Fantasy Football Week 8 wish list: RB carousel spins Jamaal Charles, C.J. Anderson around

What do Fantasy players want to see this week from the NFL? Chris Towers runs through his Week 8 wish list and some shaky backfields.

Week 8 Rankings: Standard | PPR

Admit it, "Zero-RB" is looking like a pretty good drafting strategy. The highly drafted running backs have mostly busted, and some of the best in the league so far were middle-round draft picks like Melvin Gordon or Spencer Ware.

Meanwhile, as we get to the mid-point of the season, there are more questions than ever about the running back position around the league. Wide receiver hasn't been perfect -- how's that DeAndre Hopkins-Allen Robinson 1-2 punch working out for you? -- but running back is just a mess right now. Toss in six teams on a bye in Week 8, and nearly half the teams have pretty significant questions about the position right now.

Chances are, you're in a pretty tough predicament at the running back situation, so let's see if we can't answer some of your toughest questions from around the league.

Will Jamaal Charles ever matter?

At this point, is Charles even healthy? Andy Reid admitted Charles' knee was still bothering him in Week 7, which explains why he had just one carry in the win over New Orleans. However, that probably isn't the entire explanation. Spencer Ware's dominance probably helps make the Chiefs' decision to not push Charles much easier. It might not even matter if Charles is healthy at this point, because the Chiefs can't really justify taking Ware off the field. The scarier thought for Fantasy owners who have been stashing Charles is the one that can't help but pop up: What if he's never the same again?

My Recommendation: It's hard to drop Charles, but I need to see him play a full week without incident before I trust him, and Ware may never give him the chance.

How good can Devontae Booker be?

Initially, I was going to ask whether someone could take this Denver job and run with it, after Booker and C.J. Anderson seemed to slide into a timeshare in recent weeks. However, with Anderson going down with what sounds like a pretty serious knee injury, this is Booker's job for the forseeable future.

The question is, can Booker run away with the job, or will this be a Christine Michael situation; flashes of excellence, but not enough sustained success to guarantee a full-time role when the injured former-starter returns. Booker has impressed in his limited role so far, but there's a big difference between doing it in a part-time role and doing it 20 times a game. We'll find out if he can handle it.

My Recommendation: Even if you're skeptical of Booker, he looks like a must-start back as the lead option on a team that wants to run the ball heavily.

Can Jordan Howard hold on to his job?

Howard has started losing work to Ka'Deem Carey in recent weeks, which is a pretty big fall from the consecutive 100-yard efforts he posted earlier in the season. Howard ran away with the starting job when Carey and Kendall Langford got hurt, but it's starting to look like it's fair to wonder if he didn't just get that job by default. Carey has out-gained him the past two weeks, and coach John Fox seems prepared to ride the hot hand. That could be even more of a concern with Langford potentially ready to return in the next few weeks. This could be a mess.

My Recommendation: Both Carey and Howard look like extremely low-end, desperation starts at this point.

Is LeSean McCoy healthy enough to make a difference?

It's hard to ignore the idea that the Bills did themselves more harm than good by having McCoy play last week. He was ineffective when he tried to play through the hamstring injury, and when he re-injured it, it was hardly a surprise. Now that injury figures to linger into Week 8 and possibly beyond. He did not practice Wednesday, and will be someone to keep a close eye on as we move through the week. And, of course, his backup, Mike Gillislee, was limited by a foot injury Wednesday, casting his status for the week somewhat in doubt as well.

My Recommendation: Given the injury status for both, it may be hard to trust either in Week 8 against a tough Patriots defense. It might be best to avoid both -- just as it would have been best to avoid both last week.

Can the Jerick McKinnon find room to succeed?

It is never a great sign when Fantasy players like a player more than his coaches seem to, which might be the case with McKinnon in Minnesota. He is the more exciting player among the Vikings' backfield timeshare with Matt Asiata, but the workload has been pretty split lately as Asiata remains the more reliable short yardage and passing-downs back.

McKinnon is supposed to have the edge when it comes to the rushing downs, but he is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry on the season; Asiata is at 3.3. The Vikings have had a rough go of things when trying to run the ball no matter who is in the backfield, and with McKinnon nursing an ankle injury, this is a rough spot for him.

My Recommendation: McKinnon hardly looks like the better back at this point, which makes both just low-end starting options against a pretty average Bears defense.

Will Latavius Murray be able to keep his job?

DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard had their chance with Murray out in Weeks 5 and 6, but neither did enough to run away with the job, which is why Murray returned to a 20-touch role in Week 7. Still, he averaged just 3.3 yards per carry, and hasn't really had an exceptional game so far, so the door could still be open. It looks like Murray's job again for the time being, but the Raiders don't exactly seem enamored with him, so if he struggles, Washington especially could still have a chance.

My Recommendation: Murray is back among the ranks of the starting-caliber RB, but don't just dump Washington yet.

Is Matt Jones still the guy in Washington?

Jones has shown flashes of being a big-play guy, but consistency has been a real issue for him so far in his NFL career. The bigger issue, however, has been his inability to hold on to the ball, and that may be what ends up costing him his job. He has 270 touches since getting to the NFL, and has put the ball on the field eight times so far, including a fumble deep in Detroit territory last week that led to him touching the ball just five times over the final three quarters of the game.

The Redskins might not be done with him entirely, and coach Jay Gruden told reporters he does not think Chris Thompson is going to be an every-down back moving forward. However, Jones' struggles could open the door to Rob Kelley seeing a bigger role, if nothing else.

My Recommendation: Thompson has some value in PPR leagues, but it is probably best to avoid this situation entirely if you can.

Will Ty Montgomery stay in the backfield?

Montgomery's eligibility has been a hot topic in the Fantasy community, but all the hand wringing over whether he is a running back or wide receiver won't mean a thing if he isn't on the field. As a wide receiver, he played just 19 offensive snaps in the first four weeks of the season, but has logged 98 snaps over the past two -- 72 of them lined up in the backfield, according to ProFootballFocus.com.

He has 43 Fantasy points in PPR leagues over the past two weeks, good for eighth among WR and fifth among RB. As long as he is in this role, he has plenty of value. The question is, can the Packers really move forward with him as their primary running back, or will Don Jackson or Knile Davis start to carve out a role in Eddie Lacy's absence?

My Recommendation: Montgomery is the only player I'm even looking at in this backfield rotation, no matter what position he is listed.

Can Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson get on track?

Bortles was an obvious statistical regression candidate this season, and that's exactly what we're seeing so far. In some ways, Bortles looks like the same guy he was last year; he is completing passes at about the same rate, and though his interception rate is up and his yards per attempt are down, it isn't a drastic difference. The main problem is after throwing touchdowns on 5.8 percent of his attempts a year ago, he is down to 3.8 percent, and he has been a much less effective downfield passer this season especially.

According to ProFootballFocus.com, Bortles was accurate on 46.9 percent of his passes thrown at least 20 yards downfield a year ago, the seventh-best mark in football. He is down at 24th place, with a 32.0 percent mark. This is the main reason Robinson is off to such a miserable start to the season, and remains the main impediment to this passing game figuring it out.

My Recommendation: Bortles is a tough guy to trust these days, but he did have six touchdowns in two games against this Titans defense a year ago. With so many teams on bye this week, he might not be the worst flier to take. As for Robinson? He's the ultimate buy-low candidate.

Can Ryan Fitzpatrick figure it out?

Nobody really saw Fitzpatrick's great season last year coming, and it was hardly proof that he had turned the corner and figured something out, which might make me somewhat optimistic moving forward. Stay with me. Fitzpatrick has been an unqualified disaster this season, but it is hard to say that what has happened in the past is a good barometer of what is likely to happen in the future.

This season is proof of that, if nothing else. Fitzpatrick is like a random number generator. Usually, the outcome is bad, but like he showed last season or earlier against Buffalo, every once in a while he rolls a seven. With the Browns on the schedule this week, Fitzpatrick may just have a chance to turn things around, which would be good news for all you Brandon Marshall owners.

My Recommendation: Brandon Marshall is too good not to turn things around this week, and I I'm even willing to stream Fitzpatrick if I need a QB.