For the fantasy football player, success in daily fantasy formats comes down to your ability to find value, to identify players who are faced with great matchups, and to maximize the relationships among the players on your roster (otherwise known as correlation). In other words, what are this week's best buys on the fantasy football schedule?
Each week, I'll go through each offensive position and give you a few players I'm considering for my head-to-head lineups, as well as some of the better team defenses for you to select in order to round out those fantasy rosters. These are usually players who are getting as much volume as possible, while also coming in at value prices. I'll also include some players I'm considering for my tournament pool play. And while things may change between this posting and game time, I'll do whatever I can to keep people updated on my various social media channels all the way up until kickoff on Sunday.
With all of that in mind, here are my favorite plays for Week 8.
Quarterbacks
Jalen Hurts ($8,300 DraftKings, $9,200 FanDuel), Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Hurts has been an absolute fantasy superstar this season with either multiple passing touchdowns or a rushing touchdown in every single game. With nine-plus rushing attempts in every game this season, Hurts' floor is as strong as it has ever been and, with the Steelers creating pressure at the third-lowest rate in the NFL, Week 8 should be another 20-plus point week for the Eagles quarterback.
Tua Tagovailoa ($6,200 DraftKings, $7,700 FanDuel), Miami Dolphins at Detroit Lions: In Week 7, Tagovailoa showed no ill effects from the multiple concussions that had caused him to miss the last couple of games. He even carried the ball four times for 15 yards. While I'm not going to say that I wasn't holding my breath on every one of those runs where he would not slide, he should be in harm's way a lot less this week against the Lions defense. Detroit has allowed the fourth-most red zone drives per game and the fourth-highest passer rating on deep passes, which clearly plays right into the skill set of Miami's two dynamic wide receivers.
Geno Smith ($5,800 DraftKings, $7,000 FanDuel), Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Giants: Smith has been extremely strong this season, specifically when throwing deep passes. So far in 2022, Smith ranks first in TD rate, second in completion percentage, and fifth in yards per attempt on deep passes. The Giants have one of only three defensive units which have yet to log an interception on a deep pass in 2022.
Also interested in
Sam Ehlinger ($4,000 DraftKings, $6,000 FanDuel), Indianapolis Colts vs. Washington Commanders: The abrupt switch from Matt Ryan to Ehlinger came as a surprise to absolutely everybody this week. That includes DraftKings, which still has Ehlinger's price tag at the absolute minimum. If Ehlinger can total at least 15 DraftKings points this weekend, he will provide amazing value in cash games and allow you to spend up for a correlated ceiling at other positions in tournaments.
Running backs
Derrick Henry ($8,400 DraftKings, $10,000 FanDuel), Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans: The Texans remain a team that we absolutely want to stream opposing running backs against -- and this week they get Henry. He missed both games against Houston last season, but in their two meetings in 2020, Henry ran for 462 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns. Some might wonder if the Houston defense has improved against the run over the last few seasons. Well, the 2020 version of the Texans allowed 5.20 yards per carry while the current version is allowing 5.23 yards per carry.
Saquon Barkley $8,100 DraftKings, $9,500 FanDuel), New York Giants at Seattle Seahawks: Barkley has logged multiple catches in every game this season, as well as 22-plus carries in three of his last four outings. Volume was never going to be a problem here. The question was if Barkley would have his game-breaking ability back after two injury-filled seasons. With a run of 20-plus yards in four of his last five games and multiple big gains via the pass, Barkley has answered that question with an exclamation point! The Seahawks are allowing a league-high 6.6 YAC per reception and, while I prefer going with running backs who are at home, I will always choose volume over everything.
Josh Jacobs ($7,500 DraftKings, $9,000 FanDuel), Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints: I can't not mention Jacobs in Week 8, coming off of three straight ceiling performances for the Raiders. He has an increased floor with an average of four targets per game over the past four weeks and a good matchup against a Saints run defense that allowed 92 yards and a touchdown to Eno Benjamin in Week 7. Prior to that, the Saints served up 75 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries to Bengals backs in Week 6 and in Week 5, the combination of Kenneth Walker III and Rashaad Penny carried the ball 16 times for 142 yards and a score. Jacobs' price tag has grown significantly, but it still hasn't quite reached a point where it's too restrictive to roster him in either cash games or tournaments.
Also interested in
Alvin Kamara ($7,100 DraftKings, $7,800 FanDuel), New Orleans vs. Las Vegas Raiders: Because of the lack of TD scoring, Kamara's price point still sits well below where it should be when considering his current volume -- specifically in the passing game.
Raheem Mostert ($5,900 DraftKings, $6,800 FanDuel), Miami Dolphins at Detroit Lions: With 15-plus touches in four straight games, Mostert has solidified the lead job in the Dolphins backfield. He also has a great matchup against the Lions, who are the fourth-worst red zone defense in the league, and are allowing a league-high 6.4 yards per play.
Wide receivers
Amon-Ra St. Brown ($6,900 DraftKings, $7,200 FanDuel), Detroit Lions vs. Miami Dolphins: Five times this year, a wide receiver has caught six-plus passes against the Dolphins -- and four of them either scored a touchdown or hit the 100-yard bonus on DraftKings. The Dolphins have the fifth-worst red zone defense in the league and have allowed the fourth-highest completion percentage. We're going to test to see if DFS players have a short memory with St. Brown getting injured (concussion) last week and leaving a bad taste in some people's mouths. He remains a fantastic play in Week 8.
Chris Olave ($6,000 DraftKings, $6,900 FanDuel), New Orleans Saints vs. Las Vegas Raiders: Jarvis Landry and Michael Thomas both remain injured and, therefore, Olave's target share remains super high in the absence of all the other prolific pass-catchers now sitting on the sidelines. Olave has been fantastic in his rookie year with three games of 13-plus targets -- something that only Tyreek Hill and Cooper Kupp can also claim in 2022. Olave continues to lead the league in aerial yards and, when viewed in combination with his tremendous target share, that gives us one of the best high-floor/high-ceiling players on the slate.
Also interested in
Jaylen Waddle ($6,700 DraftKings, $7,800 FanDuel), Miami Dolphins at Detroit Lions: Detroit is the second-worst third-down defense and Waddle has an 81.8% catch rate on third downs. The rest of this team checks in at only 58.8%. The Lions also allow the second-highest rate of slot completions (77.8%). Waddle ranks seventh in the NFL in yards per slot target (11.4).
DJ Moore ($5,300 DraftKings, $6,200 FanDuel), Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons: He has seen seven-plus targets in four straight games, including a season-high in both catches (7) and yards (69) last week versus Tampa Bay. Moore has collected a target share of over 33% in three of his last four games.
Tight ends
Tyler Higbee ($4,300 DraftKings, $6,000 FanDuel), Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers: Coming off of an absolute dud, Higbee should be able to bounce back -- even against a tough 49ers defense against which he caught 10 balls on 14 targets back in Week four. Higbee's volume this season (three games with double-digit targets) has been mostly unmatched, with only Mark Andrews and Zach Ertz having logged as many such games at the position.
Foster Moreau ($3,100 DraftKings, $5,000 FanDuel), Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints: Assuming that Darren Waller will be out again in Week 8, Moreau will flash as a great value on every projection set this week. In five games with over 25 routes run, Moreau has logged an average of six targets per game. In week 7, Moreau ran a route on 67.9% of Raiders' dropbacks and played on 96.4% of snaps.
Also interested in
Dallas Goedert ($5,000 DraftKings, $5,900 FanDuel), Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Goedert has seen a target share of over 22% in each of his last three games, logging a red zone target in four of his last five contests.
Noah Fant ($2,800 DraftKings, $4,700 FanDuel), Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Giants: Over the last three weeks, Fant has really started to come on with 15 targets on 55 routes run. The Giants lead the league in blitz rate, which fits right into the way that the Seahawks are deploying Fant, who has caught six of the seven targets he has seen against the blitz this season -- including a TD reception.
Defenses
New York Jets ($2,900 DraftKings, $4,500 FanDuel), vs. Patriots
Washington Commanders ($2,600 DraftKings, $3,400 FanDuel), at Colts
Disclaimer: Al Zeidenfeld (Username: Al_Smizzle) plays on his personal account in games for which he offers advice. He may also deploy different players/strategies than what he advises.