Fantasy Football Week 8 Running Back Preview: Waiver adds, deep stashes, starts, sits, and more

We entered Week 7 with all kinds of questions about Tampa Bay's running back room. I'm not sure we're leaving Week 7 with enough answers. On Monday night, we saw 16 touches for Rachaad White, 12 for Bucky Irving, and six for Sean Tucker. This was a highly unusual game, where the Buccaneers ran 78 plays and lost their top two wide receivers to injury. The percentages paint an even messier picture moving forward.

In terms of target share, White saw a 13% share, with Irving at 6.7% and Tucker at 4.4%. That's mostly bad news for Irving and Tucker, as I would consider anything below eight percent a negative for running backs in PPR. Rush share was even worse, with White at 33%, Irving at 30%, and Tucker at 16.7%, but continuing to be by far the most efficient rusher. In a normal week, those ratios aren't going to make anyone a starting running back.

The question is, what does a normal week look like for this team if they're without Chris Godwin and Mike Evans for the foreseeable future? It may very well mean more rushes and more running back targets. It may also mean that this is a much worse offense that doesn't score as often.

For Week 8, I'm viewing White and Irving as high-end flexes, and I'm trying to continue stashing Tucker for at least one more week. Eventually, one of these backs may fall out of the rotation or get hurt, and then two of them could be very valuable in an offense with a lot of available opportunities. 

Now, let's get to the rest of the Week 8 RB Preview:

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Week 8 RB Preview

The following players are not being projected to play in Week 8 at this time. Here's what it means:

Travis Etienne RB JAC Jacksonville • #1 Age: 25 • Experience: 4 yrs.

• 26 -- Kareem Hunt has averaged 26 touches in his two games with the Chiefs. I'm not sure how long he can hold up, but he's a must-start for as long as that is.
• 79% - Alexander Mattison had a 79% rush share in Zamir White's first game back. Mattison is the clear lead back in Las Vegas now.
• 4.57 -- Tank Bigsby is averaging 4.57 yards after contact per rush attempt, the best mark in the league. It will be hard for Doug Pederson to go away from him.
• 13.6% -- Chase Brown's 13.6% explosive rush rate ranks third amongst backs with at least 35 rush attempts. Don't fret over one bad week.
• 25.6% -- Najee Harris' avoid rate is up to 25.6%, by far the best mark of his career.
• 9.7 -- Sean Tucker is averaging 9.7 yards per touch. 

Matchups that Matter

Projections powered by Sportsline

Aaron Jones RB MIN Minnesota • #33 Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ LAR MIN -3 O/U 48 OPP VS RB 22nd PROJ PTS 15.5 RB RNK 10th YTD Stats RUYDS 443 REC 20 REYDS 190 TD 3 FPTS/G 16.6

Kareem Hunt RB KC Kansas City • #29 Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ LV KC -10 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 25th PROJ PTS 15.9 RB RNK 19th YTD Stats RUYDS 249 REC 5 REYDS 36 TD 3 FPTS/G 17.2

Alexander Mattison RB LV Las Vegas • #22 Age: 26 • Experience: 6 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs KC KC -10 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 1st PROJ PTS 11.7 RB RNK 31st YTD Stats RUYDS 250 REC 17 REYDS 166 TD 4 FPTS/G 12.1

Nick Chubb RB CLE Cleveland • #24 Age: 28 • Experience: 7 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs BAL BAL -9.5 O/U 44.5 OPP VS RB 14th PROJ PTS 11.1 RB RNK 32nd YTD Stats RUYDS 22 REC 1 REYDS 10 TD 1 FPTS/G 10.2

James Conner RB ARI Arizona • #6 Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ MIA MIA -3 O/U 48 OPP VS RB 26th PROJ PTS 13 RB RNK 12th YTD Stats RUYDS 504 REC 14 REYDS 139 TD 3 FPTS/G 14

Javonte Williams RB DEN Denver • #33 Age: 24 • Experience: 4 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs CAR DEN -8.5 O/U 43.5 OPP VS RB 32nd PROJ PTS 13.4 RB RNK 16th YTD Stats RUYDS 301 REC 23 REYDS 166 TD 2 FPTS/G 11.1

Week 8 Adds (RB Preview)

Jaylen Warren RB PIT Pittsburgh • #30 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs NYG PIT -6.5 O/U 36.5 OPP VS RB 17th RB RNK 36th ROSTERED 52% YTD Stats RUYDS 105 REC 10 REYDS 54 TD 0 FPTS/G 5.3 In Russell Wilson's first start, Jaylen Warren played a season-high 51% of the offensive snaps and touched the ball 14 times. That didn't translate into Fantasy points in Week 7, but if he's getting double-digit carries and seeing three-plus targets on a weekly basis, Warren is going to be in flex consideration most weeks. And he could be a league winner if something happens to Najee Harris.

Tyler Goodson RB IND Indianapolis • #31 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ HOU HOU -6 O/U 46.5 OPP VS RB 4th RB RNK 33rd ROSTERED 20% YTD Stats RUYDS 128 REC 8 REYDS 47 TD 1 FPTS/G 5.3 We are hopeful Jonathan Taylor is coming back this week, and if he does, Goodson is nothing more than a handcuff. But it does look like he's supplanted Trey Sermon as the top option, and there's still a chance Taylor misses Week 8 or suffers a setback. He has scored double-digit Fantasy points in his last two games and has averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 40 carries over the past two seasons.

Stashes (RB Preview)

Tyjae Spears RB TEN Tennessee • #2 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ DET DET -11 O/U 45.5 OPP VS RB 2nd RB RNK NR ROSTERED 51% YTD Stats RUYDS 114 REC 12 REYDS 76 TD 1 FPTS/G 7.4 Even if Spears is just a backup when he comes back, he's one of the most electric backups in the league. This is exactly the type of player who should be rostered in most leagues because he's one injury away from being a must-start running back in all formats.

Top DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Breece Hall RB NYJ N.Y. Jets • #20 Age: 23 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ NE NYJ -7 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 31st PROJ PTS 17.1 RB RNK 2nd YTD Stats RUYDS 348 REC 32 REYDS 307 TD 4 FPTS/G 17.1 Hall has had 41 touches in two games since the coaching change. He's topped 140 yards from scrimmage and 20 PPR Fantasy points in both games. This week, he faces a Patriots defense that has allowed the second-most Fantasy points to opposing running backs. Hall may just be the No. 1 running back this week, and his price is still being impacted by a couple of bad games earlier this year.

Contrarian DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Tony Pollard RB TEN Tennessee • #20 Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ DET DET -11 O/U 45.5 OPP VS RB 2nd PROJ PTS 13.4 RB RNK 21st YTD Stats RUYDS 400 REC 18 REYDS 86 TD 3 FPTS/G 14.2 Pollard's Titans are 10.5-point underdogs on the road against a good Lions run defense. That's while he'll be low-rostered. The reason I'm playing him anyway is that he's averaging more than 20 touches per game in his last three outings, and he's twice shown six-target upside. Aaron Jones and Ken Walker have both topped 20 Fantasy points against this defense, and Pollard should get enough work to join them.

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.