- Start Bo Nix: He has hit 20-plus fantasy points in seven of 11 home games in his career, and the Dallas Cowboys have allowed over three more points per game to quarterbacks than any other team this year.
- Sit Jordan Love: He has scored fewer than 15 fantasy points in three of the last four weeks and still had poor performances in his last two games despite playing against poor fantasy performances against two below-average defenses.
- Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool.
Estimated Reading Time: 6minutes
Are you struggling to set your Week 8 fantasy lineups? Maybe I can help… Below you can find my top fire (boom) and ice (bust) players at each position for Week 6. I also include my sleeper of the week at each position in case you are in a deeper league or in need of a replacement for an ice player.
Don’t miss my Fire & Ice chart at the bottom of this page. There, I have listed out all of my fire, good, sleeper and ice plays for Week 8 of the 2025 fantasy football season.
Quarterbacks
Fire QB Start of the Week: Bo Nix (vs. DAL)
In his last two home games, Bo Nix has scored 25.7 and 40 fantasy points. He has hit 20-plus fantasy points in seven of 11 home games in his career, and the Dallas Cowboys have allowed over three more points per game to quarterbacks than any other team this year. The Cowboys have the NFL’s worst pass defense, allowing 260.3 passing yards per game and the second-most passing touchdowns (16) this season. With six teams on bye, Nix has a fantastic chance to finish as a top-five fantasy QB this week.
Sleeper QB of the Week: Michael Penix Jr. (vs. MIA)
In three home games this season, Michael Penix has put up 19.1 fantasy points per game while averaging just 7.1 points in three road games. Penix has five touchdowns and just one interception at home compared to one touchdown and two interceptions on the road in 2025. The Miami Dolphins have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks while only coming down with one defensive interception all season long. The only quarterbacks that didn’t hit 19 fantasy points against the Dolphins this season were Bryce Young and Dillon Gabriel.
The biggest risk with starting Penix is that Bijan Robinson could destroy the Dolphins on the ground and steal all of the touchdowns. However, with six teams on bye, plus a couple more quarterback injuries on top of that, Penix becomes the best option off waivers to start in Week 8 if you are in a pinch.
Ice QB Start of the Week: Jordan Love (at PIT)
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been an inconsistent defense and can be beaten up by opposing quarterbacks, but I wouldn’t count on that for Jordan Love. He has scored fewer than 15 fantasy points in three of the last four weeks and still had poor performances in his last two games despite playing against poor fantasy performances against two below-average defenses, the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals. Love has scored 18-plus points in just two of 10 road games over the last two seasons. After being embarrassed on national television last Thursday Night on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals, I expect the Steelers’ defense to come out angry in front of its home crowd.
Running Backs
Fire RB Start of the Week: Rico Dowdle (vs. BUF)
The Buffalo Bills have allowed the second-most rushing yards per game (156.3) in the NFL this season, behind only the Miami Dolphins, while the Carolina Panthers have averaged the third-most rushing yards per game in the league. When the Panthers played the Dolphins in Week 5, Dowdle went off for 206 rushing yards and 32.4 fantasy points. In the game before their Week 7 bye, the Bills allowed the Atlanta Falcons to rush for 210 yards. Dowdle saw a slight decline in work last weekend with Chuba Hubbard returning from injury, but he remains the far more efficient player in the Panthers’ backfield. In Week 7, Hubbard was only able to manage 31 yards on 14 carries, while Dowdle gained 79 yards on 17 carries.
On the season, Dowdle leads the NFL with 5.6 yards per carry (min. 50 carries), while averaging nearly two more yards per carry than Hubbard (3.7). The Panthers are a much better team when they lean on Dowdle. Hopefully, the coaches realize that moving forward.
Sleeper RB of the Week: Kyle Monangai (at BAL)
The Chicago Bears leaned on their backfield to get them the win last week against the New Orleans Saints despite a poor performance from their passing offense. In Week 7, the Bears posted season highs with 33 rushing attempts, 216 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Rookie Kyle Monangai saw career-highs with 13 carries, 81 rush yards and scored a rushing touchdown in that game while splitting snaps nearly 50/50 with teammate D’Andre Swift.
New Bears head coach Ben Johnson relied heavily on a two-headed backfield when he was an elite play-caller with the Detroit Lions and seems to be slowly forming his next great duo in the Chicago backfield. This week’s matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, who have allowed the second-most fantasy points to running backs this season, is an excellent opportunity for the Bears’ backfield duo to keep shining.
Ice RB Start of the Week: Rhamondre Steveson (vs. CLE)
No team has allowed fewer fantasy points per game to the running back position than the Cleveland Browns in 2025. Jahmyr Gibbs is the only running back who has scored more than 13 points in a game against the Browns this season, and I am sorry, Rhamondre Stevenson, but you are no Jahmyr Gibbs.
Stevenson posted a season-high 88 rushing yards in Week 7 against the weak Tennessee Titans run defense, after averaging just 26 rushing yards per game over the first six weeks of the season. However, Stevenson has yet to score more than five fantasy points in back-to-back weeks this year while scoring fewer than six fantasy points in four of seven games. Stevenson will need to steal a touchdown to finish as a top-24 RB producer in Week 8.
Wide Receivers
Fire WR Start of the Week: Courtland Sutton (vs. DAL)
The Dallas Cowboys are one of two teams allowing over 40 fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position this season (the other being the Indianapolis Colts). Sutton has averaged 18 fantasy points per game in three home games this season (drops to 11.5 on the road). Sutton has scored at least 16 fantasy points in five of seven games played this year, and his only two bad games came against the Colts on the road in Week 2 and the New York Jets on the road in Week 6. Sutton has the upside to finish as the top wide receiver producer in Week 8.
Sleeper WR Start of the Week: Wan’Dale Robinson (at PHI)
Wan’Dale Robinson has scored 15-plus fantasy points in each of the last two weeks, and he had a season-high 12 targets in last week’s game. On the season, Robinson has averaged more points per game (13.1) than Nico Collins (12.8), A.J. Brown (12.4) and Tetairoa McMillan (11.9).
When he faced the Eagles in Week 6, Robinson scored 20.4 fantasy points with six receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown. The Philadelphia Eagles do not have the scary pass defense that they were one year ago — they are allowing the 11th-most fantasy points per game to the wide receiver position in 2025.
Ice WR Starts of the Week: Xavier Worthy (vs. WAS)
Xavier Worthy is the WR48 in average scoring in 2025, averaging just 9.3 fantasy points per game. Here are some wide receivers who have scored more points per game than Worthy this season: Tre Tucker, Alec Pierce, Khalil Shakir, Kendrick Bourne, Keon Coleman, Troy Franklin and Rashid Shaheed. None of those guys are considered weekly reliable starting options, but Worthy continues to be trusted in many lineups week after week.
Worthy has scored more than 11 fantasy points in just one game this year and has just five receptions for 55 yards over the last two games combined. With Patrick Mahomes spreading the ball to a plethora of weapons, including Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown and Tyquan Thornton, there are just too many weapons to trust that Worthy will get more consistently involved in the offense moving forward. It is time he stays on your bench.
Tight Ends
Fire TE Start of the Week: Dalton Kincaid (at CAR)
Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills offense missed Dalton Kincaid greatly when he was sidelined due to an oblique injury in their last game. The Bills scored a season-low 14 points, and Allen had arguably his worst game of the season in Week 6 before their Week 7 bye. Kincaid leads the Bills with 287 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns this season despite missing a game. Allen has a 156.1 passer rating when targeting Kincaid this season, the highest among all QB-receiver duos in the NFL in 2025 (min. 20 targets).
Kincaid has hit at least 14 fantasy points in three of five games played this year while posting a career-high 108 receiving yards in his last game played (Week 5). This week, he gets a great matchup against the Carolina Panthers this weekend, who have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per game to the tight end position in 2025.
Note: Kincaid is questionable to play in Week 8 (oblique). Luckily, the Bills play in the early window, so you can be flexible if he ends up inactive. Dawson Knox would become a good sleeper option at tight end if Kincaid misses the game.
Sleeper TE of the Week: Cade Otton (at NO)
With both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin on the sidelines for the majority of the last three weeks, Cade Otton has hit 50-plus receiving yards and double-digit fantasy points in each of those three games. Otton has consistently stepped up when those two are absent over the last two seasons, and he will get another opportunity to play without both of them in Week 8. Evans is likely out for the remainder of the season with a broken collarbone, and Godwin is “week-to-week” with a fibula injury.
Ice TE Start of the Week: Pat Freiermuth (vs. GB)
If Pat Freiermuth isn’t playing the Cincinnati Bengals, he likely shouldn’t be in your fantasy lineups. Freiermuth had a monstrous game last weekend against the Bengals, but he had scored six or fewer fantasy points in each of his other five games this season. Over the last three seasons, Freiermuth has hit 14-plus fantasy points in just five games, and four of those five games came against the Bengals. In non-Bengals matchups, Freiermuth has scored fewer than 10 fantasy points in 23 of 29 games played since the start of the 2023 season.
Fire and Ice Fantasy Football Plays
Here, I categorize every relevant fantasy player into five different buckets: (1) fire starts (best starts of the week); (2) thumbs up (good starts); (3) Risky players with upside (sleepers); (4) Ice starts (predicting bad performance from good player); (5) Stop (must sits).
Note: If a player/defense is not listed, I am not considering starting them in Week 8. I did not include Vikings/Chargers players as they will have already played by the time this article is published.
Fire 🔥
Thumbs Up 👍
- DEF: Bills, Broncos, Buccaneers
Upside 📈
Ice 🥶
Stop 🚫
- TE: Noah Fant, Juwan Johnson,
- DEF: Commanders, Bears (if Lamar Jackson plays), Saints
