Start Em Sit Em Week 8: Making the Call on Toughest Fantasy Plays

Each week, many fantasy owners are faced with the dilemma of deciding which player to pluck off the bench and add to the flex position. Generally, this slot can consist of either a running back, wide receiver or tight end, and choosing between them can cause headaches for even the most veteran of fantasy enthusiasts.

These tough fantasy plays rear their ugly heads every single week. Sometimes an owner is highly rewarded after rolling the dice on a player that experts didn't deem worthy of a starting status. Other times, a gamble results in a goose egg and a larger number in your team's loss column. We've all been in both situations before.

Let's go ahead and attempt to lessen the burden heading into Week 8 of the NFL season by deciphering which flex players and fringe starters are worthy of a starting spot and which should be relegated to the bench.

Running Backs	Team	Opp.	Start/Sit
Wide Receivers	Team	Opp.	Start/Sit
Tight Ends	Team	Opp.	Start/Sit
Mark Ingram	NO	GB	Start
Jerick McKinnon	MIN	TB	Start
Ben Tate	CLE	OAK	Start
Shane Vereen	NE	CHI	Start
Darren McFadden	OAK	CLE	Sit
Trent Richardson	IND	PIT	Sit
Bishop Sankey	TEN	HOU	Sit
Ahmad Bradshaw	IND	PIT	Start
Chris Ivory	NYJ	BUF	Sit
Doug Martin	TB	MIN	Start
Justin Forsett	BAL	CIN	Start
Isaiah Crowell	CLE	OAK	Sit
Alfred Morris	WAS	DAL	Sit
Bernard Pierce	BAL	CIN	Sit
Anthony Dixon	BUF	NYJ	Sit
Denard Robinson	JAX	MIA	Sit
Sammy Watkins	BUF	NYJ	Start
Julian Edelman	NE	CHI	Start
Brian Quick	STL	KC	Start
Cordarrelle Patterson	MIN	TB	Start
Allen Robinson	JAX	MIA	Sit
Terrance Williams	DAL	WAS	Start
Brandon LaFell	NE	CHI	Start
Justin Hunter	TEN	HOU	Start
Hakeem Nicks	IND	PIT	Start
Miles Austin	CLE	OAK	Sit
Cecil Shorts	JAX	MIA	Start
Jordan Mathews	PHI	AZ	Sit
Percy Harvin	NYJ	BUF	Sit
Markus Wheaton	PIT	IND	Sit
Scott Chandler	BUF	NYJ	Start
Jared Cook	STL	KC	Sit
Dwayne Allen	IND	PIT	Start
Travis Kelce	KC	STL	Start
Jordan Cameron	CLE	OAK	Sit
Delanie Walker	TEN	HOU	Start
Jordan Reed	WAS	DAL	Start
Jermaine Gresham	CIN	BAL	Sit
Jace Amaro	NYJ	BUF	Sit
Gavin Escobar	DAL	WAS	Sit

Running Back

Ahmad Bradshaw, Indianapolis Colts

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Bradshaw should be considered fantasy gold in Week 8 for a few different reasons.

He's been fantastic for fantasy owners this season due to his dual-threat ability out of the backfield. His knack for creating mismatches against defenders makes him a frequent target for quarterback Andrew Luck. This week, he could see an increased amount of targets without veteran wide receiver Reggie Wayne in the fold.

ESPN Insider Adam Schefter tweeted the news:

That boosts the running back's value significantly, but it doesn't stop there. Bradshaw has been splitting carries out of the backfield with Trent Richardson this season, but there's a good chance his workload will increase significantly on Sunday.

Richardson has been dealing with a hamstring issue, and ESPN's John Clayton tweeted his thoughts on the running back's status:

Even if Richardson is active, there's a good possibility he won't be 100 percent, leading to more touches for Bradshaw.

The Colts' matchup this week is also favorable. The Pittsburgh Steelers are an average team against the run, ranking 17th in the league in yards allowed on the ground per game. They are also allowing an average of 17.4 fantasy points per game to opposing ball-carriers but have given up 30 and 23 in their last two games, respectively, via ESPN.com.

Bradshaw isn't only a great flex play this week, but he should be considered a must-start in all formats.

Wide Receiver

Cordarrelle Patterson, Minnesota Vikings

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

Fantasy owners have been completely frustrated with Patterson so far this season. He was widely heralded as this year's breakout candidate, but he just hasn't delivered. Well, that could change this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Patterson surprisingly found the end zone in Week 7, hauling in quarterback Teddy Bridgewater's first career touchdown pass and ending his own streak of five games without a score. Still, the wide receiver isn't viewed by many as a very sexy option in Week 8.

Although, here's one good reason why he should be considered a worthy flex play: Patterson is still the Vikings' most dynamic receiver, and he is up against a Buccaneers secondary that is allowing an average of 31.0 fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers, via ESPN.com. Yes, that's the worst in the league by a full four points.

While Patterson hasn't been overwhelmingly productive to this point, he's still seeing plenty of offensive snaps, via Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Spending that kind of time on the field against such a bad defense should yield enough fantasy points to make you look really good for rolling the dice on the enigmatic wide receiver this week.

Tight End

Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans

Wade Payne/Associated Press

At first glance, this week doesn't look too appealing for Walker. After all, he is going up against a Houston Texans team this is only yielding an average of five fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends, via ESPN.com.

Although, when looking back at Houston's schedule, it has played several teams that don't feature strong tight end play. The Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Steelers don't run tight end-heavy systems, and each recorded just one fantasy point against the Texans this season. Results were rather different against tight end-friendly teams:

Team	Rec.	Yds	TD	Pts
Redskins	7	90	0	6*
Giants	8	67	1	10
Colts	7	69	1	11

This week, we should expect the Titans to be a tight end-friendly team as well with rookie Zach Mettenberger making his NFL debut, via NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:

As we know, tight ends are big targets and can quickly become the security blanket of an inexperienced quarterback. Walker has proved his value at the position in the past and should quickly earn the trust of his new signal-caller.

Expect Walker to get plenty of looks—especially in the red zone.