Fantasy Football Week 8 Rankings Review: Jordan Howard running out of steam?

With Jordan Howard's job seemingly in jeopardy, he is tumbling down the Fantasy rankings in Week 8.

Week 8 Rankings: Standard | PPR

Our trio of experts -- Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings -- publish their first rankings of the week every Tuesday, and Chris Towers is here to break them down for the week ahead.

1. Who is the best waiver-wire QB to stream?

• Jamey: Alex Smith
• Dave: Brock Osweiler
• Heath: Alex Smith

Smith was ... fine against the Saints last week. He tossed two touchdowns and finished with 20.6 Fantasy points, a solid enough performance that made him worth the stream. You probably want better numbers coming out of such a great matchup, but beggars can't be choosers and, if you're searching on the waiver wire for a quarterback this week, you are most certainly a beggar.

The Colts have actually been slightly worse than the Saints when it comes to defending the pass this season, ranking 29th in pass defense DVOA per FootballOutsiders -- the Saints rank 26th -- so Smith could put together a fairly similar performance this week. You never expect much from Smith, but he is a safe play against a good matchup, and that's the best you can hope for this week.

Like I said, the pantry is bare. Osweiler has been an outright disaster this season with just three multi-TD games in seven tries despite a pretty impressive collection of talent in the passing game. Still, the Lions have been very vulnerable against the pass, and he has managed to perform well enough against his good matchups to be at least Fantasy relevant. You won't feel great about it, but Osweiler might be the best of a bunch of bad options on waivers this week.

2. Which typical must-start QB are you sitting?

• Jamey: Philip Rivers
• Dave: Carson Palmer
• Heath: Philip Rivers

Rivers is a pretty easy call this week. As good as he has been -- and it's hard to overstate just how well he has played since the loss of Keenan Allen -- you just can't start any quarterback against this Broncos' defense. They limited him to 178 yards and one score in Week 6, and that was one of the better games they have allowed to a quarterback. They have surrendered only four passing touchdowns all season. Even Rivers isn't worth playing against this matchup.

Palmer faltered against a tough matchup last week, passing for 342 yards but no scores against the Seahawks, but things should be a bit easier for him this week. The Panthers pass defense has struggled coping with the loss of talent in the defensive backfield. Still, Palmer hasn't really been good against any matchup lately, throwing for just one or zero touchdowns in each of his last four games.

Palmer enters play in Week 8 with just seven touchdowns in six games, with a yards per attempt mark that has tumbled from 8.7 last season to 7.2 so far. With a banged up receiving corps and an offensive line that can't hold up long enough to open up the deep passing game on which the Cardinals rely so heavily, Palmer no longer looks like a must-start Fantasy QB these days.

3. Which RB moved up most from Week 7 to Week 8?

• Jamey: Matt Forte
• Dave: Latavius Murray
• Heath: Jeremy Hill

I'm not quite sure I buy the idea that reports of Matt Forte's demise were exaggerated just because of his big Week 7. He scored twice and totaled 154 yards from scrimmage, but needed 34 touches for those yards as he continues to struggle to pick up yardage on the ground. Still, Forte showed that this isn't Bilall Powell's job to take from him yet, and gets a fantastic matchup in Week 8 against the Browns. It may not be a long-term answer, but Forte should find success yet again in this matchup.

Another back who should have put at least some concerns about his job to bed in Week 7 is Murray, who racked up 20 touches and dominated playing time after DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard underwhelmed in two games without Murray.

A pair of scores overshadowed what was otherwise a pretty lackluster game for Murray -- he averaged 3.3 yards per carry on 18 carries -- but he at least seemed to put to rest the idea that Washington is going to take his job. Tampa's running defense is pretty solid, but Murray has a chance to get back into the end zone in a game where the Raiders' offense should be able to move the ball pretty easily through the air.

Hill still has questions about his role after being out-touched by Giovani Bernard in three straight games, but he flashed that rookie season form last week, rushing for 168 yards and adding 24 more through the air despite having just 11 touches overall. If he can build on that, Hill could be in for a big second half of the season, and he has a good chance to do that this week against a bad Washington defense. If there weren't as many questions about his health and his role, Hill would surely rank even higher.

4. Which RB moved down most from Week 7 to Week 8?

• Jamey: Jordan Howard
• Dave: Jordan Howard
• Heath: Melvin Gordon

Things have really turned around on Howard. Just a few weeks ago, he looked like a must-start Fantasy option, after rushing for 100 yards in each of his first two start. However, he has just 56 rushing yards over his past two games and has increasingly ceded work to backup Ka'Deem Carey, who actually had more touches than Howard last week. Maybe it was just a one-week thing and Howard will be back to workhorse status soon enough, but it's awfully hard to trust him against this tough Vikings defense in Week 8.

Thanks to a huge volume and steady work near the goal line, Gordon has been one of the best running backs in all of Fantasy this season. However, the No. 3 scorer at the position winds up just 17th in Heath's rankings this week, facing a tough Broncos' defense that just held Lamar Miller to 67 yards of offense in Week 7. This Broncos' defense hasn't been quite as stout against the run as expected, but it has totally shut down opposing passing games.

That could be especially bad news for Gordon, who has relied on getting into the end zone to sustain his high standing in Fantasy. Gordon has a decent floor thanks to his workload, but it's hard to see how he comes away with elite production this week.

5. Which WR has the most to prove in Week 8?

• Jamey: Allen Robinson
• Dave: Allen Robinson
• Heath: Jordy Nelson

I wrote about Robinson as a big buy-low candidate Monday, so it would be nice if he started turning things around here. He is on pace for nearly as many targets as last season, but he and Blake Bortles have just been unable to get on the same page this season. He has caught just 47.3 percent of the passes thrown his way and, with seven drops in six games, can hardly just blame all of them on Bortles' inaccuracy.

This Titans defense has been roughly league average against opposing wide receivers, allowing 21.9 Fantasy points per game, however they were also on the receiving end of some of Robinson's greatest triumphs last season; he hauled in 15 passes for 266 yards and three scores in two games last season. Robinson is too talented not to turn things around at some point, and it would sure be nice to see him do it in Week 8.

When he scored in each of the first four games, there wasn't much concern about Nelson, but last Thursday's one-catch performance has to be concerning for Fantasy players. He has now been held to less than 40 yards in three of six games, with just one over 100. Nelson is posting his worst yards-per-game number since 2010, and doesn't even have a low target volume to blame for it; he is on pace for 136 targets, his second-most ever.

The problem is, Nelson doesn't seem capable of consistently beating coverage these days, catching just 52.9 percent of the passes thrown his way. Atlanta isn't a great defense, but Desmond Trufant can be a tough matchup for opposing receiver, and Nelson could be in for another long day.

6. Which disappointing WR will perform best in Week 8?

• Jamey: DeAndre Hopkins
• Dave: Doug Baldwin
• Heath: DeAndre Hopkins

Given the sorry state of the Texans quarterbacks last season, the general assumption we all made was that things couldn't get worse. Whoops. Hopkins is on pace for his worst season since he was a rookie, averaging just 55.7 yards per game and a paltry 10.8 yards per reception. And lately, he doesn't even have a reduced role to blame it on. Osweiler has looked his way 27 times over the past two games.

The two just can't get on the same page, as Osweiler's deep passes often just sail harmless over Hopkins' head. Still, the fact that the target volume is back this season should make you feel better about his chances of turning things around in the second half of the season, and the matchup against the Lions is a good one. As frustrating as things have been, don't sit him yet.

Baldwin's season so far is a good example of why touchdowns are so hard to predict. He is actually having a nearly identical in every way except for touchdowns so far:

2015: 78 catches, 1,069 yards, 14 TD
2016 (16-game pace): 91 catches, 1,147 yards, 5 TD

Baldwin has actually been a bit more involved in the Seahawks passing offense this season, and is on pace for what would be career-highs in targets, receptions and yards. However, after emerging as a touchdown machine late last season, Baldwin had been largely silent there, not scoring in the team's past three games. Well, we all know that a matchup with the Saints tends to be a sure cure for a case of the "No-Touchdown Blues," so don't even think about sitting Baldwin this week.

7. Who is the best streaming TE?

• Jamey: C.J. Fiedorowicz
• Dave: Vernon Davis
• Heath: Cameron Brate

It's hard to spend too much time on these streaming type tight ends, because they all generally fall into the same category. They all have limited roles in their offense, so you're just hoping they can grab a red zone touchdown, or have one of those random Jack Doyle or Dennis Pitta games where they end up with a bunch of targets as their team plays from behind.

The exception here might be Fiedorowicz, who was on nobody's Fantasy radars a month ago, but who has 27 targets over the past four games. Osweiler hasn't played well, but he has relied heavily on Fiedorowicz lately, and the 25-year-old has already established career-highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns. He might be a bit more than a streaming option at this thin position.