Fantasy Football Week 8 Rankings: QB

Fantasy Football Week 8 Rankings: Quarterback

Week 8 sticks out in our quarterback rankings as the Week of New Faces, as Matthew Stafford, Jon Kitna, Troy Smith and Tarvaris Jackson make their way onto our list for a variety of reasons.

Stafford is the only one of the four new QBs that's right at home as his team's starting quarterback. Shaun Hill had been manning the position while Stafford recovered from a Week 1 shoulder injury, but the second-year player out of Georgia looked healthy in practice even last week before the Lions took their bye. He has an easy matchup with Washington this week, which puts him on our radar as a potential QB1 in fantasy during a light Week 8 schedule.

Kitna takes over the reins of the Cowboys offense from Tony Romo, who is expected to miss most if not all of the remainder of the season. Kitna has a ton of game experience, and he has as good a matchup as you could want this week when he faces the Jaguars. Desperate owners could do worse using Kitna as a one-week fill-in.

As for Smith and Jackson, they really don't deserve a breakdown, as neither should be deployed in fantasy leagues.

Week 8 Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | D/ST | Sleepers | Popular Adds/Drops

1. Peyton Manning, IND vs. HOU
2. Aaron Rodgers, GB at NYJ
3. Philip Rivers, SD vs. TEN
4. Drew Brees, NO vs. PIT
5. Tom Brady, NE vs. MIN
6. Kyle Orton, DEN at SF
7. Matt Schaub, HOU at IND
8. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT at NO
9. Donovan McNabb, WAS at DET
10. Matthew Stafford, DET vs. WAS
11. Ryan Fitzpatrick, BUF at KC
12. Jon Kitna, DAL vs. JAC
13. Matt Cassel, KC vs. BUF
14. Carson Palmer, CIN vs. MIA
15. Mark Sanchez, NYJ vs. GB
16. Josh Freeman, TB at ARI
17. Matt Hasselbeck, SEA at OAK
18. Chad Henne, MIA at CIN
19. Sam Bradford, STL vs. CAR
20. David Garrard, JAC at DAL
21. Jason Campbell, OAK vs. SEA
22. Brett Favre, MIN at NE
23. Troy Smith, SF vs. DEN
24. Tarvaris Jackson, MIN at NE
25. Matt Moore, CAR at STL
26. Vince Young, TEN at SD
27. Max Hall, ARI vs. TB
28. Derek Anderson, ARI vs. TB

• Take the league's best quarterback, give him a banged-up corps of running backs, put him in his element in prime time, and bring in the terrible secondary of a team that shocked this quarterback's team in the opening game of the season. Think Peyton Manning will get his revenge on Monday night? He should top 300 yards and three TDs, even with no Austin Collie or Dallas Clark in the lineup.

• Ben Roethlisberger faces the team that gives up the least fantasy points to quarterbacks on a per-game basis, the Saints, in Week 8. I'd still use him in most leagues, but if you have a luxury of having Big Ben and another elite-level QB, you should definitely use your other guy. I'd still expect 275 yards and a couple TDs from Roethlisberger, but he's certainly a bit of a gamble this week.

• Which quarterback scores the most points on a per-game basis? Is it Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers or Ryan Fitzpatrick? Shockingly, fantasy's best QB is the Buffalo Bill, Fitzpatrick. After tossing four TDs on Sunday in his fourth game, Fitzpatrick is now averaging 23.8 points per game in standard scoring. Despite an 11:4 TD:INT ratio, I'd expect more interceptions than touchdowns from Fitzpatrick moving forward. He's only a borderline QB1 this week against the Chiefs.