The fantasy football season is now heading into Week 8 and some of the top options from the waiver wire in free agency are pickups Mike James, Jordan Reed, Jarrett Boykin, Roy Helu and Chris Ivory as well as Marvin Jones and Jeremy Kerley.
Jones is the top sleeper pick of the week after Doug Martin came down with a shoulder injury in the game on Sunday and while the Buccaneers initially feared that he could have a season-ending injury, it appears to be less serious, although he will not be ready for Thursday against the Carolina Panthers. James has the chance to break out in the game and he could have a solid performance after having over 10 carries for 45 yards coming in relief for Martin and he looked explosive at times in the offense and after making three catches he also could be a factor in the passing game.
Martin has over 450 yards this season, but he is far off the pace of his rookie season and if he is sidelined for while James, could be a huge sleeper the rest of the season. James has only three carries in the past five weeks before the game Sunday and he finished with 14 for over 40 yards and he also was targeted a number of times and had three catches and with Mike Glennon still developing, he will need his backs to stay in close as check down options and James could be a factor there for PPR league owners.
The Washington Redskins have two prime sleepers in Roy Helu and Jordan Reed and both players could be solid going forward this season, especially if Alfred Morris continues to struggle. He will keep the starting job, but after Helu scored three touchdowns last week, he could be a very strong starter going forward week in and week out. Reed had a huge game against the Bears, catching nine passes on nine targets for 134 yards and a touchdown.
This season Reed has 26 catches on 30 total targets and that is a great percentage and he has 298 yards this year and could be in for more after steadily increasing his production in each of the past four weeks. He has two touchdowns in that span and with him making all of his targeted catches, Griffin should continue to look for him. Helu is an inconsistent option, but he is a solid handicap player for Morris and after scoring three touchdowns on Sunday he now has four in his past three games. Helu gets used randomly, but after showing off his skills in the red zone, there is a good chance that he could get some more touches down there and over the past three weeks he has actually been fairly consistent, rising for at least 40 yards in each of those games after gaining zero in the previous two.
Jarrett Boykin is another great option after Randall Cobb and James Jones were injured this season and he had over 100 yards in his first chance since they got hurt and he could be a very good factor going forward this year. Boykin has only nine catches on the season for 146 yards and a touchdown, but nearly all of that came in the past two weeks. He had one catch for 43 yards against the Ravens in the game where Cobb got hurt and now he is coming off eight catches for over 100 yards and an average of 12 yards per catch and he is a prime sleeper the rest of the season for Aaron Rodgers.
