Key fantasy football takeaways from every Sunday NFL game

Standout performances from players like Breece Hall and James Cook were among Sunday’s major fantasy football takeaways.
Several key players, including Saquon Barkley and Quinshon Judkins, suffered injuries, impacting fantasy football lineups.

Week 8 hadn’t even started, and it was already a wild one.

First came bye-mageddon, as the NFL once again put six teams on bye for seemingly no reason.

Then, as Sunday approached, injuries kept popping up out of nowhere, making it even harder to fill fantasy lineups.

Once the games began, there were blowouts, shocking upsets, and more tough injuries. And with the Jets finally getting their first win, there are no longer any winless teams in the NFL.

Many fantasy football managers will be glad to see Week 8 go, but before it does, here’s a recap of every game with the key fantasy takeaways you need.

Week 8 fantasy football game recaps

Dolphins 34, Falcons 10

The Dolphins were able to take advantage of the Falcons, who did not have Michael Penix Jr. and Drake London.

Miami Dolphins

QB Tua Tagovailoa had his best game of the season. He completed 20-of-26 for 205 yards and four touchdowns. Still not someone to trust week-to-week.
Without TE Darren Waller, WR Malik Washington stepped up as the second receiver with five targets. Could be a deeper league bench option, but that is about it.
RB De’Von Achane led the backfield in touches, but it’s notable that Ollie Gordon received 10 carries. Most likely due to mop-up duties, but something to keep an eye on if it continues next week.

Atlanta Falcons

With no Drake London, Darnell Mooney was supposed to be the primary receiver. He did tie David Sills V in receiver snaps, but was second in targets, catching only one for 11 yards.
First in targets was WR KhaDarel Hodge, with a whopping eight. The offensive struggles meant he caught only three, but if London is going to miss time, Hodge is at least somebody to keep in mind for deeper leagues.
Bijan Robinson played a season low in snaps, but the Falcons barely played him in the fourth quarter when they were down multiple scores. No need to panic.
The Kirk Cousins tryout did not go well. Safe to leave him on waivers even if Penix is out again.

Jets 39, Bengals 38

It looked like there was no chance the Jets were going to win this game heading into the fourth quarter down 31-16, but they had other things in mind.

New York Jets

QB Justin Fields was not spectacular, but did enough to win. His ceiling in fantasy is great thanks to his rushing ability, but he is a landmine. Start at your own risk.
Breece Hall was story of the day. He rushed for 133 yards, two touchdowns and threw for one as well. He should be good in games in which the Jets are competitive.
TE Mason Taylor was good again, yet he continues to be under-rostered. Outside of a bad game in London, where he caught just one pass on two targets, he has had 38 targets in the other five games starting Week 3. That is elite usage for a tight end; go get him if he is out there.

Cincinnati Bengals

The snap count for RBs Chase Brown and Samaje Perine is getting closer each week. This week: 32-25. Brown is still getting the majority of the early-down work, but Perine is getting more as of late, and this week it led to 94 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Perine is worth a flyer on teams as a bye-week flex option and a premium handcuff.
Joe Flacco is starting to look like a possible top-12 QB the rest of the way. Eight touchdowns in his first three games with the Bengals. Those relying on QBs like Caleb Williams and Jordan Love might want to take a look.

Patriots 32, Browns 13

Not even the Browns’ stout defense could hold down Drake Maye and the Patriots.

New England Patriots

RB TreVeyon Henderson ran the ball significantly better than Rhamondre Stevenson by quite a bit. One huge blemish is a fumble.
Fumbles have not stopped Stevenson from losing the starting role and better production has yet to give Henderson the role. It is great to see the game from Henderson, but we need to see the role change to trust him.
Mack Hollins led this receiving room this week in targets, receptions and yards. Don’t get too excited. This is still a spread-the-ball-around offense, led by Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte — the secondary receiver who’s a big play threat.

Cleveland Browns

Bad news: RB Quinshon Judkins left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. The extent of the injury is unknown. It is possible he did not return due to the Browns being down so much. At the very least, they have a bye in Week 9 for him to recover.
Dylan Sampson would be the primary running back if Judkins misses time. Worth a stash pick up just in case, especially for Judkins managers.
TE David Njoku returned from injury, and both he and Harold Fannin Jr. played well, being the two best pass-catchers for the Browns. That should be the norm the rest of the season while Dillon Gabriel is the starting quarterback.

Eagles 38, Giants 20

Philadelphia Eagles

Saquon Barkley looked like the Saquon from 2024: 14 carries for 150 yards and a touchdown. Also added four receptions for 24 yards and a score.
Bad news for Barkley is he suffered a groin injury at the end of the third quarter. Hopefully, he did not return due to the Eagles being up multiple scores. Also noteworthy, they have a bye this week.
If he is out, Tank Bigsby is the running back to roster as he saw 13 of 16 fourth-quarter snaps.
WR A.J. Brown was out, so it was DeVonta Smith and not a lot else. There didn’t need to be with how well the Eagles ran the ball. This led to Jalen Hurts only passing the ball 20 times.

New York Giants

Cam Skattebo looks to have suffered a season-ending ankle injury. This is going to open the door for Tyrone Tracy to take over the leading role.
Tracy is a clear top waiver option in all leagues where he’s available.
WR Darius Slayton returned from his hamstring injury and went right back to his role. He led the team in targets, although it didn’t amount to much. Not a must-roster, but could be sneaky in PPR some weeks.

Bills 40, Panthers 9

The Panthers offense was lifeless today without Bryce Young.

Buffalo Bills

James Cook “cooked” with 19 carries, 216 yards and two touchdowns. It had been a rough two-week stretch for him compared to his first five weeks, so this was great to see.
The only receiver to do much of anything, Khalil Shakir caught six for 88 yards and a touchdown. There are likely to be many more games like this when the Bills blow out their opponent and only need to pass the ball 21 times (19 from Josh Allen).

Carolina Panthers

WR Tetairoa McMillan had one of his more productive games of the season. Managers have to hope he can build off this and be more consistent. It’ll be hard with how much the Panthers want to run
Speaking of the run, the 50/50 rotation continues between Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard. Dowdle has outperformed Hubbard since the latter returned from his injury, so maybe they start leaning more on Dowdle.
In his second week back, WR Jalen Coker took on a much larger role, which significantly affected Xavier Legette. Coker is an intriguing speculative add, while Legette is droppable.

Ravens 30, Bears 16

In a must-win game, Tyler Huntley leads the Ravens to victory. Bears’ holes on offense are exposed, mostly at quarterback.

Baltimore Ravens

Derrick Henry’s buy-low window has officially closed. He now has 193 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games. It should only get better when Lamar Jackson returns, likely this week.
WR Zay Flowers still produced with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. He more than doubled the next receiver with nine targets. Zay has boom-bust games with Lamar for sure, but he is a must-start when Jackson is back.
TEs Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely will both be very hard to trust moving forward with how they are splitting snaps.

Chicago Bears

This was supposed to be a premium matchup for Caleb Williams. Instead, he turned in his second game in a row with zero touchdowns. The Williams from early in the season seems long gone and is best left on your bench if you want to roster him at all moving forward.
TE Colston Loveland did see an increase in snaps and routes run with Cole Kmet sidelined, but it only amounted to five targets and three receptions. Still a bit away from being trusted in fantasy.
The snaps are just about 50/50 now for RBs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. Swift is getting more usage when in the game though. This still limits Swift’s ceiling quite a bit.

Texans 26, 49ers 15

Looks like the Mac Jones magic has worn off for the 49ers.

Houston Texans

Without WR Nico Collins (concussion), C.J. Stroud spread the ball around to Xavier Hutchinson, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel the most.
None of these receivers will reproduce this when Nico returns, but out of the three, Hutchinson and Noel are the most trustworthy while Christian Kirk is still out.
The Texans RB usage flip-flop continues. Woody Marks saw his snap count fall to 40%. He was behind Nick Chubb in carries 17 to 11, but doubled his workload in the passing game.
Marks has the higher ceiling due to being the more explosive back, but as long as Chubb is involved this much he will be hard to trust.

San Francisco 49ers

The Texans defense has shut down most quarterbacks and offenses this year; Mac Jones and the 49ers were no different.
For some good news. TE George Kittle (four receptions, 43 yards, TD) looked a little more like himself after being shut out last week.
WR Jauan Jennings looked healthier, leading the team in targets. Could be a good buy-low with Brock Purdy expected to return soon.

Buccaneers 23, Saints 3

This was a poor offensive game by both teams, yet there are way more question marks from the Saints. Bucs win this game thanks to a defense that scored more points than it allowed.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

RB Sean Tucker saw a much larger workload with Rachaad White struggling. Both had double-digit carries.
The Bucs have a bye in Week 10, so maybe Bucky Irving can return after that. If not, still expect White to get first crack at it.
With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out, WR Emeka Egbuka has dominated targets with 21 over the last two weeks. It has only led to seven receptions and 93 yards. Better days are ahead, but you wonder how healthy he is too.
Tez Johnson has taken advantage of Godwin’ being out’s absence. Despite a lackluster day, he has been the primary Z receiver.
Godwin could return after the bye. Don’t forget about Jalen McMillan as well.

New Orleans Saints

QB Spencer Rattler was benched after struggling early. Rookie Tyler Shough did not have any better luck.
The hope was that RB Alvin Kamara would get a massive bump in usage now that Kendre Miller is out. It is hard to read a lot into this one, but at least early in the game it appeared Kamara was the early-down back and Devin Neal was the third-down back. Kamara did not see much work in the run or pass game though adding to the frustration of managers
Neal is a stash only in deep leagues. He did not record a single rush, but did catch three passes.

Broncos 44, Cowboys 24

The Broncos defense was able to shut down the Cowboys offense, one that is still averaging the NFL’s second-most points per game.

Denver Broncos

Don’t get fooled by RB R.J. Harvey’s three-touchdown game. His role stayed mostly the same.
Troy Franklin stepped up and was the leading receiver. He has had games like this, only to disappoint thanks to a frustrating receiver rotation in Denver. But this feels different. Franklin’s snap percentage has been rising slightly all season.
TE Evan Engram might have a door open for more playing time with Nate Adkins suffering a knee injury.

Dallas Cowboys

WRs George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb both had solid PPR days, despite not being able to find the end zone. Expect even better days against weaker defenses.
This was likely due to the blowout, but RB Jaydon Blue saw a season-high eight carries. Something to keep an eye on, but not picking him up quite yet.

Colts 38, Titans 14

The Colts have surprisingly established themselves as one of the best teams in the NFL. This game did nothing to counter that opinion.

Indianapolis Colts

There really is not much to analyze about the Colts. They took care of business against one of the league’s worst teams as they should have.
Jonathan Taylor: 12 carries, 153 yards and two touchdowns. Oh, and two receptions for 21 yards and a touchdown. That is all. Moving on.

Tennessee Titans

WR Chimere Dike saw a significant usage increase with Tyler Lockett released and Calvin Ridley out again. He turned it into a team-leading seven receptions and 93 yards.
Will be interesting to see if Dike keeps the second wideout role over Elic Ayomanor when Ridley returns. That potential role change makes him a waiver add.
Tyjae Spears played more snaps than Tony Pollard; not a surprise given the game script. He feels like the running back to roster over Pollard since they should be behind in more games than not.

Packers 35, Steelers 25

The Packers ruined Aaron Rodgers’ revenge-game narrative with Jordan Love completing 20 consecutive passes at one point.

Green Bay Packers

RB Josh Jacobs played a vast majority of the snaps early, but struggled despite scoring. A lead, those struggles and a lingering calf injury caused the Packers to turn to Emmanuel Wilson in the fourth quarter. Don’t read more into the usage than that.
Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden led the receivers in snaps as expected. The latter did not produce much at all, but keep in mind he was dealing with a hip injury.
WR Christian Watson had a big debut, playing the third-most snaps and catching four for 85. You could add him off waivers, but know the Packers’ depth at WR will cause him, like others, to be inconsistent. Even without that, Watson has been wildly inconsistent in his career.
The best of the best on National Tight Ends Day: Tucker Kraft. He should be safely locked into your starting TE slot the rest of the season.

Pittsburgh Steelers

WR DK Metcalf once again struggled to rack up yardage, but was saved in fantasy by a touchdown.
RB Jaylen Warren more than doubled Kenneth Gainwell’s touches. Gainwell is a solid handcuff, but will be hard to start, even in a flex spot.
Rookie RB Kaleb Johnson did not see a snap for the second week in a row.

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