Welcome to another edition of Sriracha’s NFL Game Theory. In this article, I will outline my favorite plays at each position for NFL’s Week 8 Slate. You can find all of the Karma staff’s cores through our NFL Premium Package. Without further ado, here’s my favorite plays at each position.
| Quarterback | RBs: | WR: | TE: | Game Stacks: | QB/WR stacks |
| Aaron Rodgers | K. Hunt | D. Adams | T. Kelce | MIN/GB | Rodgers/Adams |
| Ryan Tannehill | D. Henry | A. Brown | D. Waller | TEN/CIN | Tannehill/Brown |
| Joe Burrow | J. Williams | T. Boyd | G. Kittle | LV/CLE | Burrow/Boyd |
| Jimmy G | G. Bernard | A. Theilen | H. Bryant | SF/SEA | Jimmy G/Aiyuk |
| Lamar Jackson | J. Conner | J. Smith Schuster | E. Ebron | NE/BUF | Lamar Jackson |
Tilt your mobile device on it’s side for optimal viewing
*If you don’t already play 3 lineups and 3 max entry contests daily, try using the teams provided in the stacks above to maximize upside and correlation in your NFL lineups.
Quarterbacks:
QB1: Great slate with a good balance of fast paced games and some games that I want no part of. Starting at QB, the fact that there isn’t a clear cut “CASH” QB is very appealing to me. I’m fine with playing Tannehill, Rodgers, Burrow, or Derek Carr in cash. I think this is definitely the route I’m going with the way the slate is shaping up.
Ryan Tannehill- PRIME matchup here vs the Bengals. He’s been solid all season, and the Titans have looked great to start off the season. The only issue here with Tannehill is this game script might lead to a 25-30 carry game for Henry and I wouldn’t be surprised if Henry was the one that carries this team to victory while Tannehill has to do minimal work with the passing game. For Tannehill to be worth it we would need him to throw around 2 touchdowns this game. He’s safe in cash but in this particular matchup I will say that I don’t see him having the upside to be worthy of an “all formats” play.
*Burrow would be a terrific pivot but I would advise him being a GPP only play. He’s been chucking the ball which is what you want from your QB but he’s been all over the place production wise. This is why I like him for GPPs though, he has the ceiling in this game environment to match someone like Tannehill and others in that price range. He’s a terrific GPP play here.
Aaron Rodgers- If you see yourself having some extra salary, then A-rod is your guy for sure. He has the team on his back, as he’s thrown for 280+ yards and 3+ touchdowns in 4/6 games this season. In those 4 games he’s produced 25+ FDP. He gets a stellar matchup vs the Vikings who he already torched this season, and now he gets them in Lambeau. If you are paying up, he is your guy. I like him in all formats I just can’t fit him with the way my lineup is looking for cash.
Derek Carr- The guy I will likely be playing in cash. Carr has been consistent all season despite some really tough matchups. He’s put up 20+ FDP in 4/6 games this year and has gotten some really tough matchups, so this matchup vs CLE will be a breathe of fresh air for him. He should have a nice game vs this Browns team who has struggled on defense as a whole other than their decent rush defense.
Running Backs:
Derrick Henry- King Henry will be the top priority for me this week but with that hefty price tag it is tough for me to say if I can fit him in cash games. He will most definitely garner some ownership tomorrow and for a good reason. He’s simply the best in the game right now. If the game goes according to plan, he can see 25-30 carries with ease, and these can lead to who knows, 125, 150, 200 yards? King Henry is elite and this Bengals defense has no response for him. The only way I can see him “duding” is if Tannehill steals his TDs but I still see Henry running for 100+ yards.
Kareem Hunt- Hunt has seen a heavy price increase but the matchup is golden. This might be the last time we can use Hunt at this price range with Chubb on the cusp of returning. All in all, he will be the chalk RB tomorrow and I can definitely see him being 75+% owned on FD for cash games. The Raiders have allowed 8 touchdowns in 6 games to running backs. Hunt will have multiple TD opportunities this game. I can see him hitting pay dirt a couple of times.
Jamaal Williams- It is really tough to fit Henry, Hunt and Williams if I am playing a TOP WR (will talk about it below). I don’t think I can fade Jamaal Williams without Aaron Jones, this usage is just prime and AJ Dillon didn’t even pose a threat to Jamaal last week. He gets about the same matchup on paper vs a Vikings team who struggles vs the run just as much as the Texans do. He will be chalk as well this week.
If you choose to fade Henry, there is great value in Gio Bernard and Darrell Henderson.
Gio Bernard- Picking up the start for the injured Joe Mixon this week once again. I wouldn’t fade Williams and Hunt for him but I would go down from Henry to Bernard if you want to pay up for a WR. Bernard had a pretty solid outing last week and this game script could play more into his favor as a pass catching back. He isn’t overly priced and he can still produce a solid game without being scoring dependent. Solid overall play but Titans DEF does worry me a little bit compared to the Browns DEF.
Darrell Henderson- Still out snapping Malcolm Brown but just the sheer presence of Brown scares me. Henderson is more of a TD dependent RB to me and I just can’t see myself playing him in cash. However, in GPPs this is a great spot for him to be low owned and go under the radar. I think that this spot vs the 22nd ranked Run DEF in the Dolphins will be great spot for Henderson, who should see around 15-20 touches this week.
Wide Receivers:
Obviously there are a ton of WRs you can play, but I’ll go over my top five this week, two top-tier, two mid-tier and one low owned GPP play.
Top Tier-
Davante Adams- Would be a lock for me but just the way the salary is working out this week, you need to pick one between Adams and Henry. It is almost impossible to fit them both in and still have Hunt and have a solid balanced lineup. Adams will feast this week vs this MIN secondary, who he already smashed for 14 catches, 156 yards and two touchdowns. He could very well replicate this performance again this week.
Mid Tier-
AJ Brown- AJ Brown gets a solid matchup vs this Bengals team who has just been all around struggling. We already know what we think this Titans team will do to this Bengals team as mentioned above- I expect AJ Brown to have his normal volume and if we are lucky, he’ll find himself in the end zone and steal one from King Henry.
Tyler Boyd: Love Tyler Boyd this week, Titans struggled a bit to lock down receivers and Diontae Johnson destroyed them last week, and before that Will Fuller/Brandin Cooks had stellar games. Tyler Boyd has been Burrow’s number one guy this season.
Adam Theilen- He should be receiving some ownership but he just falls in between that price range where there are a ton of options. He toasted the GB secondary for 6/110/2 in week one, and GB’s secondary hasn’t gotten much better since then.
HM: Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk
Low owned GPP Play-
Nelson Agholor- Didn’t think I would ever see this guy be relevant again but here we are. He’s scored in 3 straight games and he now gets a solid matchup, something that has been hard to come by for the Raiders this season. Him and Darren Waller should be the main weapons for Carr this week.
We went over QB, RB, and WR, and I included my game stacks in the table above.
Good luck this weekend!
