Week 8 Red Zone Risers - Identifying Higher Fantasy Scoring Potential

The fantasy football season is nearly halfway through. At this point, we really know what teams are going to do in the red zone and more importantly who they are going to use. And we all know as fantasy players that touching the ball in this area more often than not lead to the very thing that will send your team into victory each week - touchdowns. Still, injuries and bye weeks demand that we find under-the-radar players who have great opportunity to contribute as well. We always need to dig deeper to find great values at the skill positions. Just like targets are the lifeblood of a receiver's value in PPR leagues, red zone touches are the most relevant factor to consider for standard leagues.

In this article each week, we'll identify red zone risers and fallers who could see their fantasy value impacted by usage in the most critical area of the field. RotoBaller's Red Zone Sleepers tool is a great way to get an edge on the competition by identifying players with greater scoring opportunities.

Let's take a look at which fantasy football players could be touchdown and scoring risers or fallers in fantasy football for Week 8 of the 2018 NFL season, based on red zone opportunities.

Red Zone Risers

RUNNING BACK

Todd Gurley (RB, LAR) - 53.8% Red-zone touch %

Todd Gurley has really taken a huge step forward from when he was under the instruction of previous coach Jeff Fisher. I haven't previously mentioned him in this weekly article because there is no way you aren't using him, but at this point it feels necessary to give him the nod that his performance deserves. The Rams have had a league-high 104 plays in the red zone, and Gurley has touched the ball 56 times of that. To put that in perspective, it is the number of visits that the Atlanta Falcons have made! Gurley has touched the ball more times than most of the teams in the league have even got to the red zone, and is clearly showing no signs of stopping with 14 touchdowns coming from this area of the field.

James White (RB, NE) - 24.3% Red-zone touch %

James White and rookie Sony Michel have both had great seasons thus far and have turned themselves into one of the best running back duos in the league. Michel looks like he will be limited in the coming weeks with the injury he suffered this past week, which gives a bump to White's red zone value. The Patriots have given White a touch on 18 of the 74 plays they have run in this area of the field, and White has scored six touchdowns on that. With the opportunity looking to increase in the short term, White will be a great play for fantasy owners over the coming weeks.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Julian Edelman (WR, NE) - 9.5% Red-zone touch%

Julian Edelman makes an odd appearance, given that he has touched the ball on less than 10% of the plays that the team has run in the area. However, since Edelman has missed significant time with a suspension at the start of the year, the fact that he has nearly got to the 10% benchmark in just three games shows just how much the team relies on Edelman. With the health of Rob Gronkowski in question, missing the Patriots previous game and being limited in practice so far this week Edelman is the go-to option for quarterback Tom Brady in the red zone.

Chris Godwin (WR, TB) - 14.0% Red-zone touch%

Coming into Week 8 wide receiver Chris Godwin trails only running back Peyton Barber for red-zone touches. He has double the number of touches of fellow wide receivers Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson who each have four red zone touches. Quarterback Jameis Winston has returned to form since his return, with the team looking as though they will need to continue to throw the ball to win games Godwin could be a great option to add for touchdown upside.

TIGHT END

Jeff Heuerman (TE, DEN) - 14.5% Red-zone touch%

Coming into the NFL season it wasn't Heuerman who topped the tight end depth chart for the Broncos; that was Jake Butt. However, an injury changed that and now Heuerman is the tight end getting the most play. Heuerman currently is only better for touches in the red zone by five tight ends, and equal with George Kittle. Heuerman is yet to convert any of the eight touches into a score, but the opportunity that he is being afforded by quarterback Case Keenum means that sooner rather than later that opportunity will turn into touchdowns.

Red Zone Fallers

RUNNING BACK

Peyton Barber (RB, TB) - 22.8% Red-zone touch%

It's a bit strange to select a running back with over 20% of his team's red zone touches as a faller, but I think that we are about to start to see the fall from grace that was predicted from the start of the season. Ronald Jones looks like he is going to be given the opportunity to show what he is able to do, especially with Barber missing some practice time this week and listed as questionable. With Winston back in the fold, the team will likely trust their quarterback to utilize the many passing options that he has rather than run it in

WIDE RECEIVER

Keenan Allen (WR, LAC) - 7.35% Red-zone touch%

Allen expressed his displeasure of not being targeted in a red zone passing play in London last week. While Allen is clearly the better receiver on the team the red zone targets haven't been there all season. Melvin Gordon, Austin Ekeler and Mike Williams have all touched the ball more than Allen, but given the limitations in size between Allen and Williams, combined with the ability of the running backs to offer dual-threat in passing and rushing plays this might be the new normal for Allen.

TIGHT END

Ricky Seals-Jones (TE, ARI) - 5.7% Red-zone touch%

Seals-Jones is on this list for two reasons, and neither looks like they are likely to change anytime soon. The first issue is that the Arizona Cardinals can't seem to get down into the red zone. The offense just doesn't seem able to get down into the red zone and are now the worst team in the NFL for a number of plays there. The other issue is that when they are able to get in the red zone Seals-Jones is not one of the favored targets. Currently, he falls behind David Johnson (60%), Larry Fitzgerald (14%) and Chad Williams (9%) that accounts for 83% of the teams touches, there just isn't the opportunity there for Seals-Jones to become a player with the opportunity to affect play.

Red Zone Sleepers

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