The Carolina Panthers are coming off of a bad loss and now Kelvin Benjamin, Greg Olsen and Jericho Cotchery are the best fantasy football start options for Week 8, as Cam Newton is taking on the Seattle Seahawks and with DeAngelo Williams out again, those players along with Darrin Reaves should get plenty of work.
The Panthers are still the division favorites with the way the NFC South has played out and now they have a very tough matchup with the Seahawks on Sunday. Benjamin was in the lineup last week after dealing with a head injury and he will be ready to go once again in Week 8. Stewart also returned from injury and he is a solid start option as well despite the tough defensive matchup with Seattle. DeAngelo Williams is ailing and Stewart is the clear number one until he gets back.
The Carolina Panthers were hoping to have Jonathan Stewart and Kelvin Benjamin in the lineup for Week 7 and it ended up that both were in the lineup and fantasy owners should consider them active going forward. Darrin Reaves could get a boost with DeAngelo Williams still out, while fantasy owners should also look at Greg Olsen and Jerricho Cotchery as well as Reaves for Cam Newton when the team plays next week against the Seahawks.
Benjamin has been the best fantasy option from the Panthers this season apart from Newton and he has shown a knack already for finding the endzone. The Panthers love Benjamin and his size and that has given Newton a great target in the redzone and he got in again on Sunday. The Packers blew out the Panthers, but Benjamin ended up with three catches for 61 yards and a TD in a solid performance in a bad game.
This season Benjamin is leading the team with 34 catches for 477 yards and five touchdowns and he has been averaging about 70 yards per game. Benjamin is the best option for the Panthers and Jericho Cotchery has also gotten into the mix, putting up 23 catches for 283 yards and he could be a solid start in deeper leagues. Cotchery was targeted eight times and while he made just three catches last week, Newton has continued to look at him and he has been consistent, making at least three catches in every game this season.
DeAngelo Williams may be on his way back to practicing this week and that is good news for the Panthers and fantasy owners. Stewart returned from his injury and he ended up with 55 yards on 14 carries last week and that likely was because the team had to revert to the pass quickly after going down big. Stewart is the best option over Chris Ogbonnaya and Darrin Reaves until Williams returns, as he had over three times as many touches as the two combined against the Packers.
Stewart has 138 yards in four games this season with one touchdown and he is looking to add more production this week. The matchup against the Seahawks is tough, but last weekend Tre Mason gashed them for yards on the ground with the Rams and that could happen again.
