Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings: Complete Outlook for Offensive Positions

We're about to reach the midpoint of the season, which means real-life and fantasy teams alike have to take stock of their seasons.

The Raiders, Jets and Jaguars know they're terrible, just as the 1-6 team sitting at the bottom of your league standings and still riding the Toby Gerhart bandwagon does. The Broncos, Packers and Colts know they're good, as does that (expletive) in your league who somehow ended up with DeMarco Murray and Andrew Luck.

For everyone else? It's make-or-break time.

Most fantasy leagues, like most NFL seasons, are defined by the much in the middle—the dozen or so teams that are hanging on the precipice of playoff contention, with their season likely heading in wildly divergent ways.

Most expect the Seahawks to fix their defensive woes and A.J. Green's eventual return to bring the Bengals back to competency. But the Bears, Steelers, Giants and San Francisco 49ers? Dude, I have no idea. Just as you—OK, you get the corollary. The high variance of the NFL makes it so that any of these teams could somehow sneak into the playoffs, as could middling units in fantasy leagues.

And as anyone who has been a No. 1 seed in the past knows, anything can happen in that one-week playoff sample. With that in mind, let's take a look at this week's rankings and see if we can help you get there.

Rank	Player	Projections
1	Peyton Manning, DEN	23 Points
2	Aaron Rodgers, GB	23 Points
3	Andrew Luck, IND	22 Points
4	Drew Brees, NO	20 Points
5	Russell Wilson, SEA	19 Points
6	Tom Brady, NE	19 Points
7	Philip Rivers, SD	18 Points
8	Nick Foles, PHI	17 Points
9	Tony Romo, DAL	17 Points
10	Cam Newton, CAR	17 Points
11	Matthew Stafford, DET	16 Points
12	Carson Palmer, ARI	16 Points
13	Ryan Tannehill, MIA	15 Points
14	Matt Ryan, ATL	15 Points
15	Jay Cutler, CHI	14 Points
16	Andy Dalton, CIN	14 Points
17	Joe Flacco, BAL	14 Points
18	Kyle Orton, BUF	14 Points
19	Alex Smith, KC	14 Points
20	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	14 Points

Sleeper: Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals

Palmer's name alone is enough to send a shiver down your spine. It evokes memories of weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes in Cincinnati, weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes in Oakland and weak eight-yard outs jumped for pick-sixes last season in Arizona. Save for a couple season-long flashes—2005, 2006 and cherry-picked parts of 2011 come to mind—Palmer has been a consistent generator of passes going the opposite direction.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Except it appears he's temporarily halted that problem. Palmer is 112 passes into his 2014 campaign and has a sole interception, thrown in last week's 24-13 win against Oakland. Mixing Bruce Arians-preferred downfield looks and underneath dumpoffs to running backs, Palmer has completed 66.1 percent of his passes—a mark that would be his best in almost a decade.

Even Football Outsiders' advanced metrics are buying in, ranking Palmer eighth in Defense-adjusted Value over Average (DVOA). Odds are this is a fluke caused by a combination of weak opposition and a small sample, but it's hard not to ride Palmer against a mistake-prone Eagles secondary. Philly has picked off only three passes so far in 2014 and is 18th in pass defense DVOA.

Palmer is a solid play this week over the likes of Jay Cutler and Matt Ryan.

Beware: Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Now that was the Dalton we were all expecting without A.J. Green. Dalton was an abject nightmare in last week's loss to the Colts, completing 18 of 38 passes for a paltry 126 yards. While he avoided throwing an interception, three passes traveled longer than 20 yards through the air, and only four were completions that went for 10-plus yards.

Green was absent from practice again Wednesday, and head coach Marvin Lewis didn't sound optimistic about his status for Week 8.

“It’s hard for me to put a guy out there Sunday that I don’t think can last a full game,’ Lewis said, per Geoff Hobson of the Bengals' official website. “If we have A.J. for part of the game doing certain things, that would be great. I think we could operate offensively…I guess we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.”

The Bengals play a Baltimore defense that hasn't allowed more than 23 points all season. And while the passing yardage against numbers look promising, the Ravens are actually a top-10 unit on a per-play basis against the pass. No A.J. Green, no thanks, Andy Dalton.

Rank	Player	Projection
1	DeMarco Murray, DAL	20 Points
2	Jamaal Charles, KC	19 Points
3	Arian Foster, HOU	17 Points
4	Marshawn Lynch, SEA	17 Points
5	Matt Forte, CHI	16 Points
6	Andre Ellington, ARI	16 Points
7	Le'Veon Bell, PIT	16 Points
8	LeSean McCoy, PHI	14 Points
9	Lamar Miller, MIA	14 Points
10	Ben Tate, CLE	14 Points
11	Eddie Lacy, GB	13 Points
12	Ronnie Hillman, DEN	13 Points
13	Ahmad Bradshaw, IND	12 Points
14	Giovani Bernard, CIN	12 Points
15	Justin Forsett, BAL	11 Points
16	Jerick McKinnon, MIN	11 Points
17	Shane Vereen, NE	10 Points
18	Joique Bell, DET	10 Points
19	Branden Oliver, SD	9 Points
20	Chris Ivory, NYJ	9 Points
21	Alfred Morris, WAS	8 Points
22	Anthony Dixon, BUF	8 Points
23	Bishop Sankey, TEN	8 Points
24	Mark Ingram, NO	8 Points
25	Denard Robinson, JAX	7 Points
26	Tre Mason, STL	7 Points
27	Trent Richardson, IND	6 Points
28	Doug Martin, TB	6 Points
29	Darren McFadden, OAK	5 Points
30	Bernard Pierce, BAL	5 Points

Sleeper: Chris Ivory, New York Jets

Ivory is owned in nearly 100 percent of leagues, so he's not sneaking up on anyone. His name has been in the fantasy lexicon for five years now, back when the undrafted Tiffin University product made everyone smash their televisions in frustration as a member of the Saints. 

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Fast-forward a few years and make a trip up north, and Ivory is quietly emerging as a good NFL running back. Despite being a member of the Jets' horror show of an offense, he is on pace for a very solid 987 yards and seven touchdowns through seven games. New York continues to give the mostly washed-up Chris Johnson work, but it's obvious Ivory is the more effective back.

With the Jets needing all the yards after contact they can get against a stout Buffalo front, don't be surprised if Ivory winds up with closer to 65 to 70 percent of the snaps instead of his typical 50 to 55 percent. He's being treated like a flex play when in today's running back market he's closer to a solid RB2.

Beware: Anthony Dixon, Buffalo Bills

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

Anthony Dixon is 27 years old. Despite his robust 5.1 yards per carry in 2014, he has never been higher than 3.7 in any of his four previous seasons. Three of the last four years have seen Dixon have a long carry of nine yards.

While he was mostly used by the 49ers in short-yardage situations, it's instructive that Jim Harbaugh didn't think to use him more often. Carlos Hyde certainly isn't hurting for semi-consistent work behind Frank Gore. I expect Dixon to get the starting nod and possibly even the majority of the carries with Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller injured, but the jury is still out on whether he can carry the load.

Bryce Brown might be one or two big plays Sunday away from taking over a workhorse role for the near future. 

Rank	Player	Projection
1	Jordy Nelson, GB	16 Points
2	Demaryius Thomas, DEN	16 Points
3	Antonio Brown, PIT	16 Points
4	Dez Bryant, DAL	15 Points
5	Jeremy Maclin, PHI	14 Points
6	Julio Jones, ATL	14 Points
7	Golden Tate, DET	13 Points
8	Randall Cobb, GB	13 Points
9	T.Y. Hilton, IND	12 Points
10	Emmanuel Sanders, DEN	11 Points
11	Sammy Watkins, BUF	11 Points
12	Steve Smith, BAL	10 Points
13	Alshon Jeffery, CHI	10 Points
14	Vincent Jackson, TB	8 Points
15	Mike Wallace, MIA	8 Points
16	Brandon Marshall, CHI	8 Points
17	Doug Baldwin, SEA	8 Points
18	Andre Johnson, HOU	8 Points
19	Reggie Wayne, IND	8 Points
20	Kelvin Benjamin, CAR	7 Points
21	Mohamed Sanu, CIN	7 Points
22	Roddy White, ATL	7 Points
23	Julian Edelman, NE	7 Points
24	Marques Colston, NO	7 Points
25	Pierre Garcon, WAS	6 Points
26	Wes Welker, DEN	6 Points
27	DeAndre Hopkins, HOU	6 Points
28	Michael Floyd, ARI	6 Points
29	Greg Jennings, MIN	6 Points
30	Andrew Hawkins, CLE	6 Points
31	DeSean Jackson, WAS	6 Points
32	Larry Fitzgerald, ARI	5 Points
33	James Jones, OAK	5 Points
34	Cecil Shorts, JAX	5 Points
35	Keenan Allen, SD	5 Points
36	Brian Quick, STL	5 Points
37	Kendall Wright, TEN	5 Points
38	Percy Harvin, NYJ	5 Points
39	Eric Decker, NYJ	5 Points
40	Torrey Smith, BAL	4 Points

Sleeper: Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks' trading of Percy Harvin may make their locker room healthier, but it depletes an already shaky wide receiving corps. Seattle will start Jermaine Kearse and Baldwin outside this week, two players who have been drafted a combined zero times. While both players have proved they slipped through the cracks, going with two undrafted guys is a proposition typically left to the Oaklands of the world.

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Rookie second-round pick Paul Richardson will also factor into the rotation after largely being irrelevant so far.

Of that trio, it appears Baldwin is the top guy for now. The former Stanford standout was already pushing Harvin for the team lead in targets and made a statement Sunday, catching seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Seattle hopes Russell Wilson won't be throwing 36 times every week, but a trip to Carolina is one of those times where an aerial assault from Wilson might be baked into the game plan.

Beware: Percy Harvin, New York Jets

Should be pretty obvious. Harvin became a Jet less than a week ago. Even if he were a football savant, there is no way Harvin would be able to learn the entire playbook, have his route tree down and pick up all the terminology.

Midseason wide receiver trades rarely workout for that very reason. There is so much chemistry-based work that happens during training camp that can't be replicated in the few practices between games. One missed read or misunderstanding of a play call, and Geno Smith is throwing a pick-six. And Geno Smith needs no help throwing pick-sixes.

At least initially, the Jets will keep Harvin's playing time limited to specific packages. He'll probably be utilized a ton when on the field, but banking on 25 or so plays is a dangerous game.

Rank	Player	Projection
1	Julius Thomas, DEN	13 Points
2	Rob Gronkowski, NE	12 Points
3	Jimmy Graham, NO	9 Points
4	Greg Olsen, CAR	8 Points
5	Martellus Bennett, CHI	7 Points
6	Antonio Gates, SD	7 Points
7	Delanie Walker, TEN	7 Points
8	Dwayne Allen, IND	6 Points
9	Jordan Reed, WAS	6 Points
10	Jared Cook, STL	5 Points
11	Travis Kelce, KC	5 Points
12	Heath Miller, PIT	5 Points
13	Jordan Cameron, CLE	5 Points
14	Jason Witten, DAL	4 Points
15	Jermaine Gresham, CIN	4 Points

Sleeper: Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals

It appears the worse Andy Dalton plays, the better it is for Gresham. The Bengals tight end was the sole benefactor of the team's trip to Indianapolis, picking up 10 receptions for 48 yards. In the two games A.J. Green has missed, Gresham 16 receptions for 116 yards. Keep in mind that this is the same player who had a grand total of eight catches for 61 yards in the four games prior.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

The Ravens are among the handful of best teams against opposing tight ends this season, so don't go expecting a huge game. I mean, we're far along enough into Gresham's career now to know those aren't coming. Fool us for four straight seasons and blame has been tossed around so many times that it's feeling depressed and unwanted.

But if you're looking for a short-term replacement available in most leagues, there are worse options than Gresham.

Beware: Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals

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Dude. I just said to trust Andy Dalton and Jermaine Gresham. I mean...I totally buy everything I just said. Just...like, I have watched football at points in this half decade. Cross your fingers and say your prayers, folks.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter