🔥 DFS Starts and KEY fantasy players

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Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• Key fantasy starts for Week 8 🔑 

• Favorable DraftKings matchups 💰

• Sneaky Tournament and GPP Plays 🤐 

• The latest NFL player news 📰 

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Each week this NFL season, I’ll be chatting with Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) from Sharp Football Analysis about some of the best matchups and DFS plays in the league.

Check out my YouTube channel for the videos.

WR: Chris Olave (NO)

There’s been some off-the-field issues with reckless driving, and yelling at his QB on the sidelines, but we’re here to talk fantasy.

The Colts are in cover-3 for about 56.6% of opponent pass plays this season, and Olave leads the Saints against that coverage in a number of areas:

• 29% of the team’s targets

• 41% of the team’s air yards

• Targeted on 29.3% of his routes

Additionally, the accuracy of his targets and his yards per route run both rise vs. cover-3, and the Colts have allowed numerous big games to opposing WR1s.

QB: Lamar Jackson (BAL)

He went absolutely NUCLEAR in Week 7.

And as phenomenal as he was in the passing game, he added 10 fantasy points on the ground, which makes him tough to top. This week he gets Arizona, who has largely faded out, and allow these kinds of numbers:

• 27th in TD rate allowed

• 29th in completion rate allowed

• 27th in QB fantasy points allowed

• 30th in yards per pass attempt allowed

Every QB except for Matthew Stafford has scored higher than their 2023 fantasy average when they play the Cardinals. It’s a great spot for Lamar again this week.

WR: Nico Collins (HOU)

As an outside WR going against the Carolina Panthers, he’s set up nicely. The Panthers rank:

• 29th in TD rate allowed to outside WRs (7.9%)

• 31st in yards per targets allowed to outside WRs (10.9)

Click him for Week 8.

RB: Travis Etienne (JAX)

ETN leads the NFL in touches, which is always a terrific starting point when we’re talking fantasy football. His receiving numbers are way up from 2022. And the icing on the cake is that he’s finally getting the goal-to-go work. He’s a complete back.

The Steelers are a vulnerable defense against RBs in general. They’re 26th in yards per carry allowed, and just gave up 127 to the Rams’ stable.

WR: Garrett Wilson (NYJ)

As Zach Wilson has become a little more comfortable over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Garrett Wilson’s stock rise too.

I’m always thinking about how teams might match up against the Giants’ blitz-heavy scheme. When anyone blitzes Zach Wilson, Garrett Wilson gets 60.5% of the targets and 73% of the air yards. Just absurd numbers.

Combine that with the fact that the Giants tend to allow bigger games to opponents’ WR1s, and we may be onto something here.

WR: Zay Flowers (BAL)

As much as I like Lamar Jackson in this spot against the Cardinals, I think Flowers is just as good a play. He’s been on the verge of breaking out a huge game, but just hasn’t really gotten over that hump. He’s still got over 20% of the team’s targets in 5 straight games.

The Cardinals vs. WRs are exploitable:

• 73.6% catch rate allowed (30th)

• 9.7 yards per target allowed (30th)

• 5% touchdown rate allowed (23rd)

If there’s a week you can catch Zay before he really turns in the huge one, this is the one.

RB: Tony Pollard (DAL)

Last we saw Pollard, he had the crazy usage we’ve been waiting for. He logged 87.5% of the Cowboys’ backfield touches. That was the first real neutral game script we’ve seen Dallas play in.

The Rams have the juice to keep this game competitive, and allow the 21st-ranked yards per carry. They’ve been torched by guys like Christian McCaffrey and D’Andre Swift.

I think this could be a spike week for Pollard.

You can see all of Pollard’s advanced utilization stats when you visit Fantasy Life and use their utilization tool:

CLICK HERE for the #1 MUST START of Week 8

Every single week this season, I’ll post videos of my chats with Jake Ciely (@allinkid) of The Athletic, and DFS tournament player @RyanHodge. We discuss the best DraftKings plays and GPP tournament pivots of the week ahead.

If you want to check these out, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

QB: C.J. Stroud (HOU) - $6,300

I think my pick of Lamar Jackson above is the better play, but C.J. Stroud is a really nifty pay-down option at this salary.

Stroud has been exactly the guy we hoped he’d be when he was drafted, and it seems like he’s improving each week. The most comfortable part of his game, though, is when he isn’t getting pressured. He has over 13 yards per completion when he isn’t under pressure, which is the best mark in the NFL this season.

You know who doesn’t pressure the QB very well? The Carolina Panthers.

Tournament Pivot: $8,200, projected ownership 7-10%

RB: Alvin Kamara (NO) - $7,300

Since he’s returned to the Saints, he leads all RBs in targets (39) and receptions (35). If we want to add in WRs and TEs, he’s 7th in targets and 2nd in receptions. That’s basically talking about everyone in the league. The only human being with more receptions than Alvin is Travis Kelce. Wow.

The Colts are really giving up a lot of production to opponents so there are very good reasons Kamara is a little chalky this week.

RB: Isiah Pacheco (KC) - $6,100

If you can’t quite get to Kamara in your lineup build, I don’t mind you going with Pacheco this week.

I know we haven’t seen him really go off in the passing game or anything, but it has gotten better lately. He’s going against the Broncos, who are allowing 32.9% of drives against them to go for TDs and have allowed the most rushing yards by FAR.

Since Pacheco became the unquestioned RB1 for Kansas City, he’s 10th in fantasy points and has the 8th most rushing yards.

Fantasy Life’s Game Hub for this matchup shows some favorable situations for the Chiefs’ offense, and that means for Pacheco too.

Tournament Pivot: $7,200 projected ownership 16-20%

WR: A.J. Brown (PHI) - $8,000

Brown could have easily been in the previous section as well, but I saved him for the DraftKings section. He’s expensive but in yet ANOTHER great spot this week, so I still love the play.

The dude is on a tear. He has 127 yards in 5 straight games. And now he gets to see a Washington defense that’s making everyone who plays WR look great. Let’s just pencil him in.

WR: Christian Kirk (JAX) - $5,900

When Zay Jones doesn’t play, you can pretty much lock Kirk into your lineup for a solid week. It happens every time.

The one concern here would be the way Joey Porter Jr. is playing for the Steelers, but he usually lines up on the outside guy, which is Calvin Ridley’s spot more than 80% of the time, so Kirk can avoid him.

As long as Kirk is sub-$6,000 without Zay Jones in the lineup, I’m going to play him every time.

Tournament Pivot: $5,800, projected ownership 1-3%

TE: Jake Ferguson (DAL) - $3,600

Ferguson is a volume play this week. The potential is there for good volume, which has gone up as the season has gone on.

The potential is there for like 7 catches or so. You may not get a ton of yardage, but if you can find a score, that’s a positive.

TE: Logan Thomas (WAS) - $3,400

There’s an admitted risk here with how boom-or-bust Thomas tends to be, but the Eagles haven’t defended TEs all that well so far, so there is a reality in which this is an excellent play.

Even though Sam Howell is going to get pressured, and probably take some sacks, he may be able to get it out to Thomas and his slot guys.

Tournament Pivot: $6,400 projected ownership 3-6%

DST: Atlanta Falcons - $2,900

I’m going Falcons here for the matchup. The Titans are going to play either Will Levis or Malik Willis at QB, both of whom are raw and erratic at times.

Something people don’t realize is that the Falcons have a better, more playable defense than they used to. Perception dies hard, and we need to look at the facts, the matchup, and make a decision accordingly.

Tournament Pivot: $3,000 projected ownership 2-6%

👀 Dolphins expect Return of Star CB

🚨 49ers Standouts on Opposite Paths to Play

❤️‍🩹 Commanders’ WR Limited on Thursday

🚑 Status of Seattle’s Lockett, Walker Ahead of Week 8

🦬 Knox Officially Placed on IR

🐆 Jacksonville QB Lawrence Limited with Knee

🤔 Dionte Johnson DNP on Thursday

🌵 Desert Hopes: QB Removed from Injury Report

🥳 TE Hock Upgraded Late in Week

🧀 Musgrave Sidelined from Practice

🤕 Waller, Jones Both Limited on Thursday

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” -Will Rogers

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