Week 8 Flex Rankings

Photo By: Kevin Hoffman / US PRESSWIRE

Running back depth continues to look grim with lack luster play and mounting injuries to even some of the elite talents like Trent Richardson and Maurice Jones-Drew. As a result, for the fist time ever I have seven wide receivers listed in the top ten in my flex play rankings.

What is even more interesting is the three top running backs listed are Jamaal Charles, Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson. Talent wise all three are good enough to be elite options but all three running backs had their question marks coming into the season.

Peterson has surprised many with this play through seven weeks and he finally found the end zone against the Cardinals, his first trip to pay dirt since week one.

Charles has turned into a feature back and only time will tell if he can hold up to the pounding of a full season coming off his ACL injury and playing at a weight less than ideal for a bell cow workload.

Then we have Johnson, a player who has brought much frustration to fantasy owners or the past two seasons. Because of a respectable performance against the Steelers and the fact that we are in the middle of bye weeks, it’s likely you had him in your lineup.

If so, he probably carried your team to a victory and his day could’ve been even better if not for Jamie Harper taking over goal-line duties. This week Johnson takes on a Colts defense that gave up over 150 yards and three touchdowns to Shonn Greene two weeks ago.

Last Sunday, Indianapolis did a good job against the Browns ground game but Trent Richardson was clearly playing less than 100 percent and was benched for the second half of the game. Let’s hope Johnson’s recent performances (and that of the Titans as a team) are the start of a big things.

Poor Matchups

Wanted to take a look at some of the boardline plays we should avoid if possible because of poor matchups.

- Brandon Lloyd has struggled in recent weeks and it’s not all his fault. Matched up against the likes of Champ Bailey, the Seahawks physical corners and Antonio Cromartie have slown him down to less than we would’ve hoped for.

This week Lloyd has another tough matchup against Cortland Finnegan and it could be another slow week as Tom Brady doesn’t mind looking to other options.

- LaRod Stephens-Howling had a surprising 100-yard performance last week as we expect William Powell to see the bulk of the Cardinals carries. Stephens-Howling will have to get it done against the 49ers via the pass for success this week.

Don’t expect him to build off of the recent success of Ahmad Bradshaw and Marshawn Lynch. Stephens-Howling is a different style of running back and the 49ers have a almost two weeks to get ready for this game.

Week 8 Standard Rankings – QB | RB | WR | TE | Flex | K | D | Waivers | Start / Sit |

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Last Updated: Oct. 26th

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