Welcome to Week 8 of the Fantasy Football Season. This is a week that many fantasy owners have had circled on their calendars since their fantasy drafts, as it’s the first week that we lose six teams to their bye. How many of us went through the first few rounds of our draft and took Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round, followed by Brock Bowers in the second? After we took Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the third, we decided to glance at the bye weeks, and whoops. This week, we will have to fill out our fantasy lineups without the services of the Seahawks, Rams, Jaguars, Raiders, Cardinals, and Lions. That means no Amon Ra, Puka, Davante, JSN, Marvin Harrison, or Brian Thomas, among others. Wide receiver will clearly be hit harder than other positions when you consider we’ve lost players like Malik Nabers, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Tyreek Hill, and then Mike Evans… again. We also may be without Nico Collins and Garrett Wilson, so check their injury updates as they come in through the week. Although the pickings are somewhat thin, let’s take a look at the top 10 wide receiver rankings for Week 8.
Top 10 Week 8 Wide Receiver Rankings
1) Ja’Marr Chase vs. Jets
As our wide receiver rankings begin, it will look like business as usual, as the top few spots will be filled by the usual suspects. Chase was drafted as one of the top players overall in most fantasy leagues, and after a bumpy start to the season, he has found his groove as of late. The addition of Joe Flacco has been just what the doctor ordered for Chase and his fantasy owners. After a sluggish start to their Week 6 game, where Flacco looked to Chase three times in the first half against Green Bay, the veteran QB came out slinging in the second half, feeding his top target 9 times. He picked right up where he left off the following game, where he locked in on Chase for a mind-boggling 23 targets, resulting in 16 receptions for 161 yards. While I’d love to tell you that could happen again, it’s not likely. We’ll have to settle for around half of that every week, which would still make Ja’Marr the highest targeted player in the league.
2) Justin Jefferson vs. Chargers
The Chargers present one of the toughest matchups for wide receivers in the league, but those stats can be tossed out the window when it comes to this guy. Carson Wentz will likely remain under center for at least one more week, and he will continue to get the ball to Jefferson as much as possible. JJ is coming off a bit of a quiet week as Jordan Addison took his turn as the primary pass catcher, so I would expect the pendulum to swing back this week. Even in his “down weeks,” JJ gets 10 targets and over 12 fantasy points. He’s due to find the end zone soon, as he hasn’t scored since week 1. We aren’t worried about that quite yet, but we would like to see that change sooner rather than later.
