Fantasy Football Week 8: Waiver-Wire Pickups, Rankings and Stat Projections

It was around halftime of the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals game when most fantasy owners decided to turn their attention towards Week 8. After all, no one who plays fantasy likes watching a game that ends in a tie. 

Especially one that had zero touchdowns.

Each week, fantasy owners try to dominate their competition and look for that missing link on the waiver wire so the possibility of a tie can never, ever happen. Here, we’ll take a look at the top 10 players at each position heading into Week 8.

Hopefully your fantasy matchup will never end in a tie.

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Quarterbacks

Boom: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

In three games, Tom Brady has thrown for 1,004 yards and eight touchdowns with zero interceptions. Whatever rust he claimed to have after his first game back from suspension is clearly gone.

Tom Brady is off to an incredible start in 2016. pic.twitter.com/hQ45k5TjZL

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 24, 2016

It doesn’t matter that the Patriots have a tough matchup next week against division rival Buffalo Bills as long as Brady, Rob Gronkoswki and Julian Edelman are available. The Patriots are, without a doubt, the best team in the NFL entering Week 8.

Brady is a must-play against the Bills, because he comes off an 18.18-point performance in a game he could’ve racked up a lot more points if New England didn’t have so much success running the ball during the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Projected to score 19.80 points in Yahoo leagues in Week 8, start Brady and don’t think twice.

Bust: Carson Palmer, QB, Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer hasn’t scored above 14.48 points in Yahoo leagues since Week 2, and the snooze fest that was the highly anticipated divisional game against the Seattle Seahawks didn’t offer much hope for Palmer fantasy owners.

His 14.48 output in Week 7 had zero touchdowns, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise since Palmer has only scored two touchdowns in his last four games.

Carson Palmer is only 2/10 for 47 yards on passes thrown 10+ yards downfield so far. #SEAvsAZ

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 24, 2016

He’s not worth starting at this point and with just seven touchdowns to five interceptions on the season. Palmer isn’t even worth being on your bench at this point. Drop him and scour the waiver wire for someone more consistent. 

Sleeper: Alex Smith, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

With a sneakily efficient performance against the New Orleans Saints this past weekend, Alex Smith might be the signal-caller your team desperately needs at the halfway point of the season, and the best part is that he’s only owned in 38 percent of Yahoo leagues. 

Throwing for 214 yards with two touchdowns, Smith scored 17.26 fantasy points in Yahoo leagues in Week 7 and will face off against a vulnerable secondary next as the Chiefs take on the Indianapolis Colts.

Just throw it up…@ImFasterThanYa WILL make the grab.