At the halfway mark of the 2022 fantasy football regular season, it’s time to get serious about playoffs. Regardless of your record, stringing along wins is more important now than ever. As bye weeks continue to present themselves, and injuries can strike at any time, it’s crucial to plug the best players possible into your starting lineups. This can require making a bold prediction about an unlikely player to maximize your success. Luckily, our Fantrax writers have been doing so all season and will continue until championship weekend.
You’re going to start your studs of course week in and week out. It’s undeniable, though, that you will run into a few lineup decisions that could make or break your week this season. Our team at Fantrax is here to help. These weekly bold predictions are meant to tip the scale in favor of the players below. We believe they have a chance to help win you the week and put up big numbers. The bold predictions won’t always have a 100% success rate but do provide a well-educated guess for the ceiling each player can achieve each week.
Be sure to follow all of these bold predictions and more @Fantrax on Twitter and @fantraxsports on Instagram!
2022 NFL Week 8 Bold Predictions for Fantasy Football
Irv Smith Jr., TE, Minnesota Vikings
Bold Prediction: 7 receptions, 60 yards, 2 touchdowns
25.0 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Colin McTamany, @Colin_McT on Twitter
Colin’s Breakdown: The Arizona Cardinals are a top-of-the-line matchup for opposing tight ends this fantasy football season. They’re allowing the most receptions, yards, and touchdowns to the position. With six touchdowns allowed through seven games, they are just shy of a one-per-game average. Irv Smith Jr. is up next for the Cards. I’m making the bold prediction he finds the end zone twice to solidify that one touchdown per game average to tight ends.
The Vikings exit their Week 7 bye with a home matchup against Arizona. Irv Smith’s role should increase after a week of rest give his slow start this season recovering from early-August thumb surgery. With most of the attention on Justin Jefferson, I think Irv Smith will have plenty of opportunities to exploit an already favorable matchup. Arizona is allowing the sixth-most points this season. The Vikings have a great opportunity to put points on the board here with two weeks of preparation for this game. I love Irv Smith as a Week 8 streaming option as he should benefit from all of the above.
Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR, Cleveland Browns
Bold Prediction: 9 receptions, 85 yards, 1 touchdown
23.5 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Lauren Auerbach, @lkauerbach on Twitter
Lauren’s Breakdown: Donovan Peoples-Jones has an opportunity to make some noise in Week 8. With David Njoku out for multiple weeks with an ankle sprain, Peoples-Jones should become the number two receiving option for Cleveland behind Amari Cooper. Peoples-Jones has at least 70 receiving yards in three of the last four games, but has yet to find the end zone this season. I expect that to change this week.
Peoples-Jones has become a significant part of Cleveland’s passing offense. He’s averaging seven targets per game over the last four weeks. His 42 targets on the season are tied for second-most on the team. Cincinnati is a tough defense against wideouts, but the Browns have a narrow target tree so the volume should still be there for Peoples-Jones. Additionally, game script should call for plenty of passing with Cleveland likely playing catch-up in this one. For my bold prediction, I like Peoples-Jones to find pay dirt for the first time in a Monday night divisional clash against the Bengals.
Khalil Shakir, WR, Buffalo Bills
Bold Prediction: 5 receptions, 50 yards, 1 touchdown
16.0 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Bradlee Kilgore, @SirBradleeK on Twitter
Bradlee’s Breakdown: The Bills are 10.5-point favorites vs. the Packers this week. Normally, that would favor a running game script, but the Bills don’t really do that. When they need to, it’s usually through Josh Allen. The Bills use their explosive passing game as an extension of the run and they should have no problem doing that against the Packers.
Shakir should be a beneficiary of that. He’s rostered in less than 1% of leagues right now. That’s because he’s the team’s 3rd-string slot receiver. Jamison Crowder is injured, so that moves him to 2nd-string, behind Isaiah McKenzie. In Week 5 vs. Pittsburgh, Shakir dazzled with five targets, three catches, 75 yards, and a touchdown, while both Crowder and McKenzie were injured. The following week, McKenzie returned and played horribly. He had poor timing with Josh Allen and was dropping passes. Shakir got some extra snaps due to this, but only had 2 targets for 14 yards.
This week, I want to take a flier on Shakir. The rookie has risen to the occasion any time he gets snaps and would be an upgrade over McKenzie based on how he just played. It’s a certainly a bold prediction, but a risk I’m willing to take in this offense.
Romeo Doubs, WR, Green Bay Packers
Bold Prediction: 8 receptions, 75 yards, 1 touchdown
21.5 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Michael Quintero, @WeekendMike on Twitter
Michael’s Breakdown: Aaron Rodgers is a double-digit underdog for the first time in his career. The Green Bay Packers are heading to Buffalo for a matchup with the Bills on Sunday Night Football. Ahead of that matchup, most of Rodgers’ lackluster group of pass catchers are unavailable.
Randall Cobb is already on Injured Reserve while rookie, Christian Watson, continues to battle a hamstring injury. To make matters worse, Allen Lazard reportedly heard a “snap, crackle, pop” in his shoulder last weekend so he won’t play against the Bills.
So, while Romeo Doubs is one of the last men standing, my bold prediction is that he makes his availability count in prime time. The rookie is far and away leading the Packers wide receivers in snaps played this season. He’s also seen the most targets on the team, averaging six per game in his first NFL season. It’s a tough Week 8 matchup, but I am banking of Doubs’ volume in this one.
Zay Jones, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Bold Prediction: 7 receptions, 90 yards, 1 touchdown
22.0 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Kai Haskins, @HaiKaskins on Twitter
Kai’s Breakdown: We head to London for my Week 8 bold prediction. Zay Jones and the Jacksonville Jaguars are taking on the Denver Broncos across the pond this Sunday where I think Jones shines.
Zay Jones gets overshadowed by Christian Kirk this year but is averaging 7.83 targets per game. Jones has caught 70% of his targets this season, as well, making him a reliable target. Assuming stud cornerback, Patrick Surtain, focuses most of his attention on Kirk, I think Zay Jones will benefit in a big way. He could lead, or at least tie for the lead, in targets, something he’s done twice this season. In both instances, Jones drew 10 or more targets. He is a cost-efficient Daily Fantasy Sports play and sneaky wide receiver streaming option in redraft leagues for Week 8.
Robert Woods, WR, Tennessee Titans
Bold Prediction: 7 receptions, 95 yards, 1 touchdown
22.5 fantasy points
Fantrax Writer: Reese Jones, @PotPharma on Twitter
Reese’s Breakdown: The Tennessee Titans are short-handed at the wide receiver position. Treylon Burks is still on Injured Reserve nursing a toe injury. After Woods, Burks, and maybe Kyle Phillips (also on IR), there isn’t a wide receiver worth mentioning that could see any kind of significant targets. So, Bobby Trees should most definitely have volume on his side. The Titans are clearly a run-first team, but it will be Woods that should benefit from the shot plays and play-action passes.
One other piece to monitor is the quarterback situation. Following last week’s win over the Indianapolis Colts, quarterback Ryan Tannehill was seen in a walking boot. This was due to an ankle sprain he suffered in-game. If he is forced to miss this week’s game we would see Malik Willis start in his stead. Willis has a big arm, one that could be on full display with Woods at the receiving end. My bold prediction is that Woods has his best fantasy game of the season by far in Week 8.
Also make sure to check out our Week 8 Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | Flex Rankings