Fantasy Football 2024: One player I’m fading/starting in Week 8 for each position

Week 8 of the NFL season has arrived. It starts on Thursday night when the Rams host the Vikings.

That should be a fun one. The Rams are just 2-4, but the team gets Cooper Kupp back this week, something that should provide a boost to this offense. And the Vikings are coming off their first loss of 2024, making this an important game if the team wants to prove it’s a real NFC contender.

Let’s look at one player to fade and one player to start in fantasy football for Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season.

Week 8 quarterbacks to fade and start

Fade: Kyler Murray - Arizona Cardinals

Kyler Murray finished as the QB5 last week despite the fact he threw for just 145 yards. That shows just how important his rushing ability is, as he found the end zone on the ground to turn a bad day into a really good one.

Murray has found the end zone on the ground twice this year. In both of those games, he finished as the overall QB5. In the other five games? Just one top-10 finish — albeit a strong one, as he was the QB2 back in Week 2.

But outside of that game, Murray hasn’t thrown for more than one touchdown in any game. Without the occasional rushing touchdown, he’s a non-factor in fantasy. And a meeting with a Miami defense that has allowed just three passing scores and zero rushing scores to quarterbacks this season just isn’t the week when I’m trusting him.

Start: Bo Nix - Denver Broncos

Bo Nix? The Denver Broncos quarterback? He’s a player to start this week in fantasy?

Yes. Yes he is.

Nix hasn’t been particularly good at throwing the ball, but he has two top 10 fantasy finishes in the past three weeks, partly because he’s started to use his legs more. Last week, Nix had a season-high 10 carries for 75 yards, though he finished with just 164 passing yards and no touchdowns.

This week, he faces the Panthers, who are allowing the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. A big part of that is that the team is allowing an average of 2.0 passing touchdowns per game, plus has given up a pair of rushing scores to the position.

Week 8 running backs to fade and start

Fade: Tony Pollard - Tennessee Titans

The good news for Tony Pollard is that he has maintained a sizable role in this offense. The bad news is that he’s about to run into the behemoth that is the Detroit Lions run defense.

Opposing backs have scored the third-fewest fantasy points against Detroit this year, fueled by the fact that they’ve given up just 372 rushing yards to the position this season. The team has held four of its six opponents under 100 total rushing yards, a number which includes quarterback rushing production.

Start: J.K. Dobbins - Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers take on a Saints team that’s reeling right now, dropping five games in a row and allowing over 200 yards rushing in each of the past two games. Against Tampa, Sean Tucker had 136 rushing yards against this defense. Before that game, Tucker had played 16 games in his career and had never had more than 15 yards.

Then last week, Javonte Williams scored a pair of touchdowns against New Orleans. He came into that game with zero rushing scores all season.

So let’s fire up J.K. Dobbins. His production has been uneven this season, but he has two 100-yard games and has double-digit carries in each game in 2024. 

Week 8 wide receivers to fade and start

Fade: Diontae Johnson - Carolina Panthers

Bryce Young is back under center this week for the Panthers after Andy Dalton was involved in a car accident, so it’s time to downgrade the Carolina passing attack. Young started the first two games of the year and finished with 161 passing yards on 43.33 percent passing in the first one, then had just 84 yards in the second start. He threw zero touchdowns and three interceptions.

Diontae Johnson caught two of his six targets for 19 yards in Week 1 and followed that up with three catches for 15 yards in Week 2. He’s been much better since then, catching three touchdowns, but all of those were thrown by Dalton. There’s no way I can trust Johnson with Young at the helm of this offense.

Start: Cooper Kupp - Los Angeles Rams

He’s back! Or, at least, he’s back for now, because trade rumors have been swirling for the past week or so that the Rams have been talking with teams about trading Cooper Kupp. But at least for Thursday night, it appears Kupp will be suiting up for the team on Thursday night.

Minnesota has allowed more fantasy points per game to wide receivers than any other NFL team has in 2024. And in the one full game that Kupp played, he caught 14 passes for 110 yards and a score.

This is an easy one. Trust Kupp in this matchup and enjoy having him back in your fantasy lineups.

Week 8 tight ends to fade and start

Fade: Mark Andrews - Baltimore Ravens

Mark Andrews has been trending up over the last two weeks, catching three touchdowns over that span. But Andrews is only playing a little more than half of Baltimore’s snaps and this increase in recent production comes without much of an increase in volume. He’s finished as TE3 and TE1 in the last two games, but has just eight total targets over that span.

Essentially, I’m not buying that Andrews is a noticeably different player than he was over the first four weeks of the season when he had one good game with four catches for 51 yards and also had two games where he was held without a catch.

This week, Andrews faces the Cleveland Browns, a team that has allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends this season.

Start: David Njoku - Cleveland Browns

And now we head to the other side of this Browns/Ravens game. While Cleveland’s defense has done a great job limiting opposing tight ends, the Baltimore defense has very, very much not, as the team has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to the position. Notably, the Ravens have given up 45 catches for 536 yards to the position, with both numbers ranking as the worst numbers in the NFL.

Meanwhile, the Browns offense is expected to get a boost this week. With Deshaun Watson tearing his Achilles, the team will turn to Jameis Winston at quarterback. And, well…things can only improve. Watson failed to hit the 200 yard mark in any game he’s played this season. Winston hasn’t started a game since 2022, but he hit the 200-yard mark in all three of his starts that season.

As for David Njoku, last week was a huge game for him as he was targeted 14 times, catching 10 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.