Fantasy Football: 4 Deep Sleepers for NFL Week 8

If you're in a deep league or are playing some large-field NFL DFS tournaments on FanDuel this week, you'll probably need some deep sleepers on your squad.

Here are some players who are on the majority of waiver wires but need to be on your radar this week.

We'll reference our fantasy football projections. All NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook, and lines may change after this article is published.

Fantasy Football Deep Sleepers for Week 8

Elic Ayomanor, WR, Titans

FanDuel Salary: $5,100 | Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 24%

It's been a dreadful season for Cameron Ward and the Tennessee Titans. Matters might not get any better facing the Indianapolis Colts, as the Titans are a whopping 14.5-point underdog against the league's top-ranked offense.

The nice part about facing the Colts from a fantasy perspective, though, is that their defense isn't all that great -- they are 19th in our schedule-adjusted rankings -- and their fiery offense typically forces opponents to pass the ball at a high rate.

Rookie Elic Ayomanor could benefit from said game environment.

He leads all Tennessee pass-catchers in total targets (39) and touchdowns (2) while showing an 18.1% target share and 27.4% air yards share on a team-high 80.8% route participation rate. Something could click for him in this matchup. Our NFL projections have Ayomanor as the third-best point-per-dollar value WR among those salaried below $6,000.

Brashard Smith, RB, Chiefs

FanDuel Salary: $5,700 | Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 12%

The Kansas City Chiefs are not on the Week 8 main slate -- not that we'd want to use Brashard Smith in DFS anyway. Smith is, however, potentially worth a look in deeper leagues.

Smith had his highest-usage game of the season last Sunday, handling a whopping 19 touches for 81 yards. The caveat? Much of Smith's work came in garbage time, as the Chiefs entered the fourth quarter with a 31-0 lead. Blowout victories could be the norm moving forward, and the Chiefs are listed as an 11.5-point favorite over the Jayden Daniels-less Washington Commanders this week.

Dating back to last season, Patrick Mahomes has made due despite major injuries to the offense. But with all of Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Marquise Brown, and Isiah Pacheco healthy, Kansas City has one of the best offenses in the league.

If this game gets out of hand on Monday night, Smith could be in for another busy second half. He might see a decent-ish role either way if Kareem Hunt (knee) cannot go.

Colston Loveland, TE, Bears

FanDuel Salary: $4,800 | Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 22%

Rookie Colston Loveland is slowly but surely working his way up the ranks and into Caleb Williams' favor, so he's on my sleeper radar in a Week 8 match against the Baltimore Ravens.

Loveland played 55.9% of the snaps and ran 44.0% of the routes through his first two games before getting hurt in Week 3 and sitting out in Week 4. He's earned two of the team's five red zone targets since the Chicago Bears came out of their bye. Last week, Loveland posted season-highs in snap rate (67.2%), route rate (57.1%), and target share (16.0%).

The Ravens are dead-last in our schedule-adjusted defense rankings. They are expected to return some key defensive players from injury this week. Maybe they'll look more put together, particularly since they can't stand to lose many more games with a 1-6 record. But there's still a shoddy quality to this defense, and the Bears' offense has started to put things together amid a four-game win streak. Loveland could pop.

Isaiah Likely, TE, Ravens

FanDuel Salary: $4,700 | Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 6%

Sunday is National Tight Ends Day, so let's call out one more guy at the position who also happens to be playing in this Ravens-Bears game.

Lamar Jackson is expected to return from a two-game absence, which should invigorate Baltimore's offense. Isaiah Likely missed the first three games of the season and has hardly played alongside Lamar this year. He did, however, play 81.3% of the snaps and run 52.5% of the routes in Week 6 -- higher than Mark Andrews (77.3% snap rate, 44.3% route rate).

Likely totaled six touchdowns in 2024 and will face a Bears group that's given up the most yards per route run to tight ends this season. The Ravens tout a massive 28.5 implied team total in this one, and Likely could bite off a piece of the pie.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.