Updated: Friday, October 28 at 3:15pm ET

Our NFL Week 8 DFS research begins here with another lesson learned. After speaking with many of you over the past 48 hours, it sounds like we are seeing mixed results with regard to both our cash game and GPP tournament play. As you'll see below, the optimal lineups built from last week's NFL DFS Playbook were strong and would have easily cashed everywhere, but with so much Amon-Ra St. Brown and DK Metcalf in the Example Lineups, many struggled to cash with those holes in your lineup. Nothing you can do about injuries. St. Brown and Metcalf were fantastic plays and had they stayed healthy, we'd be having a completely different discussion.  

But that's a moot point. Taking a zero from one guy is one thing. Taking a second zero really puts you behind the 8-ball, especially if you miss at a key spot like quarterback. And that's where our trouble was. We were well-invested in Justin Herbert and also splashed in some Tom Brady for our cash lineups and those guys really stunk it up for us. With so many people re-investing in the Joe Burrow-Ja'Marr Chase tandem for a second week in a row and having them pop off the way they did, struggles are going to happen. Even having all those running backs hit, it wasn't enough because so many others were also on Josh Jacobs and Kenneth Walker that they weren't difference-makers for us. It happens. Nothing to do but dust ourselves off and get back at it.

This should be a real interesting week because of all the marquee names off the slate. With the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on bye, we lose Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler and a slew of supportive wideouts. But then we also lose Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin with the Ravens and Bucs playing Thursday, we lose Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and all the Bills and Packers who play Sunday night and then we lose Burrow, Chase, Joe Mixon, NickChubb and Amari Cooper with a Monday Night Football match-up of the Bengals and Browns. Oh yeah! And there's a London game but I don't think any of us are going to miss the Broncos or the Jaguars.

This actually puts us at an advantage as those who don't dive into the research and just rely on lineup optimizers won't have the insights to find the mismatches, so I'm pretty excited for this week. They say in DFS you have to accept the peaks and valleys. This week, we're climbing to the top!

 

 

We've got our 7-day free trial (promo code BENDER) going on right now, so before we get to the players we are studying in this week's DFS Watch List, please allow me to welcome some of the new faces at Fantasy Alarm. Whether you have played daily fantasy football before or not, we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to help. So please allow me to give you the Welcome talk.

“If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.”

We take this adage to heart when it comes to playing NFL DFS. The Fantasy Alarm Playbook isn’t just about handing you a list of players and a lineup to use each week. It is designed to help you learn to be a better DFS player. It’s about teaching you the process used in selecting which players to scout and, eventually, which ones to use.

Therefore, we will begin each week with the Weekly NFL DFS Watch List which is designed to keep tabs on marquee names, chalk plays and, of course, the weekly bargains who may not see the same coverage and exposure. This piece will be continuously updated throughout the week, based on the most recent news and injuries, which means you may see a name or two removed as we get closer to Sunday kick-off. You may also see a few late-week additions who pique our interest for some reason too, and by the end of the week, this Watch List will eventually become your Playbook. Again, it’s about teaching you the process.

So what exactly did last week's Playbook deliver? As always, we like to check in to ensure we remain on the right path.

Scoring The Playbook Week 7

As noted up above, the injury bug took a huge bite out of both our asses and out lineups last week. You can check the NFL Injury Report, but to sum it up – Amon-Ra St. Brown and DK Metcalf both got hurt early on and were lost for virtually the entire day. But we also lost Deebo Samuel to a hamstring injury, Allen Lazard hurt his shoulder, Michael Pittman lost his QB to an injury and for all intents and purposes, so did Lazard and Romeo Doubs as Aaron Rodgers spent most of the day holding his thumb. These things happen. Nothing you can do but if you didn't cash, you can at least take solace in the fact that the plays were right. Guys just got hurt. Of course, again, our big miss was the quarterbacks as Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers got hurt, Tom Brady got old and neither Lamar Jackson nor Justin Herbert played well in smash-spots that didn't pan out. Our running backs were out strength, but just not enough for some.

And here are the top lineups you could have created on your own using ONLY the players from the Playbook and Dart Board:

All set? Are you ready to start diving into an early look at Week 8 NFL DFS? Let's do it!

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