The fantasy football week 8 schedule is here and some of the top fantasy pickups and free agent options include Bryce Brown, Jerick McKinnon, Denard Robinson, Tre Mason, Anthony Dixon, Jonas Gray, Travaris Cadet, Brandon LaFell, Mike Evans, Branden Oliver, Brandin Cooks, Mohamed Sanu, Stepfan Taylor and Jonathan Stewart heading into the weekend.
There were a number of injuries this past week and the week before to top fantasy players, including Stevan Ridley, Victor Cruz, CJ Spiller, Pierre Thomas and AJ Green and that makes Bryce Brown, Anthony Dixon, Travaris Cadet, Mohamed Sanu and Odell Beckham solid pickups. Spiller is out for the season and Fred Jackson is also injured and that makes Brown and Dixon strong fantasy pickups. Tre Mason got his chance last week and while the Rams have three solid RBs, he could have the best upside of any of them.
Speaking of upside, a player worth taking a flyer on is Denard Robinson, as he had a breakout game last week for the Jaguars and could emerge as their best RB option. Robinson was electric in college and it has taken some time for him to find a role in the Jags offense, but RB appears to be where it's at and with toby Gerhart and Storm Johnson not getting it done, Robinson could emerge as a solid starter. For any owners that lost Ridley or Spiller to an injury and couldn't snag their backups, Robinson could be a good replacement pick for the time being.
Robinson comes in after having the best game of his career, rushing for over 100 yards for the Jaguars in their win over the Browns. ESPN.com writer and Jags reporter Michael DiRocco says the Jaguars are high on Robinson and that is good news for fantasy owners, as he has been called the RB of the future they have been looking for. Robinson now should expect at least 15-20 carries per game and even with Gerhart coming back, Robinson likely will get the majority of the carries after going for 127 yards last week.
Dixon and Brown are likely to split carries coming up until Jackson gets healthy and for fantasy owners wondering who to choose of the two, Brown is the better long term solution. Dixon may get the bulk of the carries to start like he did on Sunday, but Brown has more experience and even if they split carries, he could end up with more than Dixon. According to Pro Football Talk, Dixon will be the main back no Sunday against the Jets after he was the backup to Spiller and Jackson and Brown will be active for the game as well.
Jerick McKinnon and Travaris Cadet are also strong pickups, as they have the chance to be RB1 performers moving forward over the next few weeks. McKinnon has moved ahead of Asiata in the lineup, while Cadet is coming in for Pierre Thomas with him being injured for a couple weeks. Cadet had six catches on nine targets for 51 yards on Sunday and he could be a great PPR option after going for 15 catches for over 120 yards in the last three weeks.
