Week 8 of the NFL season is in the books, and I’ll remind you that it’s important to not just look at the box score when evaluating players and stating whether their fantasy football stock is up or down. Many times, the numbers under the hood can paint a more accurate or complete picture of a player’s usage, value, or role. That’s the idea behind our Fantasy Football Risers and Fallers series. Throughout the season, we’ll monitor these underlying metrics and trends to identify fantasy football breakout candidates, waiver wire targets, trade targets, sleepers, and players who have seen their fantasy football stock go up or go down. Also, be sure to check out a few players I identified as possible fantasy football buy-low and sell-high candidates! If you want to stay ahead of your league, these are the fantasy football trends and fantasy football values you need to know as Week 8 is in the rearview mirror, and we head into Week 9 of the NFL season.
Biggest Fantasy Football Risers Before Week 9
Jonah Coleman, Denver Broncos
Even with RJ Harvey in the mix, the Jonah Coleman backfield takeover was underway, but with Harvey getting hurt in the middle of the week and being placed on IR, the timeline was sped up a bit. However, the takeover has happened, and Coleman is now the lead back for the Denver Broncos.
Snap Share | % of Team’s Carries | Route Participation Rate | |
| Weeks 7-8 | 58.9% | 40.8% | 36.4% |
| Week 8 | 67.9% | 47.8% | 50% |
| 2nd Half of Week 8 | 90% | 85.7% | 53.8% |
Coleman boasts an above-league-average missed tackles forced per attempt metric, a strong 5.50 yards per carry on zone runs, and, albeit a small sample size, an excellent 21.7% explosive run rate, per FantasyPoints Data. Also, the schedule sets up really nicely for Coleman, as here are his upcoming opponents for the next six weeks, and where they rank in terms of fantasy points allowed to RBs through the first eight weeks of the season:
- Panthers: 31st
- Raiders: 27th
- Steelers: 13th
- Dolphins: 26th
- Jets: 17th
- Raiders: 27th
*1st means fewest fantasy points allowed, 32nd means most fantasy points allowed
So long as Denver doesn’t trade for a running back, Coleman is poised to be the lead back for a Denver team that, through eight weeks, has the 11th-highest fantasy points per game from its running back position, 10th-lowest pass rate over expectation, third-highest checkdown rate, and second-highest target share to the RB position, per FantasyPoints Data.
Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers
Even with Josh Jacobs back, Green Bay can’t run the ball, and the further removed Kraft is from last year’s injury, the better he’s going to be. His route participation rate is north of 65% on a near-weekly basis now, and he’s received at least five targets in six straight games. Kraft has found the end zone in back-to-back weeks, and he’s received at least one red zone target in six straight games. His alignment varies a bit by week, as he posted a season-high 40.7% of his routes from the slot in Week 8, but before that, he posted just 22.2% of his routes from the slot in Week 7, which was his lowest in a game this season. Ninety percent of his routes come from either the slot or inline, and that feels like where he can best be utilized.
Kraft is second on the team in red zone targets, trailing only Matthew Golden, and Green Bay boasts the second-highest pass rate on the season, per FantasyPoints Data. Kraft is just inside the top-12 tight ends on the year, but he actually sits as the TE6 in expected fantasy points per game, per FantasyPoints Data.
Biggest Fantasy Football Fallers Before Week 9
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Young’s two lowest passing yardage performances have come over the last two weeks, with an unimpressive 2:3 TD/INT to boot. The problem with Young is that pressure has really impacted him last year, and his offensive line has been slipping in recent weeks. Overall for the year, the Panthers have allowed the seventh-highest pressure rate, and Young’s time to pressure has dropped in three straight weeks, per FantasyPoints Data, meaning it’s taking less time for opposing pass rushers to get to Young. When pressured on the year, Young has a 38% completion rate, 4.90 yards per attempt, and a 60.6 passer rating, per FantasyPoints Data.
Young is the QB26 in fantasy points per game over the last three weeks, the QB28 over the last two weeks, and if his struggles throwing the ball continue, it’s not like he has his legs to fall back on for fantasy purposes. He’s not running at all this season! After posting 200+ yards in each of the last two seasons on the ground, he’s currently on pace for 82 rushing yards across a full 17-game season. After averaging 4.2 fantasy points per game on the ground in 2024, that mark dropped to 1.85 fantasy points per game last season, and we’re sitting at 1.2 fantasy points per game this season! This is similar to his rookie season, which was not great by any means.
Young has great weapons at his disposal, but if Carolina’s offensive line doesn’t improve, or the team finds ways to scheme around that, Young could be in for a rough few weeks, which would knock some of the shine off of a really impressive start (23.2 fantasy points per game in Weeks 1-4).
Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders
It was communicated before the game to Jeanty that Mike Washington would be a bigger part of things. If only it had been communicated to us! In Week 8, Washington handled 25 carries to Jeanty’s two. Washington got to experience some of the struggles in running behind this offensive line, as Washington was only able to muster 3.3 yards per carry and 1.60 yards before contact per attempt, which were his third-lowest and fourth-lowest marks in a game this year, respectively. Jeanty remained the preferred option in the passing attack, as Washington ran just five routes compared to Jeanty’s 13.
I don’t believe it’s going to be like this, to this extreme, on a weekly basis moving forward, but Klint Kubiak needed to do something to try to invigorate the run game. Through 8 weeks, amongst running backs with at least 80 carries, Jeanty has posted 3.12 yards per carry, a 5.1% explosive run rate, 0.99 yards before contact per attempt, and -102.3 rushing yards over expectation, all of which are the lowest marks in the league, per FantasyPoints Data.
In PPR formats, Jeanty still has appeal, given that he has the most targets, receptions, and receiving yards amongst running backs, but the dream of Jeanty contending for overall RB1 status in 2026 is long gone.
Fantasy Football Buy-Low Candidates
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
I pooh-poohed Bo Nix a few weeks back, but there’s an interesting buying opportunity here on Nix, who finished as the QB8 in fantasy points per game back in 2024 and the QB11 last season. Yes, he currently sits all the way down at QB23, but with Sean Payton calling the plays again, I think that’s where we get the best version of Nix. We’ve seen the rushing tick up a bit the last couple of weeks, and over the last two weeks, Denver has run play action more than in past weeks; Nix has posted his second- and third-highest rates from under center in a game this year, and Payton has included more motion, per FantasyPoints Data.
Sure, Nix isn’t going to be throwing it downfield a ton, but at least with Payton calling plays, his average depth of target (aDOT) is up slightly, his deep throw rate is up over three percentage points, and his turnover-worthy play rate is down at 0.9%, compared to 5.2% when Davis Webb was calling the plays, per FantasyPoints Data.
I talked about it with Coleman above, but it’s a good schedule for the Broncos, and that goes for Nix, too. Nix will face a team that ranks in the bottom half of the league in terms of fantasy points allowed per game to quarterbacks in four of his next five matchups.
Denzel Boston, Cleveland Browns
Simple box score watching will tell you that Boston hasn’t been producing, as he’s been held to under 10 fantasy points (PPR) in not one, not two, but three straight games. However, the workload hasn’t diminished whatsoever, and it’s evident he’s a big part of what Cleveland wants to do. Despite failing to reach 10 fantasy points in any of the last three weeks, it’s Boston who leads the Browns in target share (23.3%), air yards share (45.0%), and first read rate (29.0%), per FantasyPoints Data. He’s averaging eight targets per game over the last three weeks and has 45.7% of the team’s air yards for the entire season, per FantasyPoints Data. With Deshaun Watson as the quarterback, there are going to be peaks and valleys with Boston, or any pass catcher for that matter, but Boston has a few things going for him that are great for his fantasy floor (and ceiling), per FantasyPoints Data:
- He’s constantly out there (89.6% snap share, 84.7% route participation rate)
- He earns targets downfield (15.24 aDOT, 15.73 yards per reception)
- He earns red zone and end zone targets (10 end zone targets are T-2nd amongst all WRs)
Coming off a few down weeks, he shouldn’t be as pricey in trade conversations as he likely was a few weeks back! Capitalize on the opportunity now!
Fantasy Football Sell-High Candidates
Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I think this is an opportunity to float out Irving just to see what kind of return you could be looking at while he’s on this phenomenal run. He’s posted at least 23 fantasy points in three of his last four games, and overall, he’s an RB1 for fantasy purposes thus far! I don’t know if I’d be eager to move Irving, but if you float his name on the trade block, you might be surprised with what people will pay for Tampa Bay’s lead back.
The two lowest pass-rate-over-expectation performances on the season have come from this Tampa Bay team over the last two weeks, and Irving has handled 51 carries across the team’s last two wins. There’s no denying that he’s the team’s lead back, and he’ll likely be counted on as such moving forward, but as Baker Mayfield gets healthier and the game environments are more normal, they will be throwing it more, and that’s where Irving has been a no-show for most of the season.
For the season, he has 18 receptions on 22 targets for 78 yards. However, 61.1% of his receptions (11), 50% of his targets (11), and 62.8% of his yardage (49) came in Weeks 1-2. From Week 3 on, Irving has seven receptions on 11 targets for 29 yards. The six points he scored in his Week 5 receiving touchdown are nearly the same as the amount he’s earned from his catches and yardage (9.9).
With minimal involvement in the passing game, the floor is a bit lower than you might expect for a RB1 in fantasy, and again, while I’m not eager to move him, now is the time to see what kind of return you could get for Irving.
Wan'Dale Robinson, Tennessee Titans
I’ll be short and to the point here, and this is coming from someone who drafted a lot of Wan’Dale Robinson in seasonal leagues and best ball contests. I’m using this week to get out of the Robinson business, but more so, the Titans/Cam Ward business. I like Robinson, and I like the schedule coming up, but I just can’t trust Ward whatsoever, and Tennessee isn’t going to be putting up 30+ points each week as they did against Cincinnati in Week 8. Yes, Ward threw for 300 yards, but guess what? He only has one other game this season where he eclipsed 200 passing yards! Furthermore, despite sitting at 1-7 and playing from behind more often than not, Ward has just three games this year where he’s had two wide receivers surpass 10 fantasy points (PPR) in a game, per FantasyPoints Data. Carnell Tate was out of the mix in Week 8, but we’ve seen guys like Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike get more involved, and any more cooks in the kitchen for a bad offense will lower Robinson’s ceiling.
You can look at this a few different ways, but I’m choosing a more negative viewpoint: Robinson is one of only four wide receivers to have a target share of at least 19 percent but average under 10 fantasy points per game, per FantasyPoints Data.