Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 8: Choosing Top Fantasy Football Locks and Flops

For all the folks on Twitter/Facebook/in your group text message with friends who say "no one cares about your fantasy team," that's not necessarily true. People care about other people's fantasy teams if and only if it will then allow them to talk about their own fantasy roster.

Case in point: Friend asks you if you should sell high on DeMarco Murray. If you do not have DeMarco Murray or an opportunity to acquire Murray, odds are you'll offer some halfhearted advice that's forgotten 10 seconds after it's said. If you own Murray, though? Suddenly you're six adult beverages and two hours deep into a theoretical conversation, poring over historical trends for high-usage running backs.

I bring this up because not all fantasy football articles, like conversations, are created equal. For one-size-fits-all conversations, analysts have our weekly rankings where every relevant player is put into a position-by-position order. By their very nature, start 'em, sit 'em columns are different. They're meant to highlight small advantages we see that others might not.

Meaning, some may read through and not see a player relevant to their team. That's OK; it just means you'll have to sift through rankings to decide whether Jerick McKinnon or Anthony Dixon should start for you this week. (It's McKinnon.) For everyone else, though, let's take a look at the most glaring market inefficiencies from which to reap rewards.

Quarterback: Start Carson Palmer Over Andy Dalton, Matt Ryan and Jay Cutler

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Yep. We've reached this part of proceedings. Where Carson Palmer, lord of the wobbly eight-yard out route that gets returned for a pick-six, gets thrown into lineups over three guys whose franchises have deemed them worthy of leading a Super Bowl team.

Palmer, though he's been limited to three games due to injuries, has been excellent when in the lineup. He's thrown with just enough arm strength and velocity to execute Bruce Arians' offense, while mixing in a heaping pile of underneath throws to running backs. After consecutive six-catch weeks, Andre Ellington has two fewer targets on the season than Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.

It's hard to argue with the results. Palmer is completing his highest percentage of passes (66.1) in nearly a decade and has gone 112 pass attempts with a single interception. While there is some mean regression coming—Palmer is a regular in the three-plus percent interception rate—it's unlikely to come against Philadelphia. The Eagles have picked off only three passes this season.

Meanwhile, Dalton, Ryan and Cutler are all going through their own respective nightmares. 

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Dalton is learning what life would be like without A.J. Green. It's not so great. Dalton's receivers dropped a ton of passes and he was abysmal himself in last week's loss to the Colts, throwing for 126 yards on 38 attempts without a touchdown or interception. Green is unlikely to play this week, and with the Bengals hosting a red-hot Baltimore defense, it's hard to expect much production from Dalton.

Ryan appears stuck on another Atlanta team heading for double-digit losses. Julio Jones and Roddy White are back in the lineup at full health, but the Falcons get zero help from their rushing game and are constantly losing the time of possession game due to their defense. Ryan has thrown for only one touchdown each of the last three weeks.

Cutler, it appears, has a near-mutiny on his hands. The Bears had a tense postgame incident following last week's loss to the Dolphins, with Brandon Marshall apparently ripping everyone from Cutler to Robbie Gould a new one. Cutler and Marshall have a longstanding relationship so it's unlikely any of this carries over, but Marshall's frustrations are not without warrant.

Expected to have one of the NFL's best offenses, Chicago has struggled with consistency and Cutler's turnover-prone ways have come back at the worst time. Things won't get any easier with the Bears headed to New England this week. It's a risk, but I'd start Palmer over all three guys.

Start Lamar Miller over Giovani Bernard and Alfred Morris

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Anyone who owned Lamar Miller last season probably just recoiled in horror. Taken on average midway through the third round in 2013, Miller was viewed as a potential breakout candidate. In the end, the only things he broke were records for inducing anger management classes. Miller finished with 709 yards and two touchdowns, and when the Dolphins signed Knowshon Moreno, it appeared we were done with him for good.

Whoopsie. Two injuries, including a season-ending ACL tear, to Moreno later and Miller has reentered fantasy relevance. He has scored four touchdowns over his last three games, in the process more than doubling his career total.

Despite beginning the season as a backup and playing in one fewer game than most running backs, he's 10th at the position in fantasy points coming into Week 8. Miller, like it or not, has emerged as an every-week start.

Also sitting comfortably within every-week start status are Bernard and Morris, who are plenty good at football in their own right. Bernard hasn't been especially productive as a runner, but he's been used enough as a receiver and has four touchdowns. Morris had a blazing start to the season where it looked as if it wouldn't matter whether it was Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins or Daffy Duck playing quarterback.

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At issue with Morris and Bernard are their recent downward trends. Morris has 12 fantasy points in the last three weeks total, averaging a robust 2.8 yards per carry in the process. Bernard has done a little better by virtue of having the Carolina Panthers on his schedule, but struggled against Baltimore on the ground in Week 1 and is coming off a seven-carry, 17-yard outing against Indy.

The pair are also suffering through injuries, with Bernard limited by his ribs and Morris hobbled by an ankle injury last week. With the Bengals offense all over the place and Washington consigned to starting Colt McCoy at quarterback Sunday—seriously, Colt McCoy! In 2014!—it's hard to trust either guy. In the weird situation where you'd have Miller and Morris/Bernard, swallow hard and go with the hot hand.

Wide Receiver: Start Doug Baldwin Over Andre Johnson

Following the controversial Percy Harvin trade, Baldwin is as close to a No. 1 receiver as Seattle has. The former undrafted free agent had seven receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown in last week's loss to St. Louis, with his 10 targets being four more than any other pass-catcher.

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Even before the Harvin trade, Baldwin was already challenging his high-priced counterpart for the top spot. Harvin and Baldwin were separated in targets by one; Baldwin was close to doubling Harvin's yards per catch rate; and Russell Wilson seemed to trust him more in high-priority situations.

The Seahawks aren't suddenly going to undergo an offensive overhaul, so Baldwin's upside is still limited. Seattle is 29th in passing yards per game, and while that's not an accurate assessment of Wilson, it is instructive of Pete Carroll's preferred playing style. Only Houston, which employs Ryan Fitzpatrick, throws the ball fewer times per game than the Seahawks.

Which, as a segue that was not whatsoever contrived, leads us to Andre Johnson, the future Hall of Famer who can't seem to catch a break. Johnson's unhappy offseason has morphed into what could be the worst full season of his career. The All-Pro has 39 receptions for 496 yards and a lone touchdown so far, failing to make a reception longer than 26 yards.

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Fitzpatrick acknowledged that he needs to do a better job of getting Johnson the ball after Monday's loss to Pittsburgh.

“My job is to get the ball to our play-makers and I didn’t get it to Andre nearly enough early,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “It’s just one of those deals, I’ve got to continue as I progress to continue to get better, continue to throw the ball to the right guy and making sure everybody is on the same page.”

Houston travels to Tennessee this week, so it's a risk sitting any Texans player. It'd be much more advisable to start Baldwin over the likes of Reggie Wayne, Roddy White or Marques Colston if the option is available. In this specific instance, I'm backing my 17th-ranked player over my 18th. Fingers crossed.

Player	Position	Team	Position Ranking
Anthony Dixon	RB	Buffalo Bills	22
Tre Mason	RB	St. Louis Rams	26
DeSean Jackson	WR	Washington	31
Percy Harvin	WR	New York Jets	38
Jordan Cameron	TE	Cleveland Browns	13

Player	Position	Team	Position Ranking
Jerick McKinnon	RB	Minnesota Vikings	16
Chris Ivory	RB	New York Jets	20
Vincent Jackson	WR	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	14
Mike Wallace	WR	Miami Dolphins	15
Jermaine Gresham	TE	Cincinnati Bengals	15

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All fantasy stats via ESPN