Fantasy Football 2019: Thursday Night Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week 8

Thursday Night Football will be in Minnesota, as the Vikings host the Redskins. While this could be an underwhelming primetime game, the fantasy football potential is still high.

After a few good Thursday night games in a row, Denver and Kansas City unexpectedly became a snooze fest once the reigning MVP went down early. This was especially a weird game for fantasy football purposes too, as those who had Patrick Mahomes on their teams likely were left in a tough spot when he left the game in the first half.

Nonetheless, the Broncos running backs severely under-performed in what was a tasty matchup against a terrible Chiefs run defense, who gave up back to back 100-yard performances to Marlon Mack and Carlos Hyde.

Not all was lost though as Royce Freeman salvaged a touchdown and catching four balls in a blowout to lead to 16.7 PPR fantasy points. Even though it seemed as a great start, Kole missed on Phillip Lindsay last week, as the Chiefs defense has an uncharacteristically stout defense.

Kole’s sit of the week, however, was a great call as this running back-by-committee is seemingly something to stay away from in fantasy for the time being. He told us to sit all Chiefs backs until further notice and LeSean McCoy was the leader with 9.6 fantasy points. Respectable numbers, but there were many better options than him, Damien Williams, and Darrell Williams last week. Great call.

This week, the meddling Redskins are traveling to a hot Minnesota offense and it may only get hotter. Washington had another forgettable week against San Francisco last week and the Vikes may put it on them again.

However, for fantasy purposes, this is a matchup to exploit for Vikings fantasy owners. Dalvin Cook won’t be in this article, but he should have a field day. A tough blow, however, for Adam Thielen fantasy owners, as this would have been a great week to see him flourish.

Unfortunately, he looks to be out on Thursday after leaving in the first quarter on a touchdown catch against Detroit. We will be operating under the impression that he will sit, but of course, is targeting a week nine return to burn the Chiefs.

This game is why fantasy football is great. Not many would be watching this game unless they have players involved. All that being said, let’s get to it.

*All stats are courtesy of ESPN.com