Week 8 of the NFL season draws closer and closer, and we have yet another 10-game main slate this week for our NFL DFS contests. So once again, it’s a consolidated player pool. But it’s not because of a Monday Night Football doubleheader or even a game overseas in Europe. Welcome to BYEnado, as this is the lone week of the season where six teams get the week off!

We’re not exactly missing out on some defensive juggernauts by any means. But the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, and Seattle Seahawks all get the week off, so they won’t appear on any slate this week. But we still have plenty of heavy favorites on the main slate this week, so let’s take a look at this week’s NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach!

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach for FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

Last week’s NFL DFS D/ST Coach had some very strong recommendations. Targeting D/ST’s against the Tennessee Titans continues to pay off handsomely. The New England Patriots were the Play of the Week for the last main slate, and they returned 19 fantasy points against Cam Ward and company.

The Chiefs were a top-tier recommendation worth paying up for, and they completely blanked the Las Vegas Raiders. The Chiefs scored more points than the Raiders ran plays. The Cleveland Browns D/ST made the article as a mid-range pick, and they returned 25 fantasy points to finally emerge as a good fantasy football defense. Even last week’s value D/ST recommendation, the Carolina Panthers, came through with 17 fantasy points. The only misses were recommending the Denver Broncos and fading the Philadelphia Eagles. But we recommended four defenses that outscored the Eagles, so I’m not considering that too much of a loss. Let’s take a look at how Week 8 is shaping up!

NFL Week 8 Defense/Special Teams

The Week 8 NFL DFS main slate is interesting. It’s another 10-game main slate that consolidates ownership. Specifically, for the NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach, we should be looking primarily at D/ST’s in the early window for tournaments. We only have three games in the afternoon window, and that’s where one of the best plays at D/ST emerges as the cash game lock. If playing the three-game afternoon slate on DraftKings and FanDuel, you might just be leaning into the Indianapolis Colts, who we’ll get to shortly.

The implied totals for the seven games in the early window are fairly spread out. There are six teams favored by at least 6.5 points in the first round of games, so we have some variety when looking at defenses for the early-and-main slates. Let’s take a look at the top plays for the NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach!

 

 


 

NFL DFS D/ST Top Tier Picks for Week 

Indianapolis Colts – DraftKings: $3,800 | FanDuel: $4,900

At this point in the season, pricing is getting tighter, and DraftKings and FanDuel have made the necessary adjustments to make lineup building more of a challenge. So while the Colts might be the best and safest play on the slate, I don’t want to list them as the Play of the Week because it’s just such an easy layup for the NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach.

The Colts will draw a ton of ownership in the afternoon window of games. They’re favored by two touchdowns, and the visiting Tennessee Titans have an implied team total of 16.75 points. The Colts' defense ranks top 10 in defensive EPA/DB (0.03), and they mix in a nice blend of man coverage (26.9%) and zone coverage (73.1%). Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward ranks dead last among quarterbacks in EPA/Play against both man and zone coverage schemes.

The last time these two teams met, the Colts were on the road, and they returned 15 fantasy points. This time, they’re at home with a firm hold on the top seed in the AFC playoff standings. Ward has five turnovers in his last two games, and his confidence seems to be waning a bit, even after the firing of Brian Callahan.

New England Patriots – DraftKings: $3,600 | FanDuel: $5,000

I have two small concerns with the Patriots this week. The first being Quinshon Judkins. Since the reigns were handed over to Judkins, he’s been receiving plenty of volume, which he’s turned into 467 rushing yards in six games alongside five rushing touchdowns. He’s coming off his best game of the season last week against the Miami Dolphins (go figure), but I do believe he will grow into becoming a matchup-proof running back. Fortunately for New England, they’ve been tough to run on so far this year.

My second concern with New England is just the excess travel of late. They’ve won three straight games, but they all came on the road. This game is at home, but they also don’t have their Bye week until Week 14. And we should acknowledge that the Patriots have been somewhat reliant on a D/ST touchdown to really return value. They have three in their last six games, and those are hard to predict.

The Browns do come to Gillette Stadium with a 16.75-point implied team total. And as bad as Dillon Gabriel has been (completing less than 60% of his pass attempts), he hasn’t been credited with a turnover in his three starts, but he has taken 10 sacks in that span, which may have to be the bread and butter for New England in this matchup, but Cleveland could lean heavy on the run to start.
 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Mid-Tier Pick for Week 8

Houston Texans – DraftKings: $3,000 | FanDuel: $4,200

This recommendation gives me some pause, so I suppose it’s worth emphasizing that this team might be better suited for tournaments only. The Texans will definitely have their hands full, considering that the San Francisco 49ers are slowly but surely getting healthier. Kyle Shanahan has already said “it’ll be a stretch” for Brock Purdy to return for this game, so they’ll go with Mac Jones once again.

Jones hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since Week 5, and he has three interceptions in his last three games. The Texans are a tough matchup for opposing quarterbacks. Houston ranks first in EPA/Pass allowed (-0.24), first in completion percentage over expected (-6.5%), and they’re second in pass success rate (37.4%). Even when the Texans have a bad defensive performance like last week (27 points allowed), they still had four takeaways last week against the Seattle Seahawks.

Now, the reason we don’t load up on Houston for cash games is because they still have to account for Christian McCaffrey out of San Francisco’s backfield. It’s the passing volume that’ll be tricky to stop as he’s popped for 22+ fantasy points in every game this season, and it’s because he’s so heavily involved in the passing game. But the Texans are fortunately slight home favorites in a game with a low implied total, so I think we can put some faith in this defense possibly giving a big return at low ownership.

NFL Week 8 DFS D/ST Value Pick

Chicago Bears – DraftKings: $2,600 | FanDuel: $3,800

As of Thursday morning, the Chicago Bears are 6.5-point underdogs, and the implied total for this game is just under 50 points. The sportsbooks are anticipating Lamar Jackson playing, but if he’s ruled out, I imagine there will be a shift in the betting trends for this game.

The Bears' defense has quietly been playing incredibly well over their last four games. They’ve allowed 19 points per game to opposing offenses with 15(!) takeaways in that span. Through six games this year, this D/ST has returned at least nine fantasy points in all but one game. They are prone to giving up production on the ground, so this could be a “get right” game for Derrick Henry. But if Lamar Jackson is ruled out after practicing in a limited fashion this week, then the Bears are the preferred paydown option at D/ST.

Among our NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach value picks, I want to also acknowledge the Cleveland Browns as a potential pivot. However, I’m a bit wary of playing the Browns against the Patriots in New England, especially with the Patriots riding a ton of momentum following three straight wins on the road. But if Lamar Jackson gets the start for Baltimore, we may need to avoid the Bears as our value play and look to the Browns or punt to the New York Giants.

 

 

 

NFL DFS D/ST Fade for Week 8

Philadelphia Eagles – DraftKings: $3,200 | FanDuel: $4,600

I recommended the Eagles as the Fade of the Week last week, and while the Eagles did return a dozen fantasy points against the Minnesota Vikings, they had a pick-six that really helped out the performance. If Philadelphia doesn’t make the pick, then we’re looking at four fantasy points from Philly. But I say this time and time again, this is a position of variance, and D/ST touchdowns are tough to predict.

So I’m once again avoiding Philadelphia’s D/ST. This is another road game for the New York Giants after they just played in Denver in Week 7. But these two teams met in Week 6, and they had no answer for the combination of Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo.

Do I expect the Eagles to make improvements and adjustments? Yes. They have more tape on the Giants since the quarterback change, and obviously want to avoid two losses to the Giants in one season. But this defense has still given up 21+ points and 350+ yards to each of their last five opponents, with just a total of nine sacks in that span. I just think we can pay up or down from the Eagles and find more upside.

NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Play of the Week

Atlanta Falcons – DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $4,100

We close out the NFL DFS Week 8 D/ST Coach with one of the more surprising defenses to emerge during the 2025 season. The Falcons are a tremendous value on FanDuel as a mid-tier team, but they’re certainly playable on both sites with the Miami Dolphins coming to town. The Dolphins are an absolute mess, and they’re due to clean house either at the trade deadline or after the season. 

Tua Tagovailoa has thrown SIX interceptions in his last two games. Overall, he has 10 interceptions in seven games, and he’s fumbled six times as well, but he’s only credited with losing one of those. Tua has actually been surprisingly good against man coverage. He ranks second, just behind Drake Maye, in EPA/Play against man coverage. But he’s second-worst in EPA/Play against zone coverage, just ahead of Cam Ward. And as fate would have it, the Falcons play zone coverage at a 77.3% clip. Even our resident tight end guru, Andrew Cooper, was messaging me about how the defensive combination of Jessie Bates and Xavier Watts is a problem for opposing offenses, especially against tight ends.

My other big concern is that Tua Tagovailoa just seems checked out. Or he doesn’t care. Or he says incredibly stupid things to the media. A few weeks back, he openly admitted that he can’t do the things that Josh Allen can. So, of course, the media will spin it as him admitting he knows he isn’t as good as Josh Allen. A couple of weeks ago, Tua threw teammates under the bus for missing some meetings. And last week, he let it slip that he’s not tall enough to see over the offensive line at times to get the ball to Jaylen Waddle.

The Cleveland Browns returned 25 fantasy points against the Miami offense last week. The Falcons rank first in blitz rate (42.2%) through seven games, and the Miami offensive line ranks 21st in pass block win rate (59%), so the sky’s the limit for Atlanta in this matchup.