Cody Carpentier has been playing Fantasy Football since the age of 12 and working in the Fantasy and NFL Draft space since 2019.Outside of doing Shows and Rankings for Sportstopia, you can find Cody atRosterWatch.com where he travels throughout the year, attending events such as the NFL Combine, NFL Draft, Pro Days, and NFL training camps to gain that next-level edge that everyone desires. Outside of work, Cody enjoys barbequing and smoking meats, as well as competing in powerlifting competitions.
Updated rankings for all NFL player positions
Our NFL player rankings guru Cody Carpentier has taken a run through all player positions for Week 8 and elevated some and demoted others based on the latest information coming from each team. See below:
Ranking TEs, kickers and defenses for Week 8
Deep cuts this week belong to Tyler Conklin of the Jets, playing the New York Giants, and Chig Okonkwo with Will Levis in at quarterback for Tennessee.
Cody's Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE-K-Def
With Zach Ertz and Dawson Knox injured, look for Dalton Kincaid and Trey McBride to vault into the top 12 on a weekly basis going forward. And this will indeed be the week I stop talking about Andrew Ogletree
Ranking the wide receivers for Week 8
Demario Douglas had five targets in Week 7, eclipsing JuJu Smith-Schuster and DeVante Parker combined. Douglas saw 25 routes in Week 7, the most since his 27 in Week 1.
Rashid Shaheed has continued to carve out opportunities in New Orleans with another 80%+ route share. With Chris Olave dealing with a legal situation, look for Shaheed to see a few more targets if Olave misses this week.
Cody's Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE-K-Def
Even if Olave plays, Shaheed proved over the last three weeks -- 2, 5 and 7 targets -- that he has standalone value within a high output offense.
Ranking the running backs for Week 8
Going back to the well with D’Onta Foreman was the best move possible in Week 7. He finished as the overall RB1, with 19 touches, 120 yards and 3 touchdowns. This week, it looks like Roschon Johnson will return, but as much as we love Johnson, he is coming off of a two-week mishap with a concussion. With a solid matchup against the Chargers, let’s continue tailing the borderline workhorse in Chicago.
The deepest play is in Cleveland, with Pierre Strong sitting behind the injured Kareem Hunt and Jerome Ford. Strong finished as RB49 in Week 7 with just 8 carries and no targets.
Cody's Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE-K-Def
Deep-Deep plays consist of Cam Akers and Kenny McIntosh, the rookie coming off of IR in Seattle. McIntosh was the coaching staff's favorite over Zach Charbonnet during training camp. After missing the first 7 weeks, McIntosh is back and Charbonnet is coming off a hamstring injury that caused him to miss Week 7.
Ranking the quarterbacks for Week 8
The Tennessee Titans come out of the bye week with a plan in place for Will Levis to start. According to Coach Mike Vrabel, it will be both Will Levis and Malik Willis, with Ryan Tannehill out. Willis showed a lack of pocket presence against Baltimore. I can’t imagine the Titans have an actual short leash on Levis. He comes in at QB 21.
Desmond Ridder has taken a large step forward after starting just 11 career games so far. He looks as if he has been in the NFL for 35 games. He has averaged a QB finish of 9.7 over the last three weeks, winning two of three.
Cody's Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE-K-Def
The bottom of the totem pole is injured Deshaun Watson, poor performing Jordan Love and unprotected Sam Howell against the Eagles. Refer to plays like Josh Dobbs, Tyrod Taylor or Baker Mayfield if you must.
Cody's Week 7 rankings for all positions
QB Thoughts: There's a mess to clean up with Anthony Richardson, Deshaun Watson, and Justin Fields out with injuries and Joe Burrow, C.J. Stroud and Dak Prescott on their bye weeks. Dig deep and utilize some aging veterans in offenses we respect.
Baker Mayfield is coming off his second QB26 finish of the season, coming against the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles. This week he's QB8, where he finished in Week 4 after a three-touchdown performance against the Saints. I expect a bounce back with fireworks from the Buccaneers at home in Week 7.
Cody's Shorts: Must-Start Sleeper QBs | Under-the-Radar RBs
Geno Smith has cooled off since his hot start in 2022 and is QB23 in points per game this season. To begin 2022, he was QB7 through the first 12 games, and a strong part of his resume was running. His rush attempts per game are down from 4.0 to 2.4, and yards from 21.5 to 8.4. In Week 7, he and the Seahawks play a Cardinals defense that has given up the 5th-most fantasy points to QBs and is tied for the most rushing touchdowns allowed with three.
RB Thoughts: We go back to the well with D’Onta Foreman, who finished with 15 rush attempts and 12 routes on 39 snaps in Week 6. Roschon Johnson is still in concussion protocol, and the Bears are activating Travis Homer to join Foreman and Darrynton Evans in the backfield.
Too often fantasy gamers drop players too quickly after spending F.A.A.B. on said player. In Week 6, Jeffrey Wilson was a hot commodity, but he was a “healthy” inactive Sunday with the Dolphins needing depth on the offensive line. Chris Brooks and Salvon Ahmed took the reins behind Raheem Mostert, and Brooks went down with an injury. In Week 7, expect Wilson to have a larger role than Ahmed.
The deepest of plays is on the Rams practice squad. Darrell Henderson was signed Tuesday and Royce Freeman was signed onto the active roster. One of these two players will see a substantial growth in their role, because it was zero in prior weeks. My bet is on coach Sean McVay to ride Henderson.
WR Thoughts: After back-to-back flops from Davante Adams, he's ranked WR8. As the week goes on, we should hear some positive regression coming in favor of Adams. His health has been in question, but the utilization of players around him and lack of winning are factors. Adams has a real chance to rise to a projected top-4 option.
My favorite deep plays in Week 7 are Brandon Powell, who has 10 targets over the last two weeks without Justin Jefferson in the lineup; Josh Downs, who is averaging 6.8 targets per game; and Gardner Minshew, who is averaging six more pass attempts per game than Anthony Richardson.
Both Powell and Downs are top-30 options.
TE Thoughts: Week 7 bounce-backs belong to George Kittle and Pat Freiermuth, who has given us a whopping 53 yards this season. Michael Mayer is top 10 after a breakout game against New England, but his rookie counterpart Dalton Kincaid is coming off of a missed game in concussion protocol. He is lined up to bring the Bills some needed energy and output at New England.
Deeper cuts this week belong too Noah Fant, Cade Otton and Andrew Ogletree, with Kylen Granson re-injured.
Cody ranks the tight ends for Week 6
Travis Kelce was on his way to returning to Travis Kelce ways, before a low ankle sprain slowed him up for half a quarter. Kelce still finished with 11 targets and as the TE3 on the week. This is just another reminder of the volatility of the TE position in Fantasy Football, and if your league mate is getting nervous and upset with Kelce's lack of “BIG GAMES”, you should be the first guy in line to make the move for Kelce.
After an impressive multi-touchdown game, rookie Sam LaPorta jumped Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson and Travis Kelce as the TE1 on the season. Keep firing him up, even when the matchups get tough.
Keep a keen eye on and be careful starting Tyler Higbee, Dalton Kincaid, David Njoku and Dalton Schultz. Instead, trust Noah Fant, who is cheap and attainable everywhere.
Finally, we're going back to the well with Andrew Ogletree, who saw another snap share spike in Week 5 from 44% to 61%, surpassing Kylen Granson, who dropped from 55% to 39%.
Cody re-ranks the wide receivers for Week 6
We were high on Adam Thielen again in Week 5, but even we weren’t high enough. Thielen finished as the WR4 during a week of MEGA games from Ja’Marr Chase, DJ Moore and Tyreek Hill.
My favorite game in Week 6, is the Vikings and Bears. DJ Moore has a chance to triple down on top-5 finishes against the Vikings, while being the only wide receiver with a reception on the Bears. Justin Jefferson was placed on IR this week with a hamstring injury, opening the door for rookie Jordan Addison to officially break out. Addison has scored a touchdown in three games and finished with 50-plus yards in four of five games. Addison will step into Jefferson’s role and finish as a top-16 play with upside to have a mega breakout.
Sleepers
Jonathan Mingo finished as WR36 in Week 5, despite Terrace Marshall reeling in 10 targets the previous week with Mingo out of action with a concussion. At 41 is Zay Jones, who returned in Week 5 and finished as WR28. He hadn't played since Week 1, where he finished as WR18. Jones is a strong flex option on a weekly basis.
Deep and asleep is Jaxon Smith-Njigba -- an ugly one, but we saw JSN finish with six targets twice in four games before the bye week.
Year after year, opportunity is had for offenses to build through bye weeks with rookie wide receivers, and this year is no different.
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