College Football Best Bets of the Week: Week 9
Walter Waddell
Week 8 featured some great fantasy performances as well as an amazing game-winning Hail Mary attempt by Jayden Daniels in the battle of the first two picks in the draft. It was also a great (and short-lived) reprieve from bye weeks.
A full slate of games means plenty of new information for us to parse through in fantasy football. The fantasy playoffs aren’t far away (as sad as that sounds), and it still isn’t too late to make a push for the tournament in your league.
Below you’ll find the risers and fallers of Week 8 in fantasy football.
Risers
Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams
Matthew Stafford got all of his weapons back for the first time since Week 1 against the Vikings. Coincidentally, Stafford also had his best game of the season in both real-life and fantasy football.
Stafford dissected the Vikings defense on Thursday night, completing 25 of 34 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns with an interception. The veteran quarterback not only had his first game with multiple touchdown passes, but he threw for more touchdown passes in this game than he had coming into this game.
There are a slew of difficult defensive matchups on the horizon for the Rams, including games against the Seahawks, Dolphins, Patriots and Eagles secondaries. But we have seen Stafford pick apart defenses with Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua before, and he will continue to do so as long as they’re all healthy.
D’Andre Swift, RB, Chicago Bears
After a brutal start to the season, Swift has emerged as the engine of Chicago’s offense. The veteran running back did all of his damage on the ground in Week 8’s loss against the Washington Commanders, handling 18 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown.
Swift started his season with three straight games of under 50 scrimmage yards but has now gone for at least 100 all-purpose yards in four straight games. During that stretch, he’s handled at least 13 carries per game. He also has at least four targets in four of his last six games.
As long as Swift is handling the bulk of the work in Chicago’s backfield, he’s an RB2 with RB1 upside.
Elijah Moore, WR, Cleveland Browns
Cedric Tillman is getting all of the attention (rightfully so) with Amari Cooper out of the Browns passing attack. But another player to monitor for fantasy football in this passing attack is Elijah Moore.
Over the last two games, Moore has caught 14 of 18 targets for 126 yards. Moore hasn’t gotten into the end zone yet this season, but he has been earning targets at a consistent rate (especially with Jameis Winston under center).
Expect the Browns to continue passing with Winston under center. That passing volume should benefit Moore, even with David Njoku and Tillman earning targets ahead of him.
Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans
There had been a lot of talk of getting Calvin Ridley more involved in Tennessee’s passing attack. The DeAndre Hopkins trade assured it would happen. However, Ridley had struggled to make a fantasy impact all season with a steady diet of targets.
In Week 8, Ridley was able to convert on his opportunities, leading to a huge day in fantasy.
Ridley caught 10 of 15 targets for 143 yards in a blowout loss against the Lions. It was the first time this season Ridley had more than 100 receiving yards and just the second time he’s scored double-digit fantasy points.
With Hopkins gone, the passing offense will have no choice but to funnel through Ridley. The targets won’t be very high quality or accurate, but he will be on the verge of a breakout every week from now going forward.
Cade Otton, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
All of the speculation around Tampa Bay’s passing attack centered around Sterling Shepard, Trey Palmer and Jalen McMillan The real answer was tight end Cade Otton all along.
Shepard, Palmer and McMillan combined for nine receptions for 82 yards, with McMillan pacing the group (four receptions on seven targets for 35 yards). However, Otton led the team in targets (10), receptions (9) and passing yards (81). He also caught two touchdowns.
Otton will continue to be fantasy-relevant in a passing offense that is lacking their top two playmakers. He’s a top-12 tight-end option weekly going forward.
Fallers
Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts
Things aren’t great for Anthony Richardson as a passer this season.
Richardson has just one game where he’s completed more than 50% of his passes this season. Unfortunately, it was the week where he threw just four passes.
The second-year quarterback has been terrible, completing just 44.4% of his passes for 958 yards and four touchdowns and seven interceptions. The “safe rushing floor” he was supposed to provide in fantasy hasn’t materialized either. Richardson has just one rushing touchdown this season and two games with more than 50 rushing yards.
Richardson is currently the QB28 in fantasy points per game with just one game above 13.0 fantasy points. That is a far cry from fantasy relevant for a player who was touted as having QB1 overall upside in 2024.
Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs
Week 8 was the high water mark for Patrick Mahomes in fantasy this season. The quarterback had his most points this year (19.2) in a win against the Raiders. It was just the third game where Mahomes had two passing touchdowns this season. It was also the eighth game where Mahomes had an interception. He still has more interceptions (9) than passing touchdowns (8) this season.
From the fantasy perspective, it would be defensible if fantasy managers in 12-team, single-quarterback leagues decided to send Mahomes to the waiver wire. Mahomes is currently the QB12 in fantasy points per game (15.6). He has yet to have a top-10 quarterback finish this season. For context, Bo Nix, who is a far worse NFL quarterback, has three thanks to his rushing ability and consistent negative game scripts.
Kansas City’s real-life goal (winning the Super Bowl) doesn’t involve making life easy or enjoyable for fantasy managers. The team is undefeated and has a suffocating defense that allows Mahomes to focus on moving the chains and leaning on the run game. Unless that changes, Mahomes is a stay-away in fantasy football.
Antonio Gibson, RB, New England Patriots
New England’s entire backfield struggled against the Jets, but the team was more than happy to lean on Rhamondre Stevenson now that he is healthy. That led to a minimal role for Antonio Gibson.
Stevenson handled 55 of New England’s snaps against the Jets compared to just 12 for Gibson. Gibson had just five carries for six yards and a bad fumble in the third quarter that limited his role. Over the last two games, he has just eight carries for 10 yards.
Gibson has struggled behind a terrible Patriots offensive line this season, which has limited his explosive-play ability. With Stevenson healthy again, he’s droppable in all formats.
Jameson Williams, WR, Detroit Lions
For the second straight season, Jameson Williams will miss games due to a suspension. Yes, this is only a two-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy.
It had been a career season for Williams before the suspension, but far from consistent. Williams has earned fewer targets over the last four games (10) than he got in Week 2’s game alone (11). Despite the reduced workload, Williams was still getting there in fantasy thanks to big plays and touchdowns.
The third-year receiver will be back in the lineup sooner than later, but any time off the field can cost him plays on the field. The Lions are already one of the run-heaviest offenses in the NFL. Losing potential opportunities because the team rewards players who don’t put themselves in negative positions would make his fantasy upside even more tenuous.
Jordan Addison, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s offense has been one of the big surprises of the season with Sam Darnold at the helm. Unfortunately, that hasn’t meant much to Jordan Addison in his second year.
Addison was excellent as a rookie, catching 70 of 108 targets for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns while operating as the team’s top wide receiver for significant stretches with Justin Jefferson injured. Jefferson has been healthy so far this season, but T.J. Hockenson hasn’t played yet this year. Addison has not been able to command a significant target share despite his absence.
The second-year receiver has just 14 receptions on 23 targets for 231 yards and a touchdown in five games this season. He has just one game with more than four targets and has yet to have more than three receptions in a game. Addison has just two games in 2024 with more than 50 receiving yards.
Hockenson is set to return in Week 9, which makes the target share even thinner in Minnesota’s run-heavy offense. That is bad news for Addison, who hasn’t done much despite minimal competition in the passing attack to date.
