we think so. Kirk Cousins didn’t make it look so tough. With Burrow healthy and Tee Higgins likely in finer fettle after the off week, we can go back to ranking Burrow like the elite QB1 he’s been the past two seasons. Considering the two defenses, Vegas had installed a reasonably optimistic 45.5 total before Brock Purdy (concussion) was ruled out. The offensive environment is now less clear.

Jared Goff comes off a fiasco performance in Baltimore to an A+ matchup in the friendly confines of Ford Field. The Raiders are fresh off having no answer for “Tyson Bagent.” Goff is averaging 8.4 yards per attempt at home compared to 6.9 on the road. … It’s not entirely clear what Trevor Lawrence is for fantasy in 2023, but for Week 8 he’s a good quarterback coming off a solid short-week effort facing a Steelers defense surrendering a surprising amount of raw passing production. Mike Tomlin’s unit has still been strong on the margins. This is a floor rank with a lot of question marks behind Lawrence. … New Justin Jefferson just dropped. At least that’s what Jordan Addison was for Kirk Cousins purposes in Week 7. The duo showed the compiling dream can live on, even against tough Ds. At least on paper, the Pack have a strong group. … I tweeted in Week 6 that the 49ers’ season was really only just beginning after three-straight home games for Weeks 3-5. What followed was the first bad two-game stretch of Brock Purdy’s career. We now know a Week 7 concussion is partly to blame. Purdy is out, paving the way for Sam Darnold. Vegas has spotted a difference of several points, but Darnold should play point guard well enough to keep Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle afloat.

Dak Prescott has had one multi-score outing through the air all year. We could be left waiting against a Rams pass D that has permitted only four aerial scores in seven games. That’s a fluke, but a Cowboys team operating as six-point home favorites will undoubtedly establish the run. Despite that lopsided spread, I don’t think Big D will be burying the Rams and spending an entire half just running out the clock. … C.J. Stroud looked like a rookie in need of a bye before the Texans’ Week 7 break. He returns against a tissue-soft Panthers defense whose raw stats would appear far worse if they didn’t keep getting blown out. Even if he’s not in his finest form, Stroud has enough weapons to keep him streamer relevant for plus matchups. … Coming off his worst start of the year, Matthew Stafford doesn’t exactly have a bounce-back matchup in the Cowboys. He does have a pair of All-Pro level wideouts, which makes him a more desirable streaming option than Russell Wilson. … As for Wilson, there is just no upside here. Even floor is proving surprisingly difficult to come by against the Chiefs’ defense, including in Week 6 for Wilson.

Derek Carr has cleared 50 attempts in back-to-back contests. He probably won’t make it 3-for-3, but the Saints are short road faves against a soft Colts defense. … Mired in his worst stretch since his Seahawks rebirth, Geno Smith could be missing DK Metcalf against the Browns’ all-encompassing defense. Smith threads enough needles that a QB2 effort is never far away even against Myles Garrett, but this is no place to look for Week 8 ceiling. … Who even knows what’s going on with Deshaun Watson (shoulder) at this point. The nonstop uncertainty has made Watson droppable. You probably already knew that. … Desmond Ridder is a bad player who has come into some recent volume. He should be allowed to keep throwing vs. the Titans’ pass-funnel defense, one that just gave away Kevin Byard. … I’m not sure matchups matter any more for Jordan Love. He is stunningly inaccurate. The Vikings are a plus one for Week 8. … I’m not expecting repeat Gardner Minshew success against another strong defense. The good news is, Minshew isn’t bad enough to sink Michael Pittman and Josh Downs. … Even against the woebegone Bolts, I’m expecting a major crash landing for Tyson Bagent on Sunday Night Football.

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