Week 8 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Fabiano Likes a Couple of Lions to Roar

Sports Illustrated

Senior fantasy analyst Michael Fabiano joins Jen Piacenti to give fantasy managers his top starts and sits for Week 8 of the 2023 NFL season.

Transcript

00:00 It's week eight of the fantasy football season and no teams are on by.

00:04 That means all your studs should be back in action, but should you start them all this

00:09 weekend?

00:10 We're going to ask Michael Fabiano, SI's senior fantasy analyst, to give us the goods.

00:15 All right, Fabs, who should we start at quarterback this weekend?

00:21 Jared Goff was on the road last week and I said sit him and he had a stink bomb.

00:25 This week he's at home on Monday night against the Raiders and the Lions are going to wear

00:30 those new helmets that they've got.

00:32 You know I love my helmets.

00:34 This is a start for Jared Goff.

00:36 He's been very good at forward field historically, especially since the start of last season.

00:40 The Raiders defense has allowed 18 plus fantasy points at three quarterbacks since week two.

00:45 Start Jared Goff.

00:46 And I like that Prescott this week.

00:48 Listen, I know that most of his stat lines this year have not been great.

00:51 The game before the bye though, he did put up over 20 fantasy points.

00:55 He's got the Rams this week.

00:56 They've allowed quarterbacks to score more than 27 fantasy points against them in two

01:01 of their last four games.

01:02 So I think Dak can give you 18 plus points in what could end up being a high scoring

01:07 game.

01:08 You like Dak, but you don't like Russell Wilson this weekend.

01:14 Russell's playing the Chiefs again.

01:16 And the last time we saw Russell play the Chiefs, well, it was not good.

01:20 He was down by a couple digits.

01:21 And the Chiefs defense is playing really well right now.

01:23 I don't know if it's the defense or the opponents, which they haven't really played a great team

01:28 since week one in the first Detroit.

01:31 Russell Wilson is not a player that you can start especially with no teams on a bye.

01:34 And then Gino Smith is not only a sit, but you know what?

01:41 You may consider cutting him right now.

01:44 Gino Smith was a QB5 last year.

01:47 He has had one good game from a statistical perspective.

01:50 This is the Gino Smith that we all kind of know.

01:53 Last year, I think that may have been the anomaly.

01:54 The Carrick has turned back into a pumpkin.

01:55 The matchup is bad against the Browns.

01:56 Gino Smith should be on your bench.

01:57 Like Isaiah Pacheco again this weekend for a good matchup.

01:58 It's like every week, right, with Pacheco?

01:59 He's playing the Broncos.

02:00 And the Broncos, I know the defense has been better lately, but still the worst defense

02:01 in the league when it comes to the defense.

02:02 And I think that's a good thing.

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04:00 Yeah, I like Christian Kirk a lot.

04:03 And Kirk's been great.

04:04 He's averaging almost 15 points per game.

04:06 Really outside of Week 1.

04:07 His numbers have been pretty stellar and pretty consistent.

04:10 The Steelers have given up the third most points to wide receivers,

04:13 including the ninth most points to slot receivers.

04:15 So, you mentioned Ridley.

04:16 I think you could play him too.

04:18 But Christian Kirk is the better of the two Jaguars from a fantasy perspective.

04:21 And I'm also playing Terry McClurin.

04:23 Remember a few weeks back when McClurin played against the Philadelphia Eagles

04:27 and I said he had that really good trend?

04:29 In nine career meetings against the Eagles,

04:32 he has scored 16 plus points six times, including four with more than 20.

04:37 That's pretty good.

04:38 And he also beat them for 86 yards, a touchdown, which was a fumble recovery,

04:42 and 22.6 points earlier this season.

04:45 The Eagles not good against the perimeter.

04:47 Start Terry McClurin.

04:50 There are more than a few teams dealing with some quarterback issues right now.

04:54 And also, the trade deadline is around the corner.

04:56 And I'm guessing both of those things impact your wide receivers' stance for this weekend.

05:01 We'll start off with New Hopkins, who is really bad before the bye.

05:05 The quarterback situation is going to be a combination of Malik Willis and Will Levis.

05:10 That's not good.

05:11 New Hopkins is a player that you can't trust this week and maybe moving forward,

05:16 especially, though, against Atlanta.

05:18 They have been very tough against perimeter receivers.

05:21 In fact, no team has given up fewer points to that position.

05:25 And then Amari Cooper.

05:26 You mentioned it.

05:27 Deshaun Watson is banged up.

05:28 It could be P.J. Walker this week.

05:30 Regardless, the matchup isn't great against Seattle.

05:33 This is a play where if Deshaun Watson is active, I feel a little bit better about Amari Cooper

05:39 as a wide receiver three-arm flex starter.

05:42 If it's P.J. Walker, he is a risk/reward option at best.

05:47 The Browns pass attack has got some issues right now, Jay.

05:51 Deshaun Watson had negative fantasy points last week.

05:54 Negative.

05:55 I can't.

05:56 I can't.

05:57 All right.

05:58 Let's move over to the tight end position, which, Michael Fabiano, may have suddenly

06:03 just gotten a little more interesting.

06:05 Some major injuries coming out.

06:07 Zach Ertz now on the IR.

06:09 We got Dawson Knox.

06:11 And I think some of those injuries also might help influence who you can start this week.

06:16 And there may even be players available on the waiver wear.

06:18 So let's get pumped up.

06:20 It's the tight end part of the video.

06:22 Yeah, and let's go with Dalton Schultz, who's been hot before the bi-week three-straight

06:27 game for the touchdown.

06:28 Now, he's got the Panthers this week.

06:30 And the Panthers' defense is actually pretty tough on tight ends.

06:33 But I'm going to roll with Schultz while he is hot.

06:35 And I do like his quarterback in this matchup, C.J. Stroud, as well.

06:38 So he could potentially be a low-end QB1 this week.

06:42 And let's go to Jake Ferguson of our beloved Dallas Cowboys.

06:45 Ferguson has not seen a ton of targets over the last couple of games.

06:49 But the Rams' defense has been very, very generous to tight ends, allowing 10-plus points

06:55 to four different players in that position.

06:57 So if you're hurting a tight end, Jake Ferguson could be added off the waiver wire and started this week.

07:03 Absolutely.

07:04 And as far as who you're not starting this week, you're not starting a tight end that's facing Dallas Cowboys.

07:10 Right.

07:11 Let's stay with that game.

07:12 And Tyler Higby, who I've told you to sit the last couple of weeks.

07:14 Listen, Jen, the targets are not there now that Cooper Cupp is back.

07:17 They've got Cupp, they've got Akua to a lesser degree, they've got Tutu Atwell.

07:21 They're not throwing the ball to the tight end.

07:23 Higby is averaging three targets in his last three games.

07:26 The Cowboys have been really tough against tight ends outside of that one game where George Kittle whacked us for three touchdowns.

07:33 Tyler Higby is a fate for me.

07:35 And so is David Njoku.

07:36 You know, he has scored 10-plus fantasy points in two of his last three games, which is actually pretty good from a fantasy perspective.

07:42 But he's averaging 7.3 points per game on the season, and the Seahawks defense has a lot of tight ends who are touchdown.

07:49 So I think Njoku's ceiling is pretty low.

07:51 I would avoid him, much like most of the Browns' pass catchers this week, if Tyshawn Watson can't go.

07:57 Wow.

07:59 There you go, Browns.

08:00 Sorry, you're mostly on the sit list this week.

08:03 Thank you again for all your fantastic advice.

08:05 As always, Michael Fabiano.

08:07 And for all of Fabiano's starts and sits, including positions like kicker and defense, you can check him out at SI.com/fantasy.

08:15 fantasy.

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