Week 8 Rankings (2016): Top 50 Wide Receivers

by Will Overton

We are at one of our super bye weeks this week, with six teams sitting out. Fantasy owners may very well be scrambling to try and piece together a full starting lineup, and those lineup decisions could be tougher than ever. We will hopefully be able to lend a helping hand in making those tough calls as we offer up our Top 50 Wide Receivers for Week 8:

1. Mike Evans – Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Oakland
2. Julio Jones – Atlanta Falcons vs. Green Bay
3. A.J. Green – Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington
4. Amari Cooper – Oakland Raiders @ Tampa Bay
5. Brandon Marshall – New York Jets @ Cleveland
6. TY Hilton – Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City
7. DeAndre Hopkins – Houston Texans vs. Detroit
8. Doug Baldwin – Seattle Seahawks @ New Orleans
9. Jordy Nelson – Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta
10. Randall Cobb – Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta
11. Michael Crabtree – Oakland Raiders @ Tampa Bay
12. Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina
13. Marvin Jones – Detroit Lions @ Houston
14. Allen Robinson – Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee
15. Kelvin Benjamin – Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona
16. Demaryius Thomas – Denver Broncos vs. San Diego
17. Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia
18. Terrelle Pryor – Cleveland Browns vs. NY Jets
19. Brandin Cooks – New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle
20. Jeremy Maclin – Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis
21. Alshon Jeffrey – Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota
22. DeSean Jackson – Washington Redskins @ Cincinnati
23. Ty Montgomery – Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta
24. Emmanuel Sanders – Denver Broncos vs. San Diego
25. John Brown – Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina
26. Will Fuller – Houston Texans vs. Detroit
27. Julian Edelman – New England Patriots @ Buffalo
28. Golden Tate – Detroit Lions @ Houston
29. Jordan Matthews – Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas
30. Stefon Diggs – Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago
31. Allen Hurns – Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee
32. Cameron Meredith – Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota
33. Michael Floyd – Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina
34. Willie Snead – New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle
35. Cole Beasley – Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia
36. Donte Moncrief – Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City
37. DaVante Adams – Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta
38. Jamison Crowder – Washington Redskins @ Cincinnati
39. Brandon LaFell – Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington
40. Quincy Enunwa – New York Jets @ Cleveland
41. Travis Benjamin – San Diego Chargers @ Denver
42. Michael Thomas – New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle
43. Pierre Garcon – Washington Redskins @ Cincinnati
44. Chris Hogan – New England Patriots @ Buffalo
45. Kendall Wright – Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville
46. Tyrell Williams – San Diego Chargers @ Denver
47. Anquan Boldin – Detroit Lions @ Houston
48. Rishard Matthews – Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville
49. Marquise Goodwin – Buffalo Bills vs. New England
50. Mohamed Sanu – Atlanta Falcons vs. Green Bay

Thoughts:

• For the first time this season someone outside of the “Big 3” is making an appearance at the number one spot on this list. Mike Evans has earned his spot here too with 6 TD in six games and no fewer than 11 targets in any game so far. Evans hasn’t had a 300 yard game or double digit catches any week, but he is just consistently good. This week he gets a chance to shine on the woeful Raiders secondary. Some may think the Raiders have turned a corner with the way they handled Allen Robinson last week, but I disagree.  Look for Evans to torch them and remind us all how bad that defense is and how good he is.
• All of the sudden Jordy Nelson is finding himself surrounded by guys in Green Bay’s receiving corpa who are putting up numbers after Nelson was the only one doing anything for so many weeks. This week the Packers face off with the Falcons in what could be a high scoring affair, and Green Bay has four Top 40 WR. Randall Cobb has suddenly been reborn as a fantasy stud with 27 catches and 2 TD in his last three games. Meanwhile the hybrid RB/WR in Ty Montgomery should see a lot of snaps and get a lot of touches again, even with Knile Davis in the mix. This is a nice week to use all your Packers WR.
• All signs are pointing towards Dez Bryant making his return this week. He has been out with a knee injury since hurting it in week 3 and has been targeting this game as a return date for a few weeks. Dak Prescott has fallen into a rhythm with the likes of Cole Beasley and Jason Witten, but despite Bryant being behind the eight ball on building rapport he’s still far and away the most talented receiver on this team and you have to think if he’s healthy the Cowboys and Prescott will find a way to get the ball in his hands.
• If you were able to sell high on Stefon Diggs after his monstrous first two weeks of the season, then well done to you and hats off. Since that time he has just 11 catches in three games and also missed an entire game due to injury. That said, while I don’t think he is as good as he showed early on, he’s also not this bad. The Bears defense can be passed on and hopefully Sam Bradford and Diggs can take advantage.
• Another guy to watch this week and follow the status reports on is Donte Moncrief. The Colts have been without him since week two now and they must be itching to get him back.  If he can go I would proceed with cautious optimism. I like Moncrief’s talent, but he likely won’t get a full compliment of snaps in this week. He could make a nice boom or bust flex play, but I wouldn’t be too eager to plus him in at WR2 or anything.

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