Week 8 Thursday Night Football Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Ravens vs Buccaneers

Week 8 of the 2022 NFL season starts off in a big way as the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers collide in Thursday Night Football. FanDuel Sportsbook's NFL odds list the Bucs as slight 1.5-point home favorites over the Ravens.

If you need some help with your fantasy lineups, here's our start 'em, sit 'em advice for this Week 8 Thursday Night Football matchup.

Rashod Bateman Fantasy

Start Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens: Rashod Bateman was diagnosed with a foot injury earlier this week, but all signs point to him suiting up. The good news is that he has a great opportunity to do so against the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay has been average at defending wideouts this season, giving up the 19th-most PPR points to the position. FanDuel also projects this game to be one of the higher-scoring affairs of the week with a total of 45.5. In other words, Lamar Jackson might wind up throwing the ball a lot and with tight end Mark Andrews not being at 100% (whether he plays or not is up in the air), Bateman could see an uptick in targets. At the end of the day, Bateman is a solid WR3/FLEX play with WR2 upside this week.

Mike Evans Fantasy

Start Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Fantasy managers were frustrated when Mike Evans dropped a surefire touchdown pass last week. Still, he finished as PPR's WR10 with 18.6 points and likely won't stop any time soon. For starters, the Ravens are giving up the sixth-most points to wideouts and have already surrendered eight TDs to the position — tied for the sixth-most. Evans also saw 15 targets last week and has averaged 9.3 looks in his last four outings. The volume should be there yet again and with a potential shootout looming, don't be surprised if the Galveston, TX native has another top-10 finish.

Gus Edwards Fantasy

Sit Gus Edwards, RB, Baltimore Ravens: After being sidelined for 645 days, Gus Edwards made his fantasy return last week, ranking as the RB10 with 18.6 points. Having said that, he was able to excel due to the Cleveland Browns' having a terrible run defense. Things will be much more difficult against the Bucs, who give up the sixth-fewest fantasy points to running backs. It's also worth pointing out that Edwards only played 36% of snaps last week, still needing to compete with the likes of Kenyan Drake and Justice Hill for touches, along with Jackson. If you're desperate due to injuries and byes, Edwards could still be a decent low-floor FLEX play, however, I suggest pivoting if you have more reliable options later in the week.

Russell Gage Fantasy

Sit Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: It's not often that you'd find Tom Brady given a sit designation, but that's exactly what happens against the Ravens in Week 8. Brady barely cracks a QB12 ranking for fantasy this season and has failed to throw multiple TD passes in four of his seven games. Baltimore's secondary looks bad on paper, allowing the fourth-most passing yards and ninth-most TDs on the year. But, that's a bit misleading. Baltimore ranks 8th in Football Outsiders' pass-defense DVOA metric and has held leads in every single one of their games. Teams end up playing catchup against the fierce Lamar Jackson-led offense, and that leads to inflated numbers. Start a different QB if you've got better options. Someone like Daniel Jones, who ranks as QB12 in The Duel's Week 8 PPR rankings, has a higher ceiling.

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Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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