
Ian Hartitz dives into everything you need to know for Fantasy Football Week 8, going team-by-team with one standout stat or fact for all 32 teams.

One fact for every NFL team that I personally find interesting for fantasy football Week 8. Maybe you will too! Cool? Cool.
As always: It's a great day to be great.
ESPN's "Open Rating" Is meant to help quantity separation ability. It's not perfect (what stat is?), but directionally I believe it does a good job most of the time.
Anyway: Here's where every rookie WR stands after seven weeks of action:
Rookie WR Open Score and rank among 74 qualified WRs (min. 22 targets)
Fantasy Points' separation metric agrees things have been solid, while PFF is a bit lower. We've all seen the viral non-target on a cool sluggo route, but generally this season: It's possible that both Harrison not playing up to sky-high expectations and Kyler Murray not exactly thriving as a passer can both be true.
Na. While Bijan Robinson is awesome in his own right (the Week 7 film had some especially wild moments), Tyler Allgeier deserves more credit for regularly making the most out of his opportunities as well:
In Robinson's defense, Allgeier is near the top of the leaderboard in all of these categories; both Falcons RBs are playing some rather great ball this year. Also, note that Allgeier has only faced eight-plus defenders in the box on 10.7% of his carries compared to 12.6% for Bijan, so it's not like they've been dealing with completely different situations when asked to run the rock.
Almost! It's fair to say EPA per dropback is more of a team passing metric than a strict indictment on an individual QB, but it's also the QB that typically stirs the drink that is a team's offensive passing performance anyway, so I'm generally cool with it. We'll look at that and completion percentage over expected (CPOE):
Jackson ranks in EPA per dropback and completion percentage over expected:
Technically Lamar was more efficient per dropback in his memorable 2019 campaign, but guess what: He's (again) playing at an MVP level either way.
Not exactly. Coleman has made some big plays, but his 37.5% contested catch rate (3 of 8) isn't exactly out of this world. Being tied with Justin Jefferson and Marvin Harrison is hardly anything to hang your head about, but all three come in at just 45th among 66 qualified players in the metric this season.
Surprisingly, Coleman's best trait has probably been his YAC: He joins Jameson Williams as the only two WRs averaging 10-plus yards after the catch per reception, and nobody has averaged more yards after the catch per reception OVER expected (+5) than Coleman (min. 25 targets).
He doesn't exactly stack up great among those with 500-plus career pass attempts in two particular stats:
Here's to hoping the 2023 NFL Draft's No. 1 overall pick starts to get things back on track on Sunday against the Broncos.
He's certainly been pretty awesome! The 193 total receiving yards are already within shouting distance of what D'Andre Swift managed with the Eagles (214), and the yards per reception (10.2) and per target (8.4) are career-high marks in addition to ranking among the league's top-10 backs.
Swift has been particularly effective on screens this year: No RB has more receiving yards (130) on screen passes, and he's been a big reason why the Bears are one of just 11 teams to average at least six yards per attempt on screens this season.
Tee Higgins missed the first two games of the season, but since then he's actually carried the more fantasy-friendly role compared to teammate/baller Ja'Marr Chase:
Bengals WRs in Weeks 3-7:
Now, Chase has scored 118.4 PPR points (WR1) to Higgins' 81.1 (WR7); nobody is debating who the superior producer has been. Still, the Bengals' overqualified No. 2 WR is proving to his current organization as well as the rest of the league that he's more than capable of handling an alpha-worthy workload.
Something like that! Let's just say Jameis Winston tends to listen to the risk-taking devil on his shoulder as opposed to the game-managing angel. His average target depth (aDOT) and rank since entering the league in 2015 (excluding 2020 when he threw just 11 passes):
That's right: Winston has led the league in aDOT in each of the past three seasons if you finagle with the minimum pass attempt threshold enough. Not all heroes wear a cape.
You guessed it! The league's current 32nd-ranked offense in yards per carry has reached its lowest mark of the last decade:
In fact, the 1996 Cowboys are the franchise's only team in the Super Bowl era to average fewer yards per carry than the current 2024 squad. Not great!
Quite phenomenal! Here are the top 10 most productive QBs on the ground in the first seven games of their career in the Super Bowl era:
He's up there! The following chart denotes the yards per carry and per reception among 40 RBs with at least 50 carries and 15 receptions this season:
Let's check each pass-catcher's passer rating when targeted and find the f*ck out!
Packers pass catchers' passer rating when targeted (min. 10 targets):
Imagine what the hype would be like for Wicks if he, you know, just did what Doubs did over the past two weeks (score the seventh-most PPR points of any WR in the league).
If you're cool with excluding his injury-shortened 29-snap Week 2 performance against the Bears: Yes. Overall, he's ripped off PPR RB2, RB2, and RB4 finishes in his only three full games–good for a position-high average of 26.8 PPR points per game.
Hell, even keeping the aforementioned injured contest only lowers Mixon to 22.1 PPR points per game, which trails only Derrick Henry (22.9) and Kenneth Walker (22.3) among all RBs. Up next is a Colts defense that Mixon already torched in Week 1 and has allowed the third-most rushing yards to opposing RBs this season. Giddy up.
Obviously, Anthony Richardson isn't putting his best foot forward as a passer so far this season, but the last 129-yard effort felt especially rough coming off the back of Joe Flacco's trio of quality performances.
Of course, this isn't too dissimilar from what Flacco experienced during his memorable stretch run with the Browns, which got me thinking: Just how good has Mr. Elite been these past two seasons?
Flacco among 34 QBs with 300-plus dropbacks over the past two seasons:
Not exactly the best QB in the league, but not too shabby for a 39-year-old who was spending most Sundays chilling on his couch before last December.
Yup! Far from generational, but the splits between T-Law's opening four losses and the team's recent 2-1 stretch are quite stark:
Hell, even the recent loss to the Bears included four dropped TD passes. Of course, matchups with the Colts and Patriots weren't exactly the world's stiffest tests; we'll find out just how real these improvements are against a Packers defense that is fresh off holding C.J. Stroud to a career-low 86 passing yards.
There weren't many RBs more productive than Hunt during his first two seasons in Kansas City … and now the 29-year-old veteran is putting up numbers that aren't too far off from those heights:
Hunt PPR points per game and fantasy finishes with the Chiefs:
It's possible Isiah Pacheco (fibula, IR) returns before too long and rains on Hunt's comeback parade; just realize the Chiefs have once again proved that they're more than capable of maintaining RB1 production almost regardless of who the RB is (*cough* CEH *cough*).
Yup. And the Utilization Report proves it!
Mattison has worked as the overall PPR RB12 over the past three weeks and was featured more than ever in Week 7 despite the return of Zamir White. The Chiefs' league-best defense in PPR points per game allowed to the position won't make it easy to keep the party going this Sunday, but it'd still be surprising to see the ex-Vikings veteran get fewer than 15 touches.
Life has been pretty efficient lately! Herbert was dealing with a laundry list of injuries during the first month of the season, but he's come on strong since the team's Week 5 bye:
The volume has been up as well: Herbert has thrown 34 and 39 passes over the last two games after averaging 22.8 during the first four weeks of the year. While there's only been one passing TD against the Broncos and Cardinals, that is hardly all Herby's fault, and the volume is moving in the right direction: Los Angeles posted a -5% dropback rate over expected in Weeks 1-4 compared to +4% over the past two games.
10 games by (you guessed it) Kyren Williams! Longtime alien Derrick Henry (8) is the only other player with a current streak longer than four.
The longest streak in NFL history? LaDainian Tomlinson (18) during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Only RB to ever score a TD in every regular season game? OJ Simpson back in 1975. Would be pretty, pretty, pretty cool if Kyren gets there.
Tua Tagovailoa has started 32 of a possible 40 games over the past three seasons. It turns out he's quite valuable to the production of his speedy WR duo:
Neither Hill nor Waddle have caught a TD in a game NOT started by Tua over the past three seasons. Madness.
Yup! A-aron is currently averaging a career-high 32.4 receiving yards per game, which has helped make him one of the league's more productive RBs through the air:
PPR points per game from purely receiving production:
You could say that. I averaged every team's PFF rush, receiving, pass blocking, and run blocking grades (everything except passing) to create a "supporting cast" metric, and *drum roll* the Patriots finished dead ass last.
Quite far! The Saints' breathtaking 47 and 44-point explosions to start the season feel like a distant memory at this point and a large reason why has been the troublesome performance from their (very banged up) offensive line.
Saints pressure rate allowed and yards before contact per carry:
Good news: C/G Lucas Patrick (chest) and G Cesar Ruiz (knee) both kicked off the week with a limited practice and accordingly look to be trending toward playing. It'll still likely be another week before Derek Carr (oblique) is back, but hopefully, things start to improve inside this New Orleans offense before too long (they can't get much worse).
It must be, right? Saquon Barkley is gone and looks a lot like the best RB in the league, so things must be FAR worse, right? RIGHT?
Wrong!
Giants RB production and ranks:
Still horrible, which shouldn't exactly make Giants fans feel much better, but yeah, keeping Barkley probably wouldn't have this group suddenly functioning as one of the league's more efficient rushing attacks.
Pretty close. Only the Patriots (0.97), Jets (0.82), and Titans (0.36) have averaged less than one rush yard before contact per carry this season.
And yet, many have criticized Breece Hall for not having the same sort of breakaway speed because he couldn't turn his 57-yard catch-and-run into a 60-yard TD last week. Never mind that Hall had to break several tackles and reverse field during the course of that ridiculously awesome play. The problem is DEFINITELY Breece. For sure.
Kind of. Overall, the Eagles have given their RBs two carries from the one-yard line this season after registering *zero* in all of 2023.
Still, Philly is tied for fifth in RB carries between the two and five-yard line (8), demonstrating that Barkley and company have had ample opportunities to score close to the goal line. Ultimately, Barkley is the RB4 in PPR points per game and RB5 in expected PPR points per game; even Jason Pierre-Paul doesn't need more than one hand to count the number of RBs you'd rather have on your fantasy team for the rest of the season.
Sure did! While Justin Fields had some good moments during his six starts, we saw George Pickens and company enjoy some newfound downfield efficiency during the Steelers' Week 7 win over the Jets:
Steelers on passes thrown 15+ yards downfield:
The Steelers join the Rams (pre-TNF) as the only offenses still without a TD pass thrown 15-plus yards downfield, but don't be surprised if that changes sooner rather than later courtesy of one of Wilson's b-e-a-utiful moon balls.
CMC is tentatively expected to return to action following the 49ers' Week 9 bye, meaning Mason's run as the team's lead RB could be coming to an end following Sunday night's matchup with the Cowboys.
While the receiving numbers (10-86-0) obviously pale in comparison to what McCaffrey is capable of, give the 49ers' 25-year-old talent a lot of credit for putting up some truly impressive numbers on the ground during his seven weeks as the starter.
Mason among 42 RBs with 50-plus carries this season:
His highs have certainly been high! However, Geno's overall volume and tendency to make smart decisions don't lead to a very high ranking in my "Entertaining Rating" metric, which simply takes the sum of every QB's big-time throw and turnover-worthy play rates.
The only two QBs to produce these outcomes on at least 10% of their dropbacks this season: Josh Allen (11.7%) and Anthony Richardson (11.5%). Allen also led the league in this ever-important metric back in 2022, while Will Levis (2023), Kyler Murray (2021), Drew Lock (2020), and Jameis Winston (2019) are the other "winners" from the past five seasons of action.
Not really! Overall, the Bucs' TE1 has played a whopping 92.4% of the team's snaps this season while running a route on 86% of Baker Mayfield's dropbacks. The only TEs ahead of Otton in the latter metric are Travis Kelce and Trey McBride–don't be surprised if Otton supplies some volume-induced fantasy goodness over the next month or so while the team's WR room remains so banged up.
At least as good as ever! While the 4.3 yards per carry don't jump off the screen, we have to consider the Titans' league-worst offensive line in rush yards before contact per carry.
Pollard's rank in PFF's Elusive Rating (measures success and impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking) is as follows:
Pretty close! While the yards per game (64.9) are actually lower than when he managed in 2019, 2020, and 2022, the increase in TDs has helped the artist known as Scary Terry average the second-most PPR points per game of his career:



