Fantasy Football Takeaways from Week 8 Sunday Games: Troy Franklin, Tucker Kraft and More

Week 8 of the NFL regular season is nearly in the books. Before turning our attention to the Monday night game, let's go over some fantasy football takeaways from Sunday's contests.

Here is the takeaway and IDP story from Thursday's contest - we'll cover IDP performances from Sunday in another story, so check back for that!

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Franklin Leads Broncos

The Broncos' offense racked up 426 yards of offense in a lopsided win over the Cowboys on Sunday. Several offensive players stood out, including the first two we will discuss today.

Troy Franklin caught six of his eight targets for 89 yards to power the Broncos' passing game. He played 40 offensive snaps, which was 63% of the team's total.

It was his second monster fantasy showing of the season, but he's only reached double figures in PPR leagues one other time this season. 

In all three of his double-digit outings, he's scored at least one touchdown. He has a score in two straight weeks, so maybe he and Bo Nix are developing a bit of a connection.

Franklin will be added in a bunch of fantasy leagues before week 9, but he's still not a locked-in standard league starter going forward. He's definitely an option, but he needs to show a little more consistency before I'd be all-in on him.

Harvey Breaks Out

RJ Harvey finally broke through as a fantasy performer, with three total touchdowns powering him to 20+ fantasy points. 

He rushed seven times for 46 yards and two scores, while adding a five-yard touchdown grab. Harvey's long run was 40 yards, so really outside that play, he didn't do much, but score touchdowns.

Harvey only played 17 offensive snaps, while RB1 J.K. Dobbins played 33. So the rookie was still clearly RB2.

What I'm getting at is that fantasy owners are going to see his fantasy performance and overreact to it. Dobbins is still the lead back for the Broncos, and while Harvey will factor in here and there, I don't see him being a big-time fantasy asset moving forward.

I'd still trust Dobbins with standard league starts every week, and Harvey is still a better deep-league asset in my eyes. If anything, I'd look to sell high on Harvey in standard leagues.

Unless Dobbins gets injured, I just don't see the rookie delivering too often.

Flacco Delivers Again, but in Loss

The Bengals' offense had 398 total yards of offense, so it helped Joe Flacco to another big fantasy showing, but the defense allowed 502 yards and the team blew a game against the Jets.

Flacco is the focus of this section though, so let's re-focus on him. He was 21-of-34 passing for 223 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Flacco added 14 rushing yards and a score on two attempts.

You can say whatever you want about Flacco, but he's scored 18+ fantasy points in all three starts with Cincy, including 24 or 25 points the past two weeks.

He's revived the Bengals' offense and gave new fantasy life to Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Chase Brown. All three of those guys are safer starting options with Flacco around, and the veteran QB is also a pretty good weekly asset.

I expect his own percentage to keep rising, and for him to be a pretty good weekly starting fantasy option. He's more trustworthy than some of the younger QBs who are streaming options, and that means more fantasy owners need to start utilizing Flacco.

Is Kraft Pack's Top Pass Catcher?

Green Bay had a monster second half to rally past Pittsburgh on Sunday night. It was Tucker Kraft who led the way for the Packers.

Jordan Love threw for 360 yards and three scores, so he was a big-time fantasy asset. Kraft stole some headlines by going for 143 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches and nine targets.

He's caught a touchdown in three straight games, and has six on the year now. Kraft has scored in double figures in five of seven games, and barely missed in one of the other two. 

Kraft might seem a bit TD dependent, but he has 43 or more yards in four straight contests. Yes, Sunday night was a bit of an outlier for him, but he's capable of leading the team's pass catchers all season.

Green Bay is still without Jayden Reed, but it did get Christian Watson back last night. It didn't stop Kraft, and I don't think the presence of Reed is going to change things much.

Usually, I'm telling people to sell high after a big-time performance like this, but at a premium position, I'm more inclined to keep Kraft or trade for him. He has a chance to lead the team's pass catchers every week, and even if he doesn't every time out, the real possibility of it happening is enough to start him pretty confidently in all leagues.

Taylor is the Fantasy MVP

It was a pretty tight race for the top fantasy player coming into the week, but Jonathan Taylor separated himself with another monster showing. He leads the league in fantasy points going into the Monday night contest.

He only attempted 12 runs in the team's lopsided win over Tennessee, but he gained 153 yards and scored two touchdowns. Taylor added 21 receiving yards and a score on two receptions and targets.

It marked his fourth time over 30 fantasy points already this season, and it was the third time in the past four games. He has over 12 fantasy points in every game, and should be a top-end fantasy RB and asset the rest of the way.

Start him confidently every week, regardless of the defensive matchup. Unless you get an overpay, there's no way I'm trading him either.