Fantasy Football NFL Week 8 Target Report: George Kittle & Rashee Rice are Back
Once the NFL season starts, the injury bug never stops attacking. Despite returns from guys like George Kittle and Darnell Mooney, we saw guys like Darren Waller fall to the injury bug (again) and find their way back onto IR. That’s why we continue to update tools like the Target Totem Pole and the RB Questionnaire all year long. These groups will continue to adjust throughout the entire season, so we need to stay on top of the trends.
2025 Fantasy Football NFL Week 8 Target Report Preview
Why do we do the target report? Well, we have a pretty good indication historically of how many fantasy-relevant pass-catchers can come from each team. The short and sweet is that the vast majority of teams will have one, maybe two fantasy-relevant pass-catchers. And there will almost certainly be more teams with zero than there are with three. Most meaningful fantasy players get at least 100 targets - here is a look at how players on each team over the last decade have hit that milestone.
In the chart below, what we will do is attempt to take each team and project A. the target pecking order, and B. what target range the players will likely fall into. At the bottom, we’ll include some notes as far as what went into the rankings and color-coded chart. So let’s dive in!
Fantasy Football Target Chart 2025 NFL Week 8
125+ Pace | SE = Split End |
100+ Pace | FL = Flanker |
Possible 100+ Pace | SL = Slot |
Unlikely 100+ Pace | FS = Field Stretcher |
Well below 100+ Pace | TE = Tight End |
| *Injury/suspension | RB = Running Back |
Fantasy Football Week 8 Target Report Advice & Takeaways
If a team has a ** next to them, it means they moved to a new section. If a team has a note, it means there is something we should monitor or some sort of change. If there are no notes, we can assume it is business as usual. After the first week of football, there are a lot of notes!
Clear Top Two
Arizona Cardinals
Cincinnati Bengals
- Ja'Marr Chase
- Tee Higgins
- Noah Fant is on the streaming radar with Mike Gesicki out, but he’s a distant third target.
Indianapolis Colts
- Michael Pittman
- Tyler Warren
- We found this week that Anthony Gould stepped into the slot with Josh Downs out, not Adonai Mitchell. Right now, you have Pittman and Warren playing big snaps and getting consistent targets. Alec Pierce plays big snaps, but his targets in his deep threat role are not super consistent. That makes him more of a standard league dart throw. Josh Downs is a part-time player but has a decent floor in PPR as he usually gets looks. That’s the Colts.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Brian Thomas Jr
- Travis Hunter
- Brian Thomas Jr is dealing with a shoulder injury, which saw him rotate some rather than being a full-time player like usual. That saw Travis Hunter and Parker Washington lead in snaps. Travis Hunter was a buy-low target for us based on his recent increased usage.
Las Vegas Raiders
- Brock Bowers*
- This team is a mess. Technically, Jakobi Meyers leads the team with 43 targets, but he has not been startable in fantasy. Tre Tucker is boom/bust. Basically, we have Brock Bowers as a hypothetical option, and that’s it. If Jakobi Meyers actually gets traded, maybe we can see Jack Bech.
Los Angeles Rams
- Puka Nacua
- Davante Adams
- We got some important info here - Jordan Whittington is clearly the next man up if Puka Nacua misses time. The Rams have their bye this week, so we expect Nacua to be back, but keep that in mind.
High Consolidation
Atlanta Falcons
- Drake London
- Darnell Mooney
- Kyle Pitts
- Bijan Robinson
- Each of these four guys got between 5 and 9 targets this week. The only other player that was targeted was Casey Washington with 2, but he played only 11 snaps. They love blocking tight end Charlie Woerner, which keeps the target consolidation high in Atlanta. And we like that.
Dallas Cowboys
- CeeDee Lamb
- George Pickens
- Jake Ferguson
- CeeDee Lamb made his triumphant return this week. The battle now shifts back to Jake Ferguson vs. George Pickens for targets. So far this year, Ferguson is winning that battle. If the Cowboys' defense continues to play poorly, all three could be viable. You can drop any of Tolbert, Turpin, and Flournoy back to the wire.
Los Angeles Chargers
- Ladd McConkey
- Quentin Johnston*
- Keenan Allen
- Oronde Gadsden
- I would love to crown Oronde Gadsden as an asset we can trust. I really would. This is a guy we love - for dynasty. And we mentioned him as a deep sleeper in the FA Draft Guide. But I just can’t give my stamp of approval to him as an every week starting right now. Yes, he did get 9 targets this week, but Keenan Allen got 14 and Ladd McConkey got 14. With normalized game scripts, all these guys could be tough to trust.
Miami Dolphins
- Jaylen Waddle
- De’von Achane
- Darren Waller
- Both Jaylen Waddle and Darren Waller left this game with an injury. If Waddle misses time, we’ll see Nick Westbrook-Ikhine-Ikhine-Ikhine and Malik Washington as the primary two WRs with Dee Eskridge as the third. Washington is more appealing for fantasy. If Waller misses time, Tanner Conner will go back to being the starting tight end, which would not interest us unless it’s a very deep league.
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Emeka Egbuka*
- Chris Godwin*
- Cade Otton
- Tez Johnson
- This team is highly consolidated because they have no choice with the injuries. Mike Evans is done, and as long as Chris Godwin is out, Tez Johnson and Cade Otton are on the table as spot starts. They go on bye after this week.
Washington Commanders
- Terry McLaurin*
- Deebo Samuel*
- Zach Ertz
- I know we want Luke McCaffrey to be a thing, but we found out that he’s basically their fourth WR. Chris Moore has been playing Terry McLaurin’s role. And Jaylin Lane was elevated into Deebo Samuel’s. We will have to see who is ready to go or not next week before making streaming decisions.
One Stud, Then Uncertainty
Baltimore Ravens
- Zay Flowers
- Likely is now up to a full snap share along with Mark Andrews, but Andrews played more WR snaps (48 to 36) and got more targets this week despite Likely running slightly more routes. Flowers is the only consistent option.
Carolina Panthers
- Tetairoa McMillan
- Jalen Coker returned, but they eased him back in. That allowed Xavier Legette to remain a full-time guy opposite Tetairoa McMillan, where he finally turned in a decent game. Coker could just end up a part-time slot guy, which wouldn’t be appealing. Of the 36 routes, Ja’Tavion Sanders ran 15, Mitchell Evans ran 13, and Tommy Tremble ran 12. So nothing is worth using there right now.
Chicago Bears
- Rome Odunze
- At this stage, DJ Moore has proven that he’s not a reliable fantasy option this year - he hasn’t cracked 50 receiving yards since Week One. If the Cole Kmet back injury is serious, that could see more snaps for the rookie Colston Loveland and Luther Burden, so we’ll monitor that.
Denver Broncos
- Courtland Sutton
- We have to try not to confuse pure volume with a true change in circumstance. Yes, Marvin Mims had a good game. But he was still fourth in snaps and routes behind Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, and Evan Engram. He was also tied for third in targets with Engram. We need him to surpass Troy Franklin to be a guy we can truly trust because it’s hard enough to trust Franklin.
Detroit Lions
- Amon-Ra St. Brown
- Same as always - ARSB is locked in, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta have their up and down weeks. This was a down week for both.
Houston Texans
- Nico Collins
- Nico Collins could be out with a concussion this week. And Christian Kirk has been banged up. That would see rookies Jaydin Higgins and Jaylin Noel get a bigger shot here. And Dalton Schultz is squarely on the streaming radar.
Minnesota Vikings
- Justin Jefferson
- This team is highly consolidated, so everyone can get looks if they drop back 47 times like this week. The concern is for one of Addison or Hockenson to be the odd man out in more normal game scripts, as we have seen.
New Orleans Saints
- Chris Olave
- Chris Olave has 71 targets through 7 games, which is second only to Ja'Marr Chase. Shaheed and Johnson are both on the fringe of 100, but they both won’t get there most likely. Kamara has not gotten the targets he has in previous years in Kellen Moore’s scheme.
New York Giants
- Wan’Dale Robinson
- Robinson fairly consistently gets targets and is your best PPR bet. Lil’Jordan Humphrey played in place of Darius Slayton but didn’t do much with it. They’ve been using a TON of two-tight end sets with Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger each playing more than 50 snaps, but Johnson (35 of 36) ran more routes (17).
New York Jets
- Garrett Wilson*
- Here’s what we got with Garrett Wilson out. Josh Reynolds and Arian Smith were the clear full-time wide receivers. They both ran 42 of 45 routes. Reynolds played primarily outside while Smith led the team with 22 slot routes, then remained on the field for 2 WR sets. Allen Lazard and Tyler Johnson rotated as the WR3, with both of them running over 70% of their routes from the slot. How is this possible? Mayson Taylor actually ran 14 routes out wide, which allowed more slot snaps. At the end of the day, it’s hard to start any of them, but that’s how it worked out. Reynolds and Mason are closest to usable right now, but Smith could be a deep stash.
Pittsburgh Steelers
- DK Metcalf
- This is a real nightmare tight end situation with all of them rotating and getting targets. With Calvin Austin out, Roman Wilson has played more, but he only ran 19 of 35 routes. DK Metcalf ran all 35 with the tight ends having the following: Jonnu Smith - 28, Pat Freiermuth - 25, Darnell Washington - 16, Connor Heyward - 2. Yikes.
Seattle Seahawks
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
- Cooper Kupp hasn’t done much with his targets, and this week he only saw one. We’d love to see rookies Elijah Arroyo or Tory Horton play more, but Cooper Kupp and AJ Barner are holding them back. Maybe after the bye.
Wide Open
Buffalo Bills
- Keon Coleman
- Khalil Shakir
- Dalton Kincaid
- Dalton Kincaid missed this week, but they have a bye, so hopefully he’ll be back on the other side. This team continues to spread the ball around, which caps the upside of its individual pieces outside of Josh Allen. Even James Cook lost pass snaps to Ty Johnson.
Cleveland Browns
- Jerry Jeudy
- David Njoku*
- Harold Fannin
- Isaiah Bond
- Cedric Tillman*
- It wouldn’t be Cleveland Browns football if this weren’t a weird team. The season started with Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman playing full-time WR snps with David Njoku and Harold Fannin rotating. When Tillman got hurt, Isaiah Bond took over. With Njoku out, we did see an uptick for Harold Fannin Jr, so we know what a David Njoku trade might do. In this rain game, they leaned on Blake Whiteheart over Isaiah Bond, but future games might not look like that. These guys are all “start them if you have to,” and I’m rostering Jeudy, Fannin, and Njoku in normal leagues, Isaiah Bond in deep ones.
Green Bay Packers
- Tucker Kraft
- Matthew Golden
- Romeo Doubs
- Dontayvion Wicks
- The move into the slot has been positive for Matthew Golden. And Dontayvion Wicks left with an injury this week, which should consolidate things. But eventually Christian Watson and Jayden Reed will return to throw a wrench into this setup. Tucker Kraft is the one guy you can trust because of his TE eligibility and the scarcity there.
Kansas City Chiefs
- Rashee Rice
- Xavier Worthy
- Travis Kelce
- We can’t necessarily say this one is locked in as “highly consolidated” just yet. But that’s what we expect - these three players to be startable in fantasy with guys like Brown, Thornton, and Smith-Schuster rotating. Rice was eased back in for snaps but got a bunch of targets right away.
New England Patriots
- Hunter Henry
- Stefon Diggs
- Kayshon Boutte
- Mack Hollins
- Demario Douglas
- It’s an unusual offense as the top target doesn’t typically play the full game (Stefon Diggs). But the other guys in Boutte, Hollins, and Douglas are used so sporadically in deep shots/gadget plays that they are hard to trust. So right now, it’s Diggs or Hunter Henry as possible options in fantasy football, with the others being more DFS darts.
San Francisco 49ers
- Ricky Pearsall*
- Jauan Jennings
- George Kittle
- Christian McCaffrey
- Brandon Aiyuk*
- Kendrick Bourne
- Did George Kittle have the best game? No. But he ran 24 of 28 routes, and that’s what we needed to see. Jauan Jennings (26) and Kendrick Bourne (23) were your two WRs. It might get weird when Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk are both back, since this team does not love three WR sets, but for now, we know who the players are.
Tennessee Titans
- Calvin Ridley*
- Elic Ayomano
- Van Jefferson
- Chimere Dike
- Chig Okonkwo
- Gunnar Helm
- This team is kind of doing “live tryouts” at this stage to see who is going to be a part of the team moving forward. You see that when teams know this year is a wrap. So we’re seeing rookies like Chimere Dike and Gunnar Helm get an opportunity to see what they can do, especially with Calvin Ridley out. That’s usually not good for fantasy football in the short term, as it can be unpredictable week to week, but sometimes these young guys emerge and become something. We’ll continue to monitor.
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