The Game Plan For Week 8 (#FantasyFootball)

Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and in this week’s ‘Game Plan for the Week’, I will give to you some plays to make for seasonal and daily roster construction, prop bets, and dynasty evaluations. Before you make any start and sit decisions this weekend make sure you check out our weekly rankings also.

Thank you, and enjoy!

Slant Route

But they’re coming last in their own division?:

And they are also undefeated (3-0) on the road, as the San Francisco 49ers are still somewhat that team that everyone seems to struggle against. Admittedly, I am not a fan of theirs as I think they were the most fraudulent 13-3 team I can remember in some time but that’s a ‘me’ problem, right? Anyways, the 49ers have a rough (but very winnable) few weeks ahead which includes Seattle, Green Bay, and New Orleans with the Seahawks and Saints on the road which tends to lean towards their tough road facade. But enough about my biases, part one of this blurb is that Jimmy Garoppolo ($5400) and Brandon Aiyuk ($5800) are a solid stack against a team that has an OPRK of 32nd (30.6 Draft Kings PPG to quarterbacks) and an OPRK of 32nd (64.3 Draft Kings PPG to wide receivers).

And part two is this: in the fantasy playoffs (Week 15 and 16) the 49ers have Dallas and Arizona. I want pieces of this offense that could well still be in that playoff hunt. So make the move now to try and acquire Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and in Superflex or 2QB leagues Jimmy Garoppolo. I mean sure try and get George Kittle as well by all means, but he may end up costing you a fortune.

Flat Route

If you’re Trevor Lawrence and had to play ‘pick your poison’:

You’d drink everything in sight and hope it all goes away. Now, I get it’s a privilege to be a quarterback in the NFL and that’s all well and good. But I’d probably stay in college also if the Jets and jaguars were 1.01 and 1.02 at the end of the year. Now bagging on those two teams is just beating a dead horse, so I’ll move on.

Here’s where I’m at with these two teams moving forward: just like the NFL deadline approaching you to have the opportunity to sell and at least recoup something for these guys that likely cost you nothing. James Robinson (RB2, no I’m not joking) has done really well, so sell high and cash in on him. Gardner Minshew (QB12) and Sam Darnold (QB30) could be replaced, so cash in on them. If you believe that La’Mical Perine (RB18 in Week 7 with his first start post the Le’Veon Bell era) is a guy that has a future, that’s great, but it feels like he could be 2021’s Devin Singletary, so cash in on him. Keelan Cole (WR29) is off-contract at the end of the year and could be a nice ‘add-in’ into a trade so try and cash in on him as well. There are only two players right now that interest me between these two dumpster fires and that trying to buy low on Denzel Mims and DJ Chark. Anything else is just ‘meh’. Well, Jamison Crowder‘s alright, but still…

Comeback Route

Take two:

Jalen Reagor is set to return from a thumb injury which halted the start to his debut season. In that time Travis Fulgham has taken over as the Eagles lead receiver role since he and just about every other Eagles receiver has been this year has spent time in the sick ward this year. John Hightower looks ok, and again, whether or not Alshon Jeffery comes back sooner or later is something we have been asking ourselves for the better part of four months now and we won’t see DeSean Jackson this year again as well. But what we do get is Jalen Reagor in some capacity as the Eagles have indicated that he is likely to return this week against Dallas on Sunday Night Football. The Cowboys are gifting opposition receivers about 172 yards per week to which doesn’t seem as high as it should be teams have been able to run all over them for the most part. But while the Eagles run game isn’t looking too healthy, and with their first-round rookie now available I would lean on the side of Carson Wentz looking for the former T.C.U. man early and often, to get the most out of him to try and make up for some lost time. The Eagles schedule favors the passing game as they see the Giants (again), Cleveland, and Seattle in their next month which makes Reagor, Hightower, Dallas Goedert, and Greg Ward all screaming buys right now.

Screen Route

Revenge game? Revenge game!!!:

Now before you sit there and say ‘hey, you, @TheBLeagueSays stop being a hypocrite – it was only two weeks ago you said you don’t care about Le’Veon Bell in Kansas!’. And to that, I would say you are absolutely right. I don’t care. At all. Except I do love a revenge game!

For what it’s worth he looked fine on the limited work he had as the Chiefs were not pushed at all by the Broncos last week, and to that extent, you can say the same thing will probably happen with their opponent this week in the uninspired New York Jets. This will be nothing short of a cakewalk for the reigning Superbowl champions as it’s likely they won’t even get out of second gear for this one. But if you are feeling spicy and looking for something completely contrarian (while adding in a sprinkle of narrative as well) then Bell at $4600 against a team with an OPRK of 27th is as out there as it can get. Bear in mind that this is terrible advice, and there’s not a chance in hell I’m getting on this at all, but if that’s the case then I’d say that’s how the majority are looking at this as well.

Out Route

It’s another pissing into the wind contest:

It’s not often that we question the ‘Patriot Way’ but trading Stephon Gilmore in any circumstance seems futile. Again, I’ll touch on it one more time, but with how the 2021 salary cap is starting to rear its ugly head, teams will look to offload guys who have hit their peak and/or are too expensive to justify. Now, for the life of me, we are 7 months removed from anointing Gilmore as the Defensive Player Of The Year, I can’t imagine it’s a ‘form’ problem. It’s a cash problem and the Patriots (or the media) have planted enough seeds for Gilmore to be moved on before next week’s trade deadline. As a result, Gilmore has ‘double dared’ them to do so by putting his home up for sale, with a deadline on the house to be sold of one hour after the NFL trade deadline passes. He’s calling out their bluff but from the outside, it seems like by hook or by crook that Gilmore’s time at the Foxboro is up.

The Patriots require a complete reset. Their receivers are often hurt and not available, Cam Newton is inconsistent and their run game is a mess which gives me zero confidence in them on the road to Buffalo so I’m hammering the Bills at -4 and for them to take them to task and hit on the O/U at 41.

The 9 Route

Tighten up, on your reins:

For ‘The Big O’, Albert Okwuegbunam who has looked solid since debuting for the Denver Broncos in Week 6, accumulating an equal team-high for targets with an 18% target share in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. On a small sample size alone, Okwuegbunam is on track to finish the year with 78 targets and if this trend continues that would compare to (or at least rank as) the 12th most targets for tight ends in 2019 and that’s kind of great. But do you know what else is great? Red-zone opportunity. Since debuting in Week 6, there have only been three other tight ends that have had more red-zone targets.

Tight ends are extremely spotty when it comes to points per game, all it takes is a touchdown for the most random tight end to be fantasy relevant (wassup Lee Smith!), so what makes his start ever more equally impressive, is that without scoring a touchdown he is also in the TE18 in PPR scoring with an average of 9.8 PPG. So we might be seeing the makings of a tight end who can put up decent enough numbers without being touchdown dependant and that my friends does make me very interested in watching the rest of his season play out. This week Albert Okwuegbunam is probably the cheapest tight end you can work yourself down to at $2800 and that’s not a bad shout as most will probably ride Harrison Bryant at $3200 for one more week while Austin Hooper is out.

Hail Mary

With all the talk about players being traded in Houston:

You could barely be surprised considering some of the bad moves their former GM and Head Coach Bill O’Brien has made. But that’s in the past and rehashing over that makes no sense because it’s time to look forward if you are a Texans supporter. So far this week I have seen Will Fuller and Randall Cobb as names that the Texans have (or have not, it depends on who you believe) taken calls for, both have had injury-plagued careers, and investing more into either of them might make little sense.

But if one or both of them were to be moved onto greener pastures then fifth-round rookie Isaiah Coutler is a name you should be looking to stash if a trade does ultimately happen. Coulter was recently activated off the IR as he has missed the start of the season with a neck injury, but the former Rhode Island product could be a cheaper alternative for the Texans heading into 2021 with all the salary cap restrictions and all that jazz that will hit teams sooner than later. Coulter plays on the outside and is lightning-quick as well. The Texans have the bye this week and get the hapless Jaguars in Week 9. Again, he’s an extremely buy-low target, but if moves get made by the AFC South outfit then keep his name in mind as a late-season breakout player.

I want to thank you for checking this article out! As always you can follow me at @TheBLeagueSays and feel free to check out my @BackRowGiants podcast out (https://linktr.ee/TheBLeagueSays) – subscribe, rate, review, share, and listen.

Let’s all get better together!

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