Week 8 Fantasy Busts and Players To Beware

Week 8: Sleepers | Busts | Buy-Low, Sell-High players

Superstars are difficult to keep out of your fantasy lineups, but a stretch of poor games or a bad matchup warrants doing just that (or at least thinking about it). Here are five potential busts who fit that bill. For all of your final lineup decisions, be sure to check out Start ’Em, Sit ’Em and my weekly fantasy football player rankings, which are updated daily throughout the season.

Note: Starting percentages are from Sleeper.

Fantasy Starters Who Could Bust In Week 8

Caleb Williams at Seahawks (63% started): Williams is a tough player to sit, but he has a brutal matchup against the Seahawks. Their defense has allowed just one quarterback to beat them for more than 9.8 fantasy points at home, and that includes holding Drake Maye and Patrick Mahomes to fewer than 10 points. Overall, Seattle has allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game and the second-fewest points per dropback to enemy field generals.

Ty Okada intercepts Mahomes 👀

KCvsSEA on NBC/Peacock
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/9J1V9y9Fes
— NFL (@NFL) October 26, 2026

Saquon Barkley at Commanders (72% started): Barkley returned to action last week, but you could tell he wasn’t 100 percent recovered from a bum hamstring. He also sustained an injured back in the loss to Dallas and was limited to just 10 snaps. While Barkley is expected to play against the Commanders, he’s become a major risk due to injuries and the fact that the Eagles are probably out of the postseason race. Washington has also been tough on opposing running backs.

Quinshon Judkins at Steelers (68% started): Judkins is coming off a big game against the Titans, so he’ll be tough to sit in most leagues … especially given that he already bested his next opponent, the Steelers, for 21.6 points in Week 4. Still, I’d temper expectations. Pittsburgh has allowed the third-lowest rushing success rate, and they’ve held Jonathan Taylor, Chase Brown and Bucky Irving to fewer than 12 fantasy points. Start Judkins with caution this weekend.

A.J. Brown at Dolphins (81% started): I know it’s hard to sit Brown, and you shouldn’t do it if you don’t have a viable replacement. Just keep in mind that he has failed to score more than 7.8 fantasy points in three games with the Patriots, and he suddenly has become a bit of a butterfingers. Brown also has a tough matchup, at least on paper, against Miami. Their defense has allowed the second-fewest points per game to wide receivers in the first seven weeks.

Jameson Williams vs. Vikings (71% started): Williams has been on absolute fire, scoring a combined four touchdowns and 61 fantasy points in his last three games. As a result, he’ll be in many starting lineups. Keep in mind, however, that he had been held to just 22.7 points in his first three games, and the Vikings have the best defense in the league. Not a single wideout has scored more than 12 points against them since Week 2, so I’d temper your expectations.

More Players To Beware

Jared Goff vs. Vikings (56% started): Goff is one of the top quarterbacks in fantasy this season, but no team has allowed fewer points to the position than Minnesota.
Patrick Mahomes at Broncos (54% started): Mahomes was held to 6.7 points last week and now has failed to score more than 17 points in four straight games.
Tony Pollard at Bengals (67% started): Pollard went off for three touchdowns last week, but the Bengals have allowed the third-fewest points to running backs.
Sam LaPorta vs. Vikings (86% started): LaPorta is tough to sit, but keep in mind that the Vikings haven’t allowed more than 9.5 points to an opposing tight end this season.
Harold Fannin Jr. at Steelers (69% started): The Steelers defense has allowed the third-fewest points per route run to tight ends, so Fannin could post a modest line.

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