Fantasy Football Stock Report: Chase Brown, Ladd McConkey on path to redemption while Jordan Mason falls from grace in Week 8

https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/fantasy-football-stock-report-chase-brown-ladd-mcconkey-on-path-to-redemption-while-jordan-mason-falls-from-grace-in-week-8-134048687.html

With all but one Week 8 game in the books (Monday Night Football), we’ve learned a little bit more than we knew last week. Or, in some cases, thought we knew. Players impressed, players disappointed and there is fantasy football fallout to unpack.

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Once again, I’ve compiled the full weekly fantasy football stock report below. These are the most notable risers and fallers coming out of Week 8. Invest accordingly!

📈 Stock Up at RB

Chase Brown, Bengals

Joe Flacco has done quite a lot for the Cincinnati Bengals, but perhaps his most underrated impact has been on Chase Brown and the running game. Since Flacco’s breakout in his second week in Cincy (Week 7), Brown has logged consecutive weeks with 15+ touches and 100+ scrimmage yards. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry against the Jets on Sunday and scared on the ground and through the air to post his best fantasy day of the season (24.0 points). After he’d wound his way down to must-bench territory in mid-October, Brown is now back into the high-end RB2 conversation with Flacco running the offense.

Derrick Henry, Ravens

It had been nearly two months since Derrick Henry had broken 14+ fantasy points (back in Week 1) exiting Baltimore’s Week 7 bye and entering this week’s matchup with the Bears. Then we got word that Tyler Huntley would be starting with Lamar Jackson out (again) and fears ran rampant. Fortunately, it was Henry who ran rampant on Sunday, totaling 71 yards and two touchdowns on the ground on 21 carries. This is now back-to-back games with at least 70 rushing yards on 20+ carries for Henry (on either side of the bye) and with the Ravens defense looking a little better and the year getting older, Henry could be headed for his best stretch of the season. Don’t be surprised if he’s a strong RB1 rest of season.

📈 Stock Up at WR

Michael Pittman Jr., Colts

Amidst the mind-boggling heroics of Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor, it feels like Michael Pittman Jr. has been slightly overlooked. The Colts’ WR1 is actually the WR7 on the season, with 12+ fantasy points in six of eight games — and one of his two “stinkers” came against Patrick Surtain II and the Broncos, so it can be largely excused. Pittman has found the end zone in five of his last six games — and six games overall on the year — and just posted a season-high 95 yards on eight catches on Sunday. He doesn’t have a Ja’Marr Chase ceiling, but he’s offering one of the most consistent WR2 floors in fantasy right now and should be recognized for his efforts.

Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins

After a horrendous dud in Week 7 — one catch for 15 yards against Cleveland — Jaylen Waddle bounced back in a big way on Sunday. In a tough matchup with the Falcons, he caught five balls for 99 yards and a touchdown, playing a major role in Tua Tagovailoa’s huge day and the Dolphins’ upset victory. Waddle has been extremely good for most of the games since Tyreek Hill’s injury and is entrenching himself as a legitimate must-start fantasy option rest of season. He has juicy upcoming matchups with the Ravens and Commanders to further raise his stock, but he’s already climbed his way somewhere near the top 15 in my rankings.

Ladd McConkey, Chargers

Last week, rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II made the “Stock Up” and Quentin Johnston made the “Stock Down” … and both players confirmed those trajectories on Thursday night in a big way. But rather than featuring both again — though Gadsden is a must-roster tight end and Johnston is nearly droppable — let’s give Ladd McConkey his flowers as well. McConkey has now scored double-digit fantasy points in four straight games, with 10.3 targets, 6.8 catches and 73.5 yards per game and three touchdowns over the last month. He scored 17.8 fantasy points against a tough Vikings secondary on Thursday night and appears to have reclaimed his role as the WR1 for Justin Herbert — or at least the 1A/1B alongside Keenan Allen.

📈 Stock Up Elsewhere

Justin Herbert, Chargers

Speaking of Justin Herbert, the Chargers quarterback is absolutely thriving with Joe Alt back on his blind side and what is suddenly one of the best receiving groups in the league. Herbert has posted 26+ fantasy points in back-to-back weeks after falling short of 19 in five straight prior. He threw three touchdowns for a second consecutive game on Thursday against Minnesota, and also scrambled for a season-high 62 yards. With Allen, McConkey, Gadsden and RB Kimani Vidal (and Quentin Johnston when Johnston’s hands work), Herbert looks capable of producing even behind a patchwork offensive line. He’s a QB1 rest of season, or at least until further notice.

Kyle Pitts Sr., Falcons

It was not Darnell Mooney (see below) who stepped up in Drake London’s surprise absence on Sunday, but tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., who caught all nine of his targets for 59 yards. In three of his last four games — with the fourth coming against the TE-killer Bills — Pitts has caught at least five passes for at least 59 yards. Even without scoring a touchdown since Week 4 (and only that one all season), Pitts is the TE12 in points per game on the year and the TE4 since Week 4. He may not see 9-10 targets every week, but he’s seeing enough with some consistency to deserve being rostered — and probably a starting spot — in just about every fantasy league.

📉 Stock Down at RB

Jordan Mason, Vikings

I’m going to give it to you straight. With the return of Aaron Jones Sr. and the question marks at quarterback in Minnesota, Jordan Mason’s early-season promise of fantasy stardom might be cooked. Since he scored 23.6 back in Week 3 (against the Bengals defense), Mason has failed to top 60 rushing yards or 12 fantasy points in a single week. And with Jones back on Thursday night, Mason totaled six scrimmage yards on five touches. Yes, you read those numbers correctly. The offense will be better down the stretch than it was last week — simply because it can’t be that bad — but Mason might be back to RB2-on-his-own-team and RB4-in-fantasy territory.

Tony Pollard, Titans

Tony Pollard had been less than exciting as the “bell-cow” RB1 in Tennessee earlier in the year, but now that Tyjae Spears is back, it’s just plain ugly. Pollard led the team with 11 carries on Sunday, but totaled just 44 rushing yards, added just one catch for nine yards and finished with 5.8 fantasy points. It was his sixth game this year with single-digit fantasy points, and his third straight with fewer than 50 rushing yards. As the “lead back” of a committee in an elite offense, Pollard might still be a great fantasy option. But in this wreck of an offense that’s scored more than 20 points just once all year — and lucked into it against the Cardinals — that recipe simply won’t cut it. Pollard may not be droppable, on the merits of volume alone, but he can’t be started right now either.

Rico Dowdle, Panthers

Sigh. After Rico Dowdle posted back-to-back 30-point games in Chuba Hubbard’s absence, Dave Canales and the Panthers have decided … to return to a full-blown committee, with Hubbard at the helm. Dowdle saw just eight carries (and no targets) on Sunday, and while he racked up 54 rushing yards on those carries — while Hubbard had just 34 on 12 carries — that wasn’t enough to justify starting him in fantasy. He scored 10.1 fantasy points in Hubbard’s return and just 5.4 in a great matchup in Week 8, and is quickly back to being a “high-risk, low-reward” flex play with Carolina’s current offensive game plan. Maybe something changes in the future, but for now, Dowdle has come crashing down to earth and can no longer be trusted for fantasy.

📉 Stock Down at WR

Stefon Diggs, Patriots

Stefon Diggs has made this column a couple times — on both sides — but he’s trending the wrong way once again and this feels like the expectation for the rest of the year. While Diggs did manage to score a TD to salvage an otherwise disastrous Sunday, he caught just three of five targets for 14 yards on the week and has gone nearly silent in two of the last three games. He’s being frequently outproduced by Kayshon Boutte, thanks to the younger receiver’s downfield usage, and is also losing valuable targets to guys like DeMario Douglas, Mack Hollins and TEs Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. Diggs will have productive days — like his 10-catch, 146-yard blowup against the Bills back in Week 5 — but the Patriots are kind of the AFC version of Green Bay (without the elite tight end). You can’t really trust any one wide receiver to be consistently good, and usually it’ll just be the guy who catches the deep bomb or the touchdown (though in this case, even the TD wasn’t enough for Diggs).

📉 Stock Down Elsewhere

Jaxson Dart, Giants

In one of the saddest moments of the season so far, Cam Skattebo suffered a season-ending ankle injury on Sunday. Jaxson Dart, the Giants and fantasy managers everywhere were rocked by the unfortunate event, and I think it’s going to have discouraging implications for New York’s offense. Skattebo had been a lightning rod for the team and an excellent source of pass-catching production — he even caught a TD before exiting the game — while also extending drives and upholding the offense with his rushing volume. Now, the Giants will be stuck with Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary. Dart will still have his own rushing production to keep him in the fantasy starter conversation, but losing Skattebo hurts him directly and the entire offense in the aggregate (which hurts him further indirectly). His ceiling is lowered by this loss and he figures to be just a fringe QB1 rest of season.

Baker Mayfield, Bucs

After overcoming impossible odds and a battered receiving corps for the first month-and-a-half of the season, Baker Mayfield is finally starting to look human with Chris Godwin Jr. and Mike Evans out of the lineup. After hitting just 12.12 fantasy points in Week 7, Mayfield was a complete dud against the Saints — despite winning 23-3 — completing just 15 passes for 152 yards and no touchdowns. Tampa Bay hits the bye this week, so maybe the Bucs can get healthier for a meeting with the Patriots in Week 10, but Mayfield has gone from high-end QB1 to low-end QB1 through these last couple performances and the loss of Evans.

https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/fantasy-football-stock-report-chase-brown-ladd-mcconkey-on-path-to-redemption-while-jordan-mason-falls-from-grace-in-week-8-134048687.html