The NFL schedule has now moved along into Week 8 after the slop fest that was the New York Giants playing against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night football and after the G-Men were able to get victory number one on the season, fantasy football owners are looking for best studs and surprise players heading into the weekend and some names include Joseph Fauria, Daniel Thomas, Kendall Hunter, Michael Vick, Geno Smith, Jimmy Graham and Jordan Reed.
The Saints are coming off of a bye week last weekend and that may have given tight end Jimmy Graham enough time to heal up from a foot injury that he suffered a few weeks ago in the win over the Chicago Bears. Last game he left with an injury and did not come back to play against the New England Patriots, leaving out both him and Rob Gronkowski out of the matchup and now his status could be up in the air for Sunday. If he plays, expect Graham to be a stud, because he has done that all season and has been better than anyone at his position and even better than most wide receivers in the league in fantasy.
Graham has had at least 100 yards in four of the last five games, but really four straight, because he had to leave in that fifth game and now he has video game stats even with the bye and the miss, as he has 37 catches for nearly 600 yards this season and six touchdowns. Graham and Drew Brees have been one of the best tight end-quarterback combos over the past few years and after losing to the Pats last game to end the undefeated season, Brees is hoping that he can return once again.
Graham has 593 yards this season to rank him sixth in the NFL and he is also ranked third in the league in both receiving yards per game and touchdowns with nearly 100 and six respectively. It's still early in the week, so keep an eye on practice and the injury reports for Graham's status heading into the weekend. Joseph Fauria had himself a "back to earth game" as I like to call it on Sunday after coming through with three touchdowns the previous week, but that doesn't make him any less of a stud or starting option going forward.
Fauria already has five touchdowns this season and while he had just one catch for 15 yards in the game, that was also because the Bengals have a very solid defense and linebacker unit. Fauria should get even more looks now that Tony Scheffler has been released and while Brandon Pettigrew has been solid, Fauria is a matchup nightmare and Matthew Stafford will continue to look his way more and more. He was targeted four times on Sunday and now has seven over the past two games and he comes into next week with eight catches for 81 yards, but five of those have been valuable for fantasy owners as touchdowns.
Daniel Thomas is finally showing some signs of life for the Dolphins, one of the worst rushing teams in the league and now it appears he could snag the starting job from Lamar Miller in the offense. Thomas had his best game of the season with 60 yards on 12 carries in the game and Miller finished with 43 yards on nine carries. Thomas is a solid add option in deeper leagues and he could be a factor if he continues to play well, as the Dolphins have not had much success with the running game.
Kendall Hunter, Michael Vick and Geno Smith are all solid options as well, as Vick will be starting this week. Hunter is due for a score soon and Smith has played well for a rookie and is a solid add in deeper leagues.