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Week 8 of the 2023 fantasy football season features a Sunday Night Football showdown between the Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears. Both defenses have struggled this year, creating a potentially high-scoring game. This is always an intriguing matchup for fantasy football because more offensive production means additional opportunities to score fantasy points.
Another interesting scenario for the Week 8 games is that no teams are on their bye week, a rare situation in the middle of any NFL season. Managers will, therefore, have a full pool of available options to plug into their lineups. This makes it even more important than ever to properly analyze the field before finalizing lineup decisions, including during this SNF matchup.
Sunday Night Football Week 8 Start 'Em & Sit 'Em fantasy football
Effective fantasy football lineup decisions require managers to weigh a large amount of variables for each available player. Some of these include recent individual performances, injury situations to relevant players, potential game scripts, direct weekly matchups and projected offensive output, among many others. These factors help to determine which weekly options to target.
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The Start/Sit Optimizer helps make this complicated process much easier. This useful tool considers all of the variables on any players in a given week to generate lineup suggestions and fantasy projections. Managers who use it often gain an edge over the rest of their fantasy leagues. It was used to help produce a list of potential targets and fades for Week 8 Sunday Night Football.
Official injury reports are also a crucial factor when making fantasy football decisions on players from any game. In this prime-time matchup, the Chicago Bears will be without quarterback Justin Fields, who has been ruled out with a thumb injury on his throwing hand. In his place, Tyson Bagent is expected to make the second start of his career.
Two key members of the Los Angeles Chargers offense, Josh Palmer and Gerald Everett, are listed as questionable to play. Everett was a full participant in practice on Friday, so he will presumably be able to suit up. Palmer will likely be a game-time decision after logging just one limited practice all week. If he's unable to play, Quentin Johnston would likely see an expanded role.
All of these various factors, along with many others, were taken into careful consideration when coming up with the following list of players to target and others to avoid for fantasy football lineups on Sunday Night Football in Week 8 for the 2023 NFL season.
SNF Week 8 Fantasy Football Start 'Em Picks
Justin Herbert
Justin Herbert ranks among the top ten quarterbacks in most rankings entering each week and is often among the top five. He is an elite fantasy football QB who is reliable in just about any matchup. Add in the fact that the Bears are allowing the sixth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks and he's one of the best targets in the position this week.
Austin Ekeler
Austin Ekeler hasn't lived up to being a top-five pick in most fantasy drafts prior to the 2023 NFL season. While some of that is due to injuries, in the three games he has played in, he has finished outside of the top 25 running backs twice. He will look to get back to his pre-injury form when he ranked RB2 in PPR leagues in Week 1. The Bears allow the eighth-most fantasy points per game to running backs, so Ekeler has a solid opportunity to bounce back strong.
D'Onta Foreman
D'Onta Foreman exploded for an unexpected RB1 finish in standard scoring last week by totaling three touchdowns. This makes it two consecutive weeks ranking among the top 30 running backs, quietly making him a valuable fantasy asset. As long as Khalil Herbert remains out with an injury, Foreman can be used in fantasy lineups, despite Roschon Johnson being expected to cut into his workload a bit.
Keenan Allen
Keenan Allen has been consistently productive during his entire career with the Chargers and that has continued once again during the 2023 season. He is one of the few wide receivers who must be plugged into lineups every week, regardless of his matchup, due to his highly reliable volume in a high-powered offensive system.
Also Read: Fantasy Football Week 8 WR rankings
Josh Palmer
Ever since Mike Williams suffered a season-ending injury, Josh Palmer has replaced his production in the Chargers' offense. He makes for a solid starter this week in fantasy football as long as he's healthy enough to play. He is listed as questionable and is likely to be a true game-time decision. Managers will need to check his official status before kickoff.
DJ Moore
The Bears acquired DJ Moore to serve as their true WR1 this year and he has absolutely delivered. He has dominated their target share, resulting in four finishes among the top 25 wide receivers in fantasy football. He gets an additional boost this week against the Chargers, who have allowed the most fantasy points to wide receivers through seven weeks.
Gerald Everett
Gerald Everett has quietly turned in two consecutive TE6 finishes in standard leagues over the past two weeks. His usage has increased with Williams unavailable, making him a decent lineup option. He's listed as questionable but should be expected to play after logging a full practice on Friday.
Managers looking to acquire any of these Week 8 targets should consult the fantasy football trade analyzer first.
SNF Week 8 Fantasy Football Sit 'Em Picks
Tyson Bagent
While Tyson Bagent was solid in his first career start last week, it only resulted in a QB20 finish in fantasy football. The Chargers are allowing the most fantasy points per game to the position, so while he has a strong chance to build off his promising performance last week, it's still too early to trust him in starting lineups.
Also Read: Fantasy Football Week 8 QB rankings
Quentin Johnston
Despite receiving much more playing time with Williams on the injured reserve list, Quentin Johnston has failed to turn that into fantasy output. He has yet to exceed two receptions and 20 yards in any of his games this year, making him a bench stash at best.
Cole Kmet
Cole Kmet is having a breakout 2023 fantasy football season, currently ranking as the overall TE10 entering Week 8. The issue is that he has been unproductive in both games that Bagent has played, recording his two worst outings of the year in the past two weeks. This includes zero fantasy points last week in Bagent's first career start.
