Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 8
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Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 8

John Laghezza breaks down the Week 8 TNF tilt between the Packers and the Panthers for fantasy football.

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After two very different types of heartbreaking losses on Sunday, I’m not sure any two teams are champing at the bit to get back on the field more than the Panthers and Packers. The entertaining Thursday Night train keeps rolling with a potential NFC Wild Card preview between a pair of the more exciting young QBs in the game.

Packers vs. Panthers Matchup Breakdown For Week 8 Fantasy Football

*Fantasy Football Rankings listed are Fantasy Life's half-PPR consensus ranks at the time of writing.

CAR_panthers-logo.svgCarolina Panthers Fantasy Preview For Week 8

Sometimes it’s just a rough day at the office, and if you watched Bryce Young’s (163-1-2; 1-9-0), that may feel like an understatement. Through six games, that’s the former 1.01’s first time this season with multiple turnovers or fewer than 287 passing yards. Chalk Sunday’s clunker up to an outlying game script plus an emerging Tampa defense before doing anything rash. Young took five sacks on an absurd 35.7% sack/pressure conversion rate, after not seeing that top 14.3% all year. Conversely, Green Bay’s a bottom-half pressure team (32.3%) who could also press this banged-up Panthers front. Stay the course …

Don’t need to be a fantasy expert to understand how critical Chuba Hubbard’s been to Carolina’s success, and it’s not purely volume. Check out this Chuba gem. Only five players average 18.5 touches/game but also +5.0 yards/touch — Jahmyr Gibbs, Kenneth Walker, Bijan Robinson, James Cook … and Hubbard. Bryce Young’s RB target rate drops significantly when playing from behind, so Hubbard’s going to have his ceiling capped from behind, but you’re starting him without a second thought regardless.

Not much positive news in the box score from Sunday's blowout, which unfortunately didn’t come with any added bonus fantasy goodness in garbage time. With that, the main trunk of the Panthers’ target tree stayed healthy, dominating what little opportunities were available. It’s still Tetairoa McMillan (9.0 target/game, 23.5% target/route, 2.22 yards/route) and Jalen Coker (7.8 target/game, 25.0% target/route, 2.10 yards/route) with a massive gap to anyone else. The tight end room would be interesting if Tommy Tremble and Darren Waller would stop alternating which weeks they go off, not to mention Green Bay’s allowing the second-fewest fantasy points/game to the position (5.0).

  • Start: Bryce Young (QB12), Chuba Hubbard (RB8), Tetairoa McMillan (WR12), Jalen Coker (WR16)
  • Sit: Tommy Tremble (TE32)
  • Sleeper: Darren Waller (TE19)

GB_packers-logo.svgGreen Bay Packers Fantasy Preview For Week 8

Packers fantasy managers can’t help but be disappointed after hanging just 17 points in an ideal matchup versus the Lions. What is it about the highest-scoring game on every slate falling flat? I guess that’s another story for a different day. Anyway, Green Bay’s increasingly getting away from a putrid run game in favor of dropping back, so you have to stick with Love, who’s dropped back 90 times in two weeks with no signs of slowing. Especially encouraging is the stark increase in target depth from 8.5 through four weeks, opposed to 10.1 over the last three — those are the routes we want given the WR talent on this team. Sadly, amassing just 10 total rushing yards to date will cap Love’s weekly floor, but I can’t get away from the consistency of a fantasy QB yet to finish outside the top-20 in any given week.

Speaking of deep routes translating into fantasy success, don’t be discouraged by a bump in the road. Green Bay’s duo of Christian Watson and Matthew Golden still account for two of the top 10 fantasy wideouts on the season, despite WR2 finishes versus the Lions. In spite of those two soaking up 47.5% of all team targets, the emergence of my guy Tucker Kraft’s been undeniable. Now working on +5 targets in six of seven contests, he’s even seeing rotational work into the slot, where he’s made at least two catches in five straight. Add in the fifth-most red zone targets at the position, and I can easily see him climbing even higher than TE6 as we progress down the stretch. Last note on pass catchers for the deepest leaguers is regarding Savion Williams, who’s assumed Jayden Reed’s slot role, including a few carries every week as GB’s fourth WR/TE option in the pass game.

Seeing social media go apoplectic anytime MarShawn Lloyd touched the ball against Detroit threw me for a loop — maybe I should somehow expect even less from Twitter. Honestly, not sure what more anyone expected from Josh Jacobs in his return (67% backfield share, 20.1 points), especially since he racked up 7 targets (16.% team share) and dominated all the goal-line work. Expect Lloyd to lose even more work as Jacobs warms up. He’s likely droppable in most cases.

  • Start: Jordan Love (QB6), Josh Jacobs (RB15), Christian Watson (WR13), Matthew Golden (WR18), Tucker Kraft (TE4)
  • Sit: MarShawn Lloyd (RB49)
  • Sleeper: Savion Williams (WR54)

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