{"id":75166,"date":"2019-10-24T06:30:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T10:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=75166"},"modified":"2019-10-24T06:48:31","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T10:48:31","slug":"fantasy-football-running-back-week-8-start-em-sit-em-ty-johnson-joe-mixon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/10\/24\/fantasy-football-running-back-week-8-start-em-sit-em-ty-johnson-joe-mixon\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Football Running Back Week 8 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Ty Johnson, Joe Mixon, More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Week 8 of the NFL season is right around the corner, and fantasy football owners everywhere are trying to optimize their lineups. Deciding on who to start and sit isn\u2019t easy, especially when an untested player like Ty Johnson<\/a><\/strong> suddenly gets a massive opportunity<\/a>. Let\u2019s take a dive into all of the best start em\u2019, sit em\u2019 matchups of the week to put together the best possible lineup.<\/p>\n

Wide Receiver Start \u2018Em, Sit \u2018Em<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ty Johnson, Joe Mixon Highlight Fantasy Football Running Back Week 8 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Start: Ty Johnson<\/h3>\n

Ty Johnson isn\u2019t going to completely replicate Kerryon Johnson<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s production, but he\u2019s going to be a solid play in fantasy football. As previously discussed<\/a>, Johnson made a name for himself in the preseason and was clearly the head of the backfield after Kerryon went down in Week 7. He\u2019s a home-run hitter with the speed and acceleration to rack up big runs in the open field. The biggest problem is getting him into the open field, as he still needs to work on reading his blocks and taking what the defense gives him.<\/p>\n

Johnson is a raw player, but rushing success has more to do with blocking and play-calling than it does the actual runner. Johnson should be a safe volume-based play, although J.D. McKissic<\/a><\/strong> is going to eat into some of the pass-catching work. Look for Johnson to put up low-end RB2\/high-end flex numbers as the head of Detroit\u2019s backfield.<\/p>\n

Sit: Joe Mixon<\/h3>\n

Joe Mixon<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s nightmare season isn\u2019t getting better any time soon. Mixon is a talented running back, but he\u2019s not capable of overcoming what could very well be the worst situation in the NFL. The offensive line is a mess, the offense cannot move the ball, and the defense is atrocious, forcing the Bengals to throw the ball in order to keep up. Because of this, Mixon only has 254 yards and no touchdowns on 84 carries.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t blame Mixon alone for his underwhelming numbers, but you also need to accept that he\u2019s just not a reliable fantasy option this year. Mixon is essentially experiencing Todd Gurley<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s 2016, where an atrocious situation became too much to overcome. You can try to buy low on Mixon in dynasty leagues, but he doesn\u2019t carry much value in season-long leagues.<\/p>\n

Start: Sony Michel Without Rex Burkhead<\/h3>\n

Sony Michel<\/a><\/strong> isn\u2019t that great of a running back, but he plays in a high-powered offense and he sees a high workload whenever Rex Burkhead<\/a><\/strong> isn\u2019t on the field. Last week, Michel recorded three touchdowns and was a great start despite averaging just 2.21 yards-per-carry. He also would have had a wide-open receiving touchdown had he not dropped an easy screen pass.<\/p>\n

If Burkhead plays, you probably shouldn\u2019t play Michel. However, Burkhead didn\u2019t even travel with the team in Week 7, which suggests he\u2019s a long ways away from being ready for a return. Michel should have one or two more weeks of inefficient fantasy relevance before going back into a timeshare with Burkhead.<\/p>\n

Sit: Derrick Henry<\/h3>\n

Derrick Henry<\/a><\/strong> can be a fantastic play in the right matchup, but Week 8\u2019s showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers doesn\u2019t project well for Henry. Tampa Bay, surprisingly enough, is a force against the run, entering Week 8 as the top rushing defense in Football Outsiders\u2019 DVOA metric. Additionally, they\u2019re also 25th<\/sup> in pass defense. If the Titans are smart, they\u2019re going to attack through the air early and often in this contest.<\/p>\n

Derrick Henry brings absolutely nothing to the passing game and only offers upside in games where he can get 20-25 carries. It\u2019s hard to project him seeing that type of workload when Tennessee is probably going to test Tampa Bay\u2019s subpar passing defense. Ryan Tannehill<\/a><\/strong> proved he still has something left in his tank, so start Corey Davis<\/a><\/strong> and sit Derrick Henry.<\/p>\n

Wide Receiver Start \u2018Em, Sit \u2018Em<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fantasy Football Running Back Week 8 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Ty Johnson should be a fine start in place of Kerryon Johnson and Joe Mixon should be on your bench<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":75054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,54],"tags":[1682,596,61,1911,3593,40,1823,814,3645,259,5694],"class_list":["post-75166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-editorials","tag-corey-davis","tag-derrick-henry","tag-football","tag-joe-mixon","tag-kerryon-johnson","tag-nfl","tag-rex-burkhead","tag-ryan-tannehill","tag-sony-michel","tag-todd-gurley","tag-ty-johnson"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}