Fantasy Football 2021: Shulman’s Sleepers – Week 8

Somehow, I managed to get a little sleep this week. Jet lag may have played a part. Now back on schedule and back to the fantasy football grind. I’m back in the Netherlands, having a schmoke and a pancake… or something like that.

It has been a wild few weeks back in the States for me but, mostly, it’s been a wild few weeks of football. Injuries are beginning to pile up while bye weeks now meddle with our collective fantasy football lineups. It’s enough to drive a person to start Kalif Raymond or Brandon Bolden… weekly.

Byes have forced my hand to rely on these two players, but neither have made my sleeper list for Week 8. Before we get to this week, let’s see how I fared last week.

I’ll give you a hint: not great.

Week 7 Review

Wins

Tua Tagovailoa, QB – Tua was the QB1 this week, throwing for 4TDs in a losing effort at home against the Atlanta Falcons. The Phins have lost six in a row, though Tua is starting to keep his team in games. The two INTs this week aren’t great, but the Dolphins should continue to see negative gamescripts, and their running game just isn’t getting it done. Big W this week.

Losses

Giovanni Bernard, RB – Gio was the PPR RB52 this week, seeing just three targets and two receptions in the passing game. We knew this last week, but Fournette is the only reliable piece in the Bucs backfield, and he did it again this week against Chicago. Gio can’t be trusted again because, at 6-1, who knows if the Bucs will ever see a negative script. Huge loss here.

Rashod Bateman, WR – Bateman had a decent outing in his second NFL contest, but it wasn’t enough to hit 15 fantasy points. Even with seven squads on bye, his 11 total points were only good enough to be the PPR WR34 on the week. Six targets and 80 yards is very encouraging, and a TD would’ve made this a W, but it’s not really that close. L on Bateman.

Ross Dwelley, TE – Clearly, this is a difficult process. With bye-pocalpyse hitting, I was really scrounging for a diamond in the rough. Turns out, those diamonds were CJ Uzomah, Foster Moureau and Zach Ertz. Dwelley wasn’t even the best fantasy football TE on his own team, as Charlie Woerner caught two balls for 30 yards. This one was disappointing… and very, very wrong. L

1-3 once again. I can at least take solace in that fact that I’m consistent. 7-21 overall to-date. Yikes.

As a reminder, here’s how we’re defining fantasy football sleepers, and wins and losses

1. Players ranked outside of the QB12, RB30, WR40 and TE12 for a given week based on the weekly Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) on Fantasy Pros are eligible to be chosen. That’s roughly guys at or beyond the consensus top 100. 
2. For a player to ‘hit’, I’m requiring a finish inside the top 60 overall, though TEs are special so we’ll say a top 6 TE if not within the top 60. That means he was a serviceable starting piece that contributed meaningfully to your lineup, and he also exceeded expectations in a significant way. Historically, he put up at least 15 PPR points.

Shulman’s Sleepers: Week 8

QB: Daniel Jones, New York Giants

Fantasy Pros ECR: QB13

I’m taking the low-hanging fruit here after considering Matt Ryan at home against Carolina and Carson Wentz in Indy against Tennessee. But it’s gotta be Daniel Jones for me, even though I don’t believe in the player or the team. 

Jones’ appeal for me, is the somehow terrible Kansas City defense that has been terrible all season long. In addition to giving up the second-most fantasy points to QBs, KC has been mediocre-to-bad across the board against all other positions. Their secondary has managed to limit WRs somewhat, but the Giants don’t have any of those available for this game anyway due to injury. 

I’m banking on Jones running for his life yet again. Racking up those rushing yards, in addition to slinging it to whoever is out there in an incredibly negative script. Should I bet on Jones? No. I hate it. But such is fantasy football..

Prediction: 255 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; 7 rushes, 45 yards, 1 TD  = 26.7 points

RB: Boston Scott, Philadelphia Eagles

Fantasy Pros ECR: RB38

Kenny Gainwell is getting all the love from fantasy football analysts this week, and for good reason. He’s looked great, though did struggle some last week to carry the load after Miles Sanders went down. But, this week, they face the hapless Detroit Lions.

The Lions looked pretty impressive hanging with the Rams last week, but most of that was due to trick plays working time and time again. I’m expecting the Eagles to run away with this one early, as is usually the case this season. Even in Detroit, Hurts should dominate early, so Boston Scott can dominate late. He doesn’t even need the lion’s share of production early to find me a W.

I love the matchup and the potential workload for Scott this week. Should it all go as expected, I’m betting he’ll be pounding the ball between the tackles late in the game against a defensive front giving up the sixth-most points to RBs in 2021.

Prediction: 12 carries, 60 yards; 3 receptions, 20 yards; 1 total TD = 17.0 points

WR: AJ Green, Arizona Cardinals 

Fantasy Pros ECR: WR43

AJ Green is the easy choice here, especially with news that DeAndre Hopkins may not be 100% once again on a short week. Green is the easy choice because he’s done it before. To be exact, AJG has finished as a WR2 three times already this season… and I like his chances again. 

The Packers defense has been awesome in the early going, but it’s not exactly like they’ve played offensive juggernauts either. Games against the Lions, Bears and WFT absolutely skew their defensive ranking – though, in fairness, they did somewhat limit the Steelers and Bengals. That said, I’m not overly concerned about Green’s matchup, even in a game where the Packers may try to play a more ball-control style of offense with their top two pass catchers out with COVID concerns. 

The PPR WR43 is far too low for Green, who just keeps showing up in this high-powered Arizona attack. 

Prediction: 4 receptions, 65 yards, 1 TD = 16.5 points

TE: Dan Arnold, Jacksonville Jaguars

Fantasy Pros ECR: TE18

Dan Arnold is just three games in to his tenure in Jacksonville, and he’s already tied for fourth on the team in targets. From Weeks 4-6 (with a Week 7 bye), he’s tied with Jamaal Agnew for third with 15 targets, while Laviska Shenault has 17 and Marvin Jones has 18. These numbers also include Arnold’s two targets from Week 4, just a few days after joining the team.

After the bye, I expect Jacksonville will further integrate both Arnold into the offense with DJ Chark out for the season. The Jaguars have shown no desire to involve James Robinson in the passing game and, while Agnew is a presence, there appears to be enough targets to go around with Trevor Lawrence slinging it 36 times per game. 

Also, the Seattle defense has been pretty awful. They surrender the tenth-most points to opposing TEs. Fire up Arnold as a Week 8 TE sleeper.

Prediction: 4 receptions, 50 yards, 1 TD = 15.0 points

Good luck in your fantasy football matchups this weekend and, hopefully, we’ll both hit on a few helpful players to get us over the hump.