Week 8 has arrived, and as team strengths and weaknesses become clearer, leveraging matchups is critical to crafting effective daily fantasy strategies.

I'm looking at all of them and scouring data to help you make good DFS choices with my Week 8 NFL DFS picks, featuring my top stack, value plays, GPP plays, and fades. 

Our NFL DFS Projections and DFS Pick'em Tool are also great resources; if you're interested in college DFS, we have projections here too.

Top NFL DFS Week 8 Stack

Cincinnati Bengals

Here is how the models at Paydirt view the best QB+2 stacks on the slate:

QB+2 stacks

Things are well clustered toward the top this week. We have a nice spread of a couple of high-octane teams and MIami making an appearance with Tua back from injury. With that said, it feels pretty easy to lay your hat on the Bengals this week.

They have a strong implied team total at 25.75 points along with a median expectation of 51.89, and the highest ceiling for any QB+2 at 90.81. Likewise, their top finish rate is the highest on the slate at 11.70% which is sure to be higher than their combined ownership in GPPs. Chase and Higgins have one of the highest duo-oriented market shares in the league, combining for 53% of the targets and nearly 70% of the air yards.

All of this in a game that should be close and high-scoring against a quality opponent makes the Bengals a strong place to start your builds.

Top NFL DFS Value Plays For Week 8

RB: De’Von Achane

There is going to be a lot of speculation with the Dolphins this week as Tua returns from injury. They have looked like an abject disaster without him, and there’s a lot of assumptions that they will get right back on track with his return. Achane is at what we should consider the floor of his price range and should have considerable benefit. 

In 2023, Achane averaged 16.6 PPR points per game (12-game sample) and that was on relatively lackluster usage as evidenced by his Utilization Score of 6.3. His utilization has ramped up this year (currently at 7.2) and that was in a bad offense, so we should expect him to improve. Even if he only gets back to that 16 PPR per game average, he is too cheap at $6,200. He will be popular, but he’s a great play.

WR: Cedric Tillman

The projections for Tillman are relatively low, but that doesn’t matter when he is min-priced. His Median/Ceiling combination is 8.79/19.00, which gives him a 4x rate of 17.50% in the Paydirt simulations. In the first game with no Amari Cooper, he ended up with a Utilization Score of 8.2 on the back of 24% of the targets, 34% of the air yards, and 33% of the endzone targets for the team.

He is also in line to get a boost from a QB change, as Jameis Winston has a considerably higher ceiling in terms of passing upside than Watson did. He’s a cash game staple this week and a great play in GPPs assuming his ownership stays low.

TE: Cade Otton

Both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin ended up with injuries from the island game, so the Bucs are going to be heavily shorthanded going into week 8. They’ll be relying on the likes of Sterling Shepard and Jalen McMillan as topline options on the perimeter and will likely need a lot of production from Cotton over the middle.

This should be huge, especially considering Cotton has had a solid role this year. He is averaging 17% of the targets and 14% of the air yards while keeping a Utilization Score of 6.7. Last week with no Mike Evans we saw Cotton hit his highest aDOT of the year (8.8), and with no Godwin that target share is likely to jump a bit. He’s way underpriced for the upside his role could represent in this spot.

NFL DFS GPP Picks For Week 8

RB: Kenneth Walker III

There are a lot of reasons to love Walker this week. First off, he has one of the best roles in the league. He only holds 43% of the total rushing attempts, but his 14% target share and 80% of the inside the five rushing attempts trump any drop in his volume there. He is averaging 22.3 PPR points per game, and while that is boosted by touchdown upside, his equity there is very strong.

On top of this awesome role, you get a matchup with the Bills, who are giving up the second-most fantasy points to RBs and the fourth-most PPR points above average. It’s a smash spot if you have the money to afford Walker this week.

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Oct 20, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Atlanta Falcons in the third quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

WR: Tyreek Hill

Once again, we are going to be putting some considerable focus on the Dolphins this week as their prices have bottomed out and they should get back on track.

Tyreek has been, for lack of a better word, trash this year without Tua. He is averaging just 10.5 PPR points per game with a 24% target share. However, in 2023 with Tua healthy for the majority of the year, we saw Tyreek average 23.3 PPR points per game on a 32% target share. While it’s fair to assume that 2023 was the ceiling, I think landing somewhere in the 18-21 PPR points per game range makes sense, which would blow away the $7k price tag for Hill. He’s an easy GPP play this week and a starting point for any MIA stack.

TE: Hunter Henry

A lot of people will be buying Cade Otton this week, and I think that’s entirely fair. However, we know that TE can be a pretty volatile position, so I think there is some value in looking to pivot at the price point. Hunter Henry fits that bill, as he has shown some real spike potential and will make for a really interesting GPP option. He had a route participation of 83% last week along with 25% of the targets and 37% of the air yards, good for a Utilization Score of 9.4 and 17.2 PPR points.

He had another week with similar outcomes in week 2, so we know that this is within his capacity. If Maye continues to zone in on him as a safety blanket, he is going to have a really strong target share and good redzone equity week after week. Look to use him at low ownership and hope that he spikes again.

Player To Avoid In DFS Week 8

The main name that appears overvalued this week, based on his projections and ownership, is Drake London. Here are the results from the Pivot Finder for a range of +/-$300 and a projection of +/-3 points:

Pivot Finder

It’s worth saying that Tyreek projects as a better fade than London, but I’m going to make an executive decision and go with Drake. He has been strong for ATL and averaging around 17.6 PPR points per game, but the matchup speaks much more toward Bijan finding his ceiling than it does London. TB is likely to end up getting crushed in the time of possession department, and that doesn’t give a lot of confidence that ATL will have to push the envelope.

On top of the lackluster game environment, there are some really strong pivots at the position you can make. Stefon Diggs at slightly lower ownership makes for a great pivot, as his projection is 2 points higher in a very similar game spot. If you are okay with dropping a couple of points of median, you can get massive ownership discounts with Davante Adams and Terry McLaurin, who will both be under 5% owned.

London is a fine piece if you are game stacking, but avoid him as a one-off for lower-owned pieces with the same upside.