Week 8 Fantasy Avengers

 Last week the Fantasy Avengers finally took home a win! Joe Burrow finished as the quarterback four on the week, after throwing for over 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. He made his fantasy day even sweeter by adding 34 rushing yards on the ground, while also adding a rushing touchdown. One of the biggest hits of the week was Chase Edmonds. In last weeks thriller versus the Seahawks, Edmonds rushed the ball only 5 times for 58 yards, but his real Hulking-out moment came in the receiving game after hauling in 7 catches for 87 yards. Although he was unable to smash the ball into the end-zone, he did quite enough to finish as the running back 8 on the week. Now that Drake is out of the picture with an ankle injury, I won't be able to pick Edmonds as the Hulk or even as Thor because I expect him to be a top 15 running back week in and week out. Lastly, my Iron man pick of the week, Amari Cooper had a solid showing. Although he didn't finish inside of the top 15 he still came through with 12 fantasy points, even though all the odds were stacked against him. Cooper was a true Iron Man by being able to adapt to not only Andy Dalton throwing him the ball, but also 7th round rookie Ben DiNucci. Cooper will be facing a lot of adversity in the coming weeks, but if he can keep his target share with DiNucci, you could see Cooper reprising his role as Tony Stark. I feel like I should mention my week 7 Thor, Devin Singletary. Singletary looked more like Loki on Sunday after only rushing the ball 8 times for 29 yards and catching an underwhelming two balls for 18 yards. Going forward I don't see Singletary becoming the King of Asgard, especially when he's not even the king of his own backfield. 

As some people have commented on from my previous articles, is that they don't know how I choose each player. Going forward I will be listing the criteria on how I make my selections. Each week I choose one quarterback, one running back, and one wide receiver, as well as one wild-card pick. These players must all be ranked outside of the top-15 at their respective position, with the exception of the wild card/Hulk pick. My Hulk pick must be ranked outside of the top 30. When I pick these players, I am predicting that they will finish inside of the top 15, or in the Hulks case, inside the top 20. For more information as to how I relate these picks to the Avengers themselves, you can check out my article titled "Avengers: Fantasy Footballs Mightiest Heroes". In that article I explain each pick and how they relate to each avenger. I write this article each week to not only improve as a writer and challenge myself as a fantasy football player, but to help others feel confident in their weekly start/sit decisions. 

Going into this spooky week 8, I look to capitalize on last weeks success and pick another excellent Avengers line-up that will surely strike fear into the eyes of your opponent. As always there is a TL;DR (Too long, didn't read) at the bottom of this article if you want to skip all the reading and just see who I picked this week. So without further ado, here are your week 8 Fantasy Avengers. 

Jimmy Garoppolo (FantasyPros Rank # 16) 

It is fitting that Jimmy G. is playing on November 1st, also known as the day of the dead, because he will need to come back to life in order to beat the Seahawks and their high powered offense. Russell Wilson is having an MVP caliber season and the 49ers are going to have to put up a lot of points in order to get the win on Sunday. What bodes well for Jimmy is that the Seahawks passing defense is one of the worst in the NFL, while their rushing defense ranks in the top 5. Although the Niners offense has one of the most efficient rushing attacks in the league, their backfield is banged up and the 49ers will need to pass the ball in order to keep up with high flying Seahawks. Garoppolo has the talent to put up a top 10 performance as well as having the offensive weapons to help him get there. Jimmy Garoppolo will need to embody Captain America this week in order to get the win and he will have to use every weapon in his arsenal to do so. 

Le'veon Bell (FantasyPros Rank # 23)

They say nothing tastes better than sweet, sweet revenge and Le'veon Bell is going to want to get all of it against his former team, the New York Jets. From the moment Bell signed with New York everyone knew it was a bad pairing, even the head coach stated that he wished the team had never signed him. After seventeen months and 18 million dollars, the Jets released Le'veon allowing him to sign with the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs. Even though Bell is still getting worked into the Chiefs offense, I expect his role to be expanded in a cake match-up. The Chiefs are huge home favorites and should have the lead early in this game. The game script is going to be in Bell's favor very early on and I believe that he will put on a running back clinic for his ex-head coach. While I still expect CEH to be involved in the Chiefs backfield, if the Chiefs are ahead by a couple touchdowns Bell could be the one the team relies on to close out the game. Bell is just one bad NFL team removed from being one of the most electric and reliable running backs in the league and I believe he has what it takes to strike down his former team in week 8. Look to Le'veon to be your week 8 Thor. 

Travis Fulgham (FantasyPros Rank # 17)

Fulgham has been on an absolute tear in his last two games. Although his usage has come out of necessity, Fulgham has made the most out of his opportunity. Fulgham is on a short list of healthy players for the Eagles going into a must win divisional match-up against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys defense is dead last in terms of points allowed and has made even bad offenses look good. If you don't believe me go look at the Cowboys box score from last week. Fulgham is receiving a healthy 26% of the Eagles total targets and is averaging 99 receiving yards over his last three games. He has also found the end zone in two of them. Fulgham has been a real Iron Man for his team by being able to seize his opportunity and more importantly stay healthy for a team that is currently first in the NFC east. With Fulghams target share and the Cowboys lack of a defense, look to Fulgham to be your week 8 Iron Man. 

Scotty Miller (FantasyPros Rank # 41)

Miller has had quite an up and down season. At times he is Brady's favorite target, catching balls in the short, mid, and long game. However, there are games where he doesn't even see the field. I believe that we will be seeing the former on Sunday. Miller will be filling in for the injured Chris Godwin in a favorable match-up against the New York Giants. The Giants are in the bottom 10 when it comes to receiving yards allowed and the Bucs love to throw the ball, as they currently rank 6th in pass attempts per game. Last week with Godwin in the line-up, Miller was able to finish as the WR7 on the week. Now in a week without Godwin and in an even better match-up, I see Miller hulking out once again and far surpassing his week 8 rank of 41. 

Shield Agents

This is a new segment to my usual article. Each week I will be mentioning players who I like, but didn't quite make the cut as one of the Avengers. For the inaugural Shield Agents segment, I will be mentioning Baker Mayfield, who faces the Oakland Raiders. It is an excellent match-up for Baker, as the Raiders are in the bottom half of the league in receiving yards allowed. However, the city of Cleveland is expecting high winds and lots of rain on Sunday, and I believe this game will be decided on the ground rather than through the air. Two other players who I liked this week were Henry Ruggs for the same reasons I listed for Baker and Cole Beasley who has been on a tear in the past two weeks in John Brown's absence. Unfortunately for Beasley, Brown will be returning to the line-up and back into his usual role as the wide receiver 2 for his team. 

TL;DR

Captain America: Jimmy Garoppolo (Rank #15)

Thor: Le'veon Bell (Rank #23)

Iron Man: Travis Fulgham (Rank #17)

Hulk: Scotty Miller (Rank #41)

Shield Agents: Baker Mayfield (Rank #17), Henry Ruggs (Rank #38), and Cole Beasley (Rank #32)

Sources:

Pro Football Reference

TheFantasyFootballers.com

FantasyPros.com 

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