The Week 8 NFL Dashboard
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Redskins at Bengals
London calling (again)! Cincinnati travels to Wembley Stadium in London this week as three-point Vegas favorites. The game has a 47-point total with the Bengals implied to score 25 points — the sixth-highest team total. The ‘home’ Redskins are implied to score 22 points.
Washington Redskins
Writer: Kelly McCann
QB – Kirk Cousins
The Bengals defense is below average on every level. Per Football Outsiders, they rank 22nd in Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) and 21st against the pass. They have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks (19.4) this season, per fantasydata.com. Captain Kirk has attempted the sixth-most passes (265) and the third-most red-zone passes (40) this season. Cousins has also attempted the most passes (21) inside the 10-yard line. The Redskins are giving Cousins ample opportunity to succeed. Bengals free safety George Iloka has been a frequent burn victim this season and could open up deep scoring opportunities to DeSean Jackson. Cousins is an excellent play in guaranteed prize pools.
RB – Matt Jones
Jones has been ruled out for Week 8. Rob Kelley will serve as the team’s early-down grinder. “Robert” if you’re nasty.
RB – Rob Kelley
Per our Trends tool, the Bengals have allowed a +1.57 Plus/Minus to running backs this season. Kelley is priced at a rock-bottom $3,000 on DraftKings and is in play for all formats. Per the FantasyLabs News feed: “Kelley is a 228-pound bowling ball who has averaged a strong 6.1 yards per carry on his 17 rush attempts this season.”
RB – Chris Thompson
Thompson led the Redskins with 12 carries last week and was also targeted seven times. During the past four weeks, Thompson has had three opportunities inside the 10-yard line and averaged 4.5 targets per game. Thompson has a 77 percent Bargain Rating on FanDuel this week. Comparably-priced players with similar opportunities have previously produced a +2.28 Plus/Minus on FD.
WR – DeSean Jackson
Jackson was limited in practice Wednesday with hamstring and shoulder injuries. Per our Matchups tool, Jackson will get some shots at Dre Kirkpatrick, who has a poor 52.3 Pro Football Focus grade on the year. Jackson leads the Redskins with a 29.18 percent market share of Air Yards in the last month. He is a boom-or-bust GPP play that could pay off in large-field tournaments.
WR – Pierre Garcon
Garcon leads the Redskins with a 20.44 percent target share (seven per game) over the past four weeks, per Mears’ Market Share Report. He is currently the fourth-highest rated wide receiver in CSURAM88’s Player Model for DK. Comparably-priced WRs with similar monthly target shares have manufactured a +2.09 Plus/Minus on DK. With a $3,900 salary and a steady dose of targets, Garcon is a low cost option for rounding out your cash-game lineups.
WR – Jamison Crowder
Crowder has been the most reliable Redskins WR this season. Other than a Week 4 hiccup, Crowder has scored at least 11.8 DraftKings points in every game this season. He leads the NFL in punt return yards and has already scored on one spectacular punt return touchdown this season. With FantasyLabs projected ownership levels of zero to one percent, Crowder is an outstanding GPP play, especially paired with the Washington D/ST in a correlation stack.
TE – Jordan Reed
Vernon Davis has filled in admirably, but Reed (concussion) is expected to play in London. (He’s officially listed as questionable.) He will immediately regain green light status for all DFS contests if he is healthy enough to play. Reed is currently the second- or third-highest rated tight end in four of our six Pro Models. Despite not playing in two weeks, Reed still has the third-highest target share (15.33 percent) among Redskins players over the past four weeks. He will be targeted frequently in this game and should be started with confidence in all formats.
Cincinnati Bengals
Writer: John Proctor
QB – Andy Dalton
As mentioned frequently over the past few weeks, Dalton is completing the highest percentage of his passes of his career — now at 67.5 percent. Dalton threw for only three touchdowns over the first four weeks of the season. However, he now has three straight weeks of two-touchdown games (one being a rushing touchdown in Week 6). To top it all off, this week he should have Tyler Eifert back for more snaps.
Dalton faces off against a Redskins passing defense that has vastly improved since their first few weeks of the season. They are now middle of the pack, allowing seven yards per attempt and 10.6 yards per completion. With their improvements, Washington ranks as Football Outsiders’ 12th-best passing defense. However, they are very weak against the run, allowing five yards per carry — tied for second-most in the league. The Bengals could elect to attack on the ground more than through the air this week, which could limit Dalton’s upside.
RB – Giovani Bernard
Gio yet again handled more touches than Hill in Week 7, out-carrying him 17 to nine. For the third straight week, Hill was on and off the field with an injury. Bernard also got goal-line work for the second straight week and managed to score a five-yard touchdown. While it seems unlikely, if Hill were to miss time this week, Gio would be a very popular option against Washington’s 31st-ranked rushing defense. If Hill is able to play, Gio remains in an uncertain timeshare and rates as an average option in Adam Levitan’s Player Model with only a 13-point FanDuel projected ceiling.
RB – Jeremy Hill
Hill had only nine carries in Week 7, as he seemed to be battling chest and arm issues. However, those nine carries went for 168 yards and a touchdown. He was unstoppable in this game, with five of his nine carries going for over 10 yards. He also saw two targets, catching both for 24 yards. However, Hill’s injury status is still uncertain at this point and he should be considered questionable for Week 8. Use the NFL News feed to monitor this situation prior to lock.
WR – A.J. Green
As expected, Green exploded against the Browns, catching all eight of his targets for 169 yards and a touchdown. Green now has three games over 150 yards receiving. He grades as Pro Football Focus’ second-best receiver behind only Julio Jones.
This week, Green should expect to see coverage from both Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland on the outside. Both Norman and Breeland have played well over the past four weeks and have not allowed a 100-yard receiver in that time. However, the last truly elite receiver they faced was Odell Beckham Jr., who caught seven passes for 121 yards. Green is not in the dream spot that he was in for Week 7 but still has tremendous weekly upside. He has not seen less than eight targets in any game this season and has one of the highest weekly ceilings. Even though he has a tougher matchup than last week, Green still rates as a top-two option in Adam Levitan’s DraftKings and FanDuel Player Models.
WR – Brandon LaFell
LaFell showed up again in Week 7, logging 93 percent of offensive snaps and operating as the clear WR2. LaFell caught four of five targets for 83 yards and a touchdown. LaFell now has a touchdown in three straight games. His volume remains a concern, however, and especially now that Eifert has returned. He has seen more than six targets in only two games this season. With his low target volume, LaFell has only three DK Pro Trends and projects for a floor of 4.7 DK points.
WR – Tyler Boyd
In Week 7, Boyd played on only 67 percent of the snaps and got a single target. With Eifert back on the field, Boyd looks to be the fourth passing option at best.
TE – Tyler Eifert
Eifert finally made his return in Week 7 but played on only 15 snaps. He was reserved for third downs and red-zone work. Eifert should be considered a risky touchdown-dependent player while his role slowly expands.
News Updates
After this piece is published, FantasyLabs is likely to provide news updates on a number of players herein mentioned. Be sure to stay ahead of your competition with our industry-leading DFS-focused news blurbs:
