Welcome to Week 8! What an absolutely wild ride in Week 7! The Patriots put up 54 points against the Jets. The Giants upset the Panthers. and the Chiefs disappeared against the Titans, as the most potent offense in the NFL only managed three points in a 27-3 loss, Atlanta finally won a close game with a last-second field goal against the Dolphins (a team that has lost in the closing seconds two weeks in a row on game-winning field goals), and the Bengals made a huge statement against the Ravens with a 41-17 dominating win.
Those are just some of the highlights as a lot more transpired in Week 7. As we gear up for Week 8, it’s time to look at FantasySP’s unique Predictive Analytics. Last week's Predictive Adds helped you identify who other fantasy managers were going after so that you could make a higher bid if you participated in an FAAB league. The top five adds in last week’s articles all ended up providing immense value in Week 7, especially D’Ernest Johnson and .
Keep reading here to access our Predictive Analytics or log into your account, and utilize the Fantasy Assistant. From there, you can see the predictive adds, drops, trades, and FAAB.
Predictive analytics in a nutshell is a game-changer for fantasy players. No one else in the industry offers these types of insights. You will now be able to analyze the most important fantasy metrics of the current week BEFORE waivers are processed.
Find out the Expected Waiver Interest (EWI) of each player, as well as how much of your FAAB budget it would take to get “your guy” in the average league. You will now have unique insights into which players fantasy owners are giving up on and which players fantasy owners are fighting for in the current week.
Looking At Predictive Adds:
[predict="add-2021-8"]
RB , Philadelphia Eagles
Outside of a Bengals defense that absolutely dominated and the Ravens in Week 7, Kenneth Gainwell is the waiver wire running back being added at the highest rate heading into Week 8. He caught a 13-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead over the Las Vegas Raiders before starting running back went down with an injury. We don’t quite know how severe Sanders’ injury is yet, but Gainwell was featured in Philadelphia’s backfield the rest of the day. The rookie finished the day with 61 total yards on nine touches and a trip to the end zone. Through seven games, Gainwell has accumulated 223 combined yards, 15 receptions, and three touchdowns. Week 7 wasn’t the rookie’s first productive outing of the year for the rookie. He managed 20.9 fantasy points in Week 4 and is set to take on a Lions defense that has been thrashed by running backs all season long. If Sanders is unable to return, Gainwell should also continue to see most of the dump-off action from quarterback . Last week, Gainwell out targeted (eight to two) and turned one of those receptions into a touchdown. Gainwell could very well explode onto the scene in Week 8, which would make all the owners who cut ties with him after a quiet start of the season quite frustrated. If you can get him, do not hesitate.
[lastten="Kenneth Gainwell"]
WR , Green Bay Packers
The one skill position player being added more than Gainwell is Green Bay Packers wideout Allen Lazard. Superstar will not suit up (COVID) for Thursday’s primetime matchup with the undefeated Arizona Cardinals, which means Lazard will shift to the WR1 role in Green Bay’s offense. Lazard’s season started incredibly slowly, but he has now put up back-to-back solid performances and is poised for a third consecutive strong outing in a game that has the third-highest total of the week at 51 points. In Week 6 against Chicago, Lazard caught three passes for 27 yards and a touchdown. He followed that up by hauling in five-of-six targets for 60 yards and a touchdown in the Packers’ Week 7 victory over Washington. Considering and the Cardinals have played light out football and the Packers are missing Adams, Arizona should rush out to lead. This means that the Packers are going to force feed the best wide receiver healthy enough to suit up. No wonder so many fantasy owners are fighting for Lazard on the waiver wire.
RB , Chicago Bears
For the third straight week, Herbert is featured in this article. After missing out on 100 yards by just three yards in his first start in Week 6, Herbert was the lone bright spot for the Bears in Week 7 against the Buccaneers. He rushed for exactly 100 yards on 18 carries and caught all five targets for an additional 33 yards. He did all of this despite the fact that was healthy. Clearly, Herbert has surpassed Williams on the depth chart. Even when return to action around Week 11 or so, Herbert has earned a significant role in Chicago’s offense. And since has been absolutely atrocious throwing the ball, Chicago is going to lean on their running offense. Herbert is currently owned in 80% of leagues, but if you happen to be in one of the 20% of leagues where is available, he is absolutely worth an add.
QB , Minnesota Vikings
The quarterback fantasy owners are flocking towards the most this week is Cousins. Cousins was owned in 82% of leagues just 10 days ago, but since the Vikings had a Week 7 bye, many fantasy owners decided they needed to drop the veteran for someone who was actually suiting up on Sunday. Now, Cousins is 65% owned and will probably be close to 90% owned once waivers are completed. Through six games, Kirk is completing 69.5% of his passes and has thrown 13 touchdown passes compared to just two interceptions.
TE , Cincinnati Bengals
Somehow, Uzomah’s ownership is just 27% heading into Week 8. However, by the time waivers are claimed, the former basketball player should be owned in about half of all leagues, and all high-stakes competitive leagues. Uzomah is the definition of a boom-or-bust player, but he had another massive day on Sunday in Cincy’s manhandling of a great Baltimore Ravens franchise. Uzomah caught all three targets for 91 yards and two touchdowns. In Week 4, he had a similar line of five receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Uzomah has five touchdowns in his last four games and is currently the fourth-ranked tight end in all fantasy football leagues. I’m not sure what fantasy owners are waiting for. It’s time to add him to your roster.
[lastten="C.J. Uzomah"]
WR , Atlanta Falcons
Following the preseason hype, Gage has been incredibly disappointing in 2021. A slow start and ankle injury completely killed his fantasy value, and he was likely dropped in most competitive leagues. In fact, while he was sidelined, there was a point in time last week when was owned in just 4% of leagues. Following a big Week 7 outing in which outplayed and caught four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown, Gage will likely be owned in a third of fantasy leagues by tomorrow. He is still third in the pecking order behind Ridley and rookie tight end , but Gage is a solid PPR flex option. In Week 8, he gets a Panthers defense that allowed to score 25 points and deliver a win without the services of , , and . Gage is poised for a big game in Week 8.
And that’s a wrap. Head back next week to see which players fantasy owners are flocking towards on the waiver wire ahead of Week 8!
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