Fantasy Football Week 8 Quarterback Rankings: Can you trust Brock Purdy?

Before we get to my quarterback rankings for Week 8 of the Fantasy Football season, I took to Twitter to crowdsource some questions from the Fantasy Football Today audience about the position. Here are some thoughts on the best questions about quarterbacks:

Time to give up on Deshaun Watson?
— Kenett (@KenettK) October 23, 2023

I think it was reasonable to take a flier on Deshaun Watson in drafts this preseason, in the hopes that he could rediscover some of his pre-holdout/suspension form. But we're 10 games into his stint with the Browns and he has four games with more than 20 points in six-point-per-pass-TD leagues; he's just 20th in Fantasy scoring among QBs since he made his return last December, just behind Desmond Ridder and just ahead of Sam Howell, who has played just eight games in that span.

Week 8 rankings: TE | WR | RB

There were some flashes early in the season, but Watson genuinely looked like he didn't belong on the field Sunday, and he was barely able to get anything on his throws before being chased from the game. The Browns have $230 million guaranteed reasons to keep running him out there when he's healthy enough to play, but you have no reason to give him that kind of benefit of the doubt. He hasn't earned it, and we're now three years removed from the last time Watson looked like a viable Fantasy option. You can cut him without a second thought.

Lost Richardson. Looking for guys to target (whether waiver wire or trade candidates) for a single qb league. Imagine others are similar spots
— Chris (@ChrisLarkin831) October 23, 2023

Among quarterbacks who are available in more than half of CBS Fantasy leagues, the pickings are pretty slim, unfortunately. You could try stashing Daniel Jones and hope the signs of life from the Giants offense the last few weeks can translate when he is cleared to play, or you could hope Gardner Minshew continues to do just enough right to overcome everything he's doing wrong -- he has 42.7 points over his past two games despite turning the ball over eight times, which feels like tap dancing on the edge of a knife while balancing flaming chainsaws. Otherwise, the pickings are awfully slim.

So, let's turn our eyes to the trade market, where Kyler Murray is the most obvious name to target. There's a chance the Cardinals opt not to trot him out there, given the injury guarantees in his contract, but that seems like an exceedingly unlikely scenario. They're much better off playing him and finding out if he can take a step forward in an offense that has been surprisingly functional with Joshua Dobbs at QB, either to keep him as the QB moving forward or moving him for picks this offseason. He's by far the most high-upside QB currently rostered in fewer than 70% of CBS Fantasy leagues, and if he's available and you need help, you should be trying to stash him. If he's not available, throw out an offer for a bench piece and see if you can snag him.

Otherwise, I'd be targeting guys like Matthew Stafford and Geno Smith, who rank sixth and 11th in yards per attempt this season but just 25th and 16th in touchdown rate, a sign both could have better days coming in the future. You could also try to get an injury discount on Justin Fields, who seems unlikely to play this week but who looked like he was back in the elite tier at QB before his thumb injury.

Where would you rank Kyler Murray for ROS?
— greg ward (@gward1202) October 23, 2023

Alright, so Murray opened his 21-day window to return from the PUP list last week, so he should be back in the next couple of weeks, around 11 months after tearing his ACL. And it seems reasonable to assume we won't see him running much, which should lower both ceiling and floor expectations for him in Fantasy. That's the general assumption, anyway, though it's by no means a sure thing; Robert Griffin returned from his torn ACL to still average 27.7 yards per game, down from the 37.6 he averaged the prior season, but he also came back just eight months after his injury.

Murray might get off to a somewhat slow start as he works his way back, but he averaged 20.2, 24.7, and 26.9 points over the past three seasons, so there's considerable upside if he can rediscover that form. I won't rank him as a top-12 QB right away, but he absolutely could get back there -- I'd expect at least a stretch as a top-12 QB at some point this season from Murray.