Welcome to Week 8 Stashes.

“Stashes” are players with long-term upside that we’re looking to get in on ahead of the competition. From a stock market perspective, think of it as trying to identify and buy that next hot tech stock (or hot alt coin for the Crypto crowd), that will hopefully run 50-200%, before everyone else does.

On that note, instead of going through this positionally, I’m going to highlight stash candidates from a risk/variance perspective. Higher-profile stashes may be better known and harder to grab, but also have a better chance of turning out.

Lower-profile stashes should be available in all leagues, but will obviously have a bigger bust factor.

As always, you can pair the advice here with the fantasy football rankings, projections, and other cool tools from a Fantasy Life+ subscription for one year FREE when you download Comet ahead of Week 8.

Let’s get stashing.

Week 8 Fantasy Football Stashes

High-Upside Stashes

Jaylin Noel WR, Houston Texans

Jaylin Noel got some great usage in the Texans' last game, with Nico Collins leaving early with a concussion. As of now, both Collins and Christian Kirk (hamstring) look highly questionable to play in Week 8, given that neither practiced at all on Wednesday or Thursday. Even if both return, Noel looks like a player ready to force his way into more usage.]

He was the only WR able to get open on a consistent basis late in the game vs Seattle, where he came down with multiple +15-yard catches in the fourth quarter and, via the Utilization Report, led the team with a 30% team air yards share. What’s nice here is that Noel wasn’t just limited to short catches or set plays, but was legitimately running extended routes downfield—and getting open.

Injuries are a big factor, but even if Kirk comes back, don’t be shocked if you keep seeing healthy usage for Noel, who sets up as a great grab on the waiver wire before Week 8.

Upside Potential: 8.5/10

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Jaylin Lane WR, Washington Commanders

I guess the recipe for ensuring your kid becomes an NFL WR is to name him Jaylin (with an “i” preferably), because Jaylin Lane had an almost equally impressive Week 7 and sets up as a great WR to stash before Week 8 as well. With both Deebo Samuel and Terry McLaurin out, he managed to lead the Commanders in yards against the Cowboys and caught a +30-yard pass for the second straight game.

Both McLaurin and Samuel look set to return this week as they practiced in full this Thursday, but there is a great chance that Lane remains involved in this offense and potentially takes over the WR3 role given Noah Brown’s struggles and inability to stay healthy.  Even if he takes a step back in playing time this week, Lane’s a great stash given both his upside as a player and the fact that both WRs in front of him are high risks for reinjury.

Upside Potential: 8.0/10

Ray Davis RB, Buffalo Bills

A lot of the true RB handcuffs have likely been scooped up or covered in a lot of these stash articles by now, but Davis is a name that may still be floating out there in waiver wire oblivion. The third-year back had a somewhat mystifyingly slow start to the season when he was seemingly bypassed completely for anything but mop-up duty and even looked on the verge of losing the backup job to Ty Johnson.

Week 6 offered some glimmer of hope, however, as Davis finally got involved in a meaningful way, taking in two catches for 19 yards vs Atlanta, one of which went for a longer TD. I’m not expecting a huge uptick in touches, but I do expect Buffalo may reinsert him in his normal handcuff role of 4-5 carries a game and solidify his standing as the primary beneficiary if a James Cook injury occurs. If that happens, you’ll be glad you got him ahead of Week 8, as there will certainly be competition for him ahead of Week 9.

Upside Potential: 8.0/10

Deeper Stashes

Brashard Smith RB, Kansas City Chiefs

Brashard Smith took a season-high 14 carries in Week 7 (for 37 yards), only one less than starter Isiah Pacheco. While the efficiency wasn’t great, his role in the passing game also took a step up as he caught a season-high 5 receptions (5 targets) for 42 yards.

Andy Reid loves using RBs in the passing game and is one of the best in the NFL at designing plays out of the backfield, so even if Smith doesn’t excel as a runner, his role is going to make him a potential spike candidate every week in PPR leagues going forward. At the very least, it looks like he’s relegated Kareem Hunt to more of a relief role at this point and taken over as the preferred LDD back for the Chiefs, which, as we’ve seen in the past with Jerick McKinnon, has good value for fantasy.

Upside Potential: 7.0/10

Elijah Arroyo TE, Seattle Seahawks

I wrote off Elijah Arroyo a couple of weeks ago when AJ Barner had his 7-reception spike game, but that may have been premature. The second-year TE popped up with 4 receptions and 42 yards in the Seahawks' Week 7 win over the Texans, the most of any Seattle receiver outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

While he’s still only playing around 40% of the snaps most weeks, Arroyo is much better suited for a receiving role than Barner, and may get more opportunity to play the slot going forward with Tory Horton not able to draw consistent targeting. Regardless, with Seattle in need of a consistent secondary option alongside JSN, picking up Arroyo now during his bye week has merit before he becomes a hotter topic of conversation next week.

Upside Potential: 7.0/10

Week 7 Big Brain Stash

Chimere Dike WR, Tennessee Titans

The Titans have been trying to get Chimere Dike involved more in the offense for weeks now, and it finally paid off in Week 7 when he was able to break free for a long TD catch from Cam Ward. The elite returner has great open-field skills and ran a 4.34 40, and should continue to get more opportunities thanks to the recent release of veteran WR Tyler Lockett and the fact that Calvin Ridley can’t stay healthy (and could also get traded).

While Tennessee’s atrocious efficiency on offense does downgrade all of their offensive players' fantasy upside to an extent, Dike’s value is mostly going to come from long TDs and big spike plays anyway, so there will be weeks when he’s still more than viable even if Tennessee doesn’t produce a ton of scoring drives. If he and Ward can build on their Week 7 connection, a nice run of big plays and solid fantasy outings could be in store for him in the second half.

Upside Potential: 6.5/10

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