Week 8 Fantasy Football Projections: Jacoby Brissett Stands Out As A QB1

The NFL regular season heads into Week 8. We’re halfway through the typical fantasy “regular season,” which means it’s officially crunch time. Teams in clear playoff positions need to start thinking about how to fortify their rosters, while teams on the outside looking in need to start making a push. Regardless, picking up wins over the next few weeks is paramount.

Fortunately, we have a bunch of tools at Fantasy Life that can help. That includes our fantasy football projections tool. In addition to our expert rankings, we also project the fantasy output for each offensive player each week. The focus of this piece is to identify a few players that stand out in those projections. Those can be positive surprises who could offer some value, or negative surprises that could be worth benching.

Let’s dive into a few of those players for NFL Week 8.

Fantasy Football Projections Standouts For Week 8

Jacoby Brissett, QB, ARI

Projection: 17.5
Rank: QB9

We have four more teams on bye this week: the Texans, Saints, Giants, and 49ers. That means the QB is a bit thinner than usual, especially with Brock Purdy out of the equation.

With that in mind, someone like Brissett enters the streaming conversation. Brissett is seemingly stuck in NFL QB limbo. He’s good enough to start games, but he’s not good enough for any team to commit to him long term. He’s currently keeping the seat warm for someone in Arizona, be it Carson Beck or whoever the team drafts at QB in 2027.

In the interim, Brissett is still capable of putting up numbers in the right matchups. He currently ranks 22nd at quarterback in terms of fantasy points per game, but that number is trending up. He’s scored at least 16.1 fantasy points in three of his past four starts, and he appears poised for another solid showing in Week 8. Brissett draws a matchup vs. the Cowboys, who have been unable to stop basically anyone this season. They’re 31st in the league in EPA per pass defensively, and they’ve allowed the eighth-most fantasy points per game to the position. That number would be even higher if not for a matchup vs. Tanner McKee last week.

Brissett ultimately cracks the top 10 at quarterback in our projections this week. That’s a bit more optimistic than our expert rankers, who have Brissett as the consensus QB12. Regardless, he’s a viable starting option.

Saquon Barkley, RB, PHI

Projection: 10.8
Rank: RB21

How can you possibly trust Barkley at this point? He returned to the lineup last week for the Eagles, but he was used extremely sparingly. He appeared on just 10 of the Eagles’ offensive snaps, good for a rate of just 15.2%. Barkley did touch the ball on nine of those snaps – seven carries and two receptions – but that simply is not going to get it done from a volume standpoint.

The frustrating part is that Barkley was extremely effective when on the field. He turned his seven carries into 62 yards and a touchdown, good for an average of 8.9 yards per attempt. Barkley is at 5.7 yards per carry so far this season, so he has looked significantly better than he did when on the field last season.

Barkley missed the past two weeks with a hamstring injury, and he reportedly picked up a new malady vs. the Cowboys. It was revealed to be a back issue, and it is reportedly not serious enough to prevent him from playing this week vs. the Commanders.

But how much will he actually play? Even if he’s a clear focal point when on the field, we want our fantasy running backs to hit at least 50-60% of the team's offensive snaps. That feels pretty ambitious for Barkley at the moment.

It puts him outside the top 20 at the position in our projections, even in a fantastic matchup vs. the Commanders. You probably can’t afford to sit Barkley if you drafted him, but expectations should clearly be tempered.

Tre Tucker, WR, LV

Projection: 10.0
Rank: WR22

To quote the legendary Jack Byrnes, I think Tucker has officially entered the circle of trust. He’s still more of a “boom-or-bust” type of receiver, but he’s turned in back-to-back top-11 performances at the position.

Last week’s showing vs. the Rams was a positive development for his future outlook. He hit season-highs in route participation (92%) and target share (28%). We know he’s capable of making big plays downfield, so getting more consistent intermediate targets would give him a safer floor to go along with his ceiling.

The Raiders probably won’t need to throw the ball as much this week as they did vs. the Rams, but the Jets are an exploitable matchup. They’re 21st in pass defense EPA, so it’s a good bounce-back spot for the Raiders’ offense in general.

Tucker checks in at WR22 in our projections, and he’s WR24 in our rankings. He’s definitely moved into the weekly WR3/flex conversation.

Colston Loveland, TE, CHI

Projection: 8.7
Rank: TE4

Loveland was someone who was expected to have a big year for the Bears. Their offense was pegged to be one of the best in football, and Loveland emerged as a go-to option down the stretch last year. He posted a 31% target share over the team’s final four games (including playoffs), and he finished as a top-three fantasy tight end in each of those contests. That included two overall TE1 finishes.

We know what happened next. Loveland failed to catch a single pass in Week 1, and Caleb Williams got hurt in Week 2. He barely made an impact with Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum at the helm over the next three weeks, putting him at TE36 in 0.5-PPR scoring.

Fortunately, Williams returned to the lineup in Week 6, and Loveland has emerged from his slumber. He’s posted back-to-back games with at least 15.5 fantasy points, resulting in a top-four finish at the position in each. Loveland also posted a massive 38% target share last week vs. the Patriots, so the breakout is officially on.

Loveland is back into the TE stratosphere for Week 8, checking in at TE4 in our projections and consensus rankings. Outside of Brock Bowers and Trey McBride, I’m not sure there’s a TE I’d rather own at the moment. That’s exactly where Loveland was expected to be at the start of the year, so hopefully, he can string together another strong performance.