Fantasy Football Week 8 Quarterback Preview: Streaming options, DFS plays, matchups that matter, and more

My rankings do not always mirror my projections, and often, it's because the projections are telling me something I just don't want to hear. In Week 8, what they're telling me is that Bo Nix is the number one streamer and a top-12 quarterback this week. It sounds ridiculous, right? Well, let's at least entertain the why behind it. 

First, Nix has been much better than expected. Over the last month, he's QB18 at 18.7 Fantasy points per game. Two of the QBs ahead of him in that stretch (Joe Flacco and Justin Fields) are not starting this week. We're not expecting Jayden Daniels as of Tuesday afternoon, either. Two others (Baker Mayfield and Brock Purdy) may be playing without their top two pass catchers. It's not hard to get Nix into borderline Qb1 territory based on the last month. 

Second, he's playing the Carolina Panthers. They've given up the fourth-most Fantasy points per game to opposing QBs. Five of the seven QBs they've faced have scored at least 20 Fantasy points against them, and four of those quarterbacks have scored at least 24. it is an elite matchup, which is a big part of why the Broncos have an implied point total of 26.25, easily their highest of the season.

This brings us to the third reason: Nix has been a huge part of the Broncos offense, even for a quarterback. They've scored 11 touchdowns on the season, five of those are Nix passing touchdowns, and three are Nix rushing touchdowns. If they're going to score a bunch of points in Week 8, you would expect Nix to score multiple touchdowns.

Again, you won't see Nix as my top QB add below, but the projections would tell you he should be. At least now you know why.

Let's get to the rest of the preview:

Week 8 QB Preview

• 10 -- Bo Nix has 10 red zone rush attempts, just one behind Javonte Williams. Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields and Jayden Daniels are the only QBs who have run more in the red zone.
• 3.33% -- Russell Wilson had a 3.33% sack rate in Week 8. Justin Fields has been sacked on 9.09% of his dropbacks this season. If Wilson can cut that in half, it will be a big boost for the offense.
• 338 -- Tua Tagovailoa threw for 338 yards way back in Week 1. His return makes a huge difference for the Dolphins.
• 45.9% -- Nearly half of Baker Mayfield's passes have gone to Mike Evans or Chris Godwin this season. He'll be tough to trust without them.
• 7 -- Daniel Jones was sacked a season-high seven times in his first game without Andrew Thomas.
• 10 -- Anthony Richardson has completed 10 or fewer passes in three of his four complete games this season. 
  

My full set of Week 8 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You'll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 8. Projected stats for all starting running backs are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.