Fantasy Football Week 8 Wide Receiver Start/Sit: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cedric Tillman, Marvin Harrison Jr.

Ted provides three players to lock into your fantasy football lineups and three to leave on the bench for Week 8.

Welcome back to FantasySP’s weekly fantasy football wide receiver start/sit breakdown! Last week’s results on the Start side were straight-up terrible, as all three featured players ended up dealing with availability issues. Jakobi Meyers, at least, was ruled out well in advance of the game, but both Demario Douglas (illness, 20 snaps) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (hamstring, seven snaps) were “active” to put up useless fantasy stat lines. Issues like these aren’t really predictable, but I still apologize to anyone who started Smith-Schuster or Douglas because of this article.

At least my Sit picks for Week 7 were more successful. Amari Cooper was the lone L with a 14.6-point Bills debut, but he played just 35% of available snaps, so I feel good about the process there. Jerry Jeudy and Josh Downs, meanwhile, combined for a grand total of 3.1 Half-PPR points.

Once again, I am better as a hater than a believer. Hopefully this week we can keep the good hating streak going while adding some wins in the Start section — at this point, it would be a win to pick three wide receivers who last the full 60 minutes. Without further ado, let’s get started. 

For more help with your toughest Week 8 Start/Sit decisions, check out FantasySP’s NFL Start/Sit tool!

Fantasy Football Wide Receivers To Start Week 8

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks vs. Buffalo Bills

This may not seem like a particularly bold call, as JSN should theoretically be the Seahawks’ WR1 with D.K. Metcalf out with a knee injury. However, this clearly merits saying, as the sophomore is currently projected to be started in less than half of fantasy football leagues (48%). This isn’t all that surprising, as Smith-Njigba has been unproductive so far this season, and managers have plenty of options with zero teams on bye for Week 8.

With that said, I think it’s worth attempting to get JSN in your lineup for this week. The Seahawks rank first in the league by a solid margin with a pass rate 8.8% above expected. And, while he’s been very inefficient on a per-target basis, Smith-Njigba has been seeing targets, with an average of 7.7 per game. 

The Bills’ defense overall is a bad matchup for receivers, but they actually allow more points than expected to slot WRs — JSN has run 87% of his routes this season from the slot. It may not always be pretty with his 5.9 yards per target, but the 2023 20th-overall pick, but he should see the volume to have a solid outing this week.

Bonus Pick: Veteran Tyler Lockett is also a great play this week, as he will now be the WR2 in this pass-happy Seattle offense. 

Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A few weeks ago, I talked about how Darnell Mooney’s role was essentially identical to Drake London’s. Since then, London has clearly separated himself as the Falcons’ top receiver. However, Mooney’s role in this Atlanta offense is still very strong. The Falcons, unlike many other teams, hardly rotate their receivers, meaning Mooney actually ranks third in the entire league with a 91% route participation rate.

Mooney is making solid use of those routes, too, with a 21% target share on a solid 11.2-yard ADOT. In a matchup with the Bucs, who rank as the fifth-best schedule-adjusted matchup for wide receivers, he should be able to have a productive Sunday. 

Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens

Standards are higher in a week with no byes, but I have to go for at least one deep-league pick. Even coming off a 12-target, 14.1-fantasy-point outing in Week 7, Tillman is still not rostered, let alone starting, over three-quarters of leagues. However, I think things are coming together for the 2023 third-rounder to have a solid outing in Week 8.

In Week 7, Tillman didn’t just take advantage of Amari Cooper’s absence. He effectively replaced Amari Cooper as the Browns’ X receiver, seeing a huge 31% first-read target share (Cooper was at 33%). Instead of increasing targets for Jerry Jeudy or Elijah Moore, the Browns seemingly just plugged in Tillman for Cooper and used the same playbook. 

Those targets also get more valuable this week, as the Browns will be starting Jameis Winston with both Dorian Thompson-Robinson (finger) and Deshaun Watson (karma) sidelined. Winston isn’t necessarily a good NFL quarterback, but he has always supported productive fantasy receivers. Really, anyone would be an upgrade from Watson’s league-worst 3.84 net yards per attempt. 

If you’re still not convinced, consider that the Ravens are the second best adjusted matchup for fantasy receivers in the entire league. According to Fantasy Points Data, Baltimore’s defense allows opposing receivers to score 8.9 points per game above their usual numbers. In a soft matchup with a good role, Tillmans is the guy to play if you’re desperate this week. 

Fantasy Football Wide Receivers To Sit Week 8

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans

As long as managers are considering starting Josh Downs with Anthony Richardson under center, he’s appearing in the Sit section. (For the record, the same applies to Michael Pittman Jr.). Last week, I pointed out that Joe Flacco averaged nearly twice as many catchable pass attempts per full game as Richardson, 30.5 to 16.4. Richardson proceeded to throw just 13 catchable passes in Week 7, pulling his average down to less than half of Flacco’s. 

As for Downs himself, his averages in games played by Richardson are now the following: four targets, two receptions, 2.2 Half-PPR points. Does that sound like someone you want in your lineup?

Diontae Johnson, Carolina Panthers @ Denver Broncos

This shows what we’ve come to with zero teams on bye, as I have traditionally been a huge Diontae Johnson believer. Unfortunately, things simply aren’t setting up well for Johnson in Week 8.

The most obvious issue for Johnson this week is that the Panthers are going to be starting Bryce Young after Andy Dalton was injured in a car crash. It’s been a few weeks, so here’s a reminder of how rough Young was in his two starts to start the season: He ranks dead last in EPA per dropback, would rank dead last in net yards per attempt if he had the volume to qualify, and ranks dead last in PFF Pass Grade. 

In two games with Young under center, Diontae scored 2.9 and 3.0 Half-PPR points. Things won’t be any easier this week, either, as the Broncos are the worst possible matchup for fantasy receivers. Especially with Patrick Surtain, who has blanked better receivers than Johnson already this season, back healthy, this is a situation I’m avoiding.

Marvin Harrison Jr., Arizona Cardinals @ Miami Dolphins

I’m terrified even typing this. Although he’s had a slow start to his NFL career relative to expectations, MHJ is still a very talented receiver. He also has very healthy peripheral numbers, including a 21% target share and 39% air yards share. 

With that said, I think MHJ is not a must-start option for this week. For one, aside from his admittedly incredible Week 2 performance, he simply hasn’t been a good fantasy asset so far this season. He has twice as many weekly finishes outside the top 50 wide receivers (four) as in the top 24 (two). The Cardinals are using him as a traditional X receiver, which is a very boom-or-bust fantasy prospect. Harrison Jr. is not an elite YAC weapon, so he doesn’t get the designed touches that other top receivers will get.

Making things worse, the Dolphins have been the second-toughest opponent for fantasy receivers so far this season. This may be more due to their offensive ineptitude than anything else, but it’s worth noting. 

Now, MHJ is by no means a must-bench. There are tons of ways this prediction could go wrong: The Cardinals could give him some designed targets just to shut everybody up, the Dolphins could turn back into a good matchup with the return of Tua Tagovailoa, or Harrison could simply connect on a couple of deep balls from Kyler Murray and have another huge week. But if you’re deciding between two good options with all 32 teams active this week, I recommend leaving MHJ on your bench.

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