Starts & Fades 8.24

This article is intended to highlight some players who may have a positive or negative weekly outlook relative to their baseline value. 

“Starts” are players who might generally be on fantasy benches but might have a terrific perceived matchup or game script/environment, or the potential for an expanded role due to past performance or injuries to teammates or opponents. 

“Fades” are players who were likely drafted as fantasy starters or have performed as automatic starters lately but face a particularly tough week due to a poor matchup or a lack of short-term role clarity due to an injury, etc.

Here are a few of my notable starts and fades for Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season, with some notes on my thought process included:

QB

Start: Caleb Williams, CHI (at WAS)

• The Bears are well rested coming off of their bye. Williams had two great games heading into the bye week, completing 43/58 passes for 530 yards and six TDs with a single interception. He added 90 yards rushing.
• This week, Williams and the Bears head to Washington in a game with a middling implied point total (43.0). This was supposed to be a battle between the top two picks from April’s draft, Williams and Jayden Daniels, but Daniels is questionable to play after leaving last week’s game with a rib injury. The Commanders’ defense is among the most generous in the league in passer rating allowed (107.4, third worst), completion percentage allowed (70.2, sixth worst), and yards per attempt allowed (7.8, seventh worst).
• Pure narrative/speculation here, but I’m guessing the entire Bears organization has been hearing how awesome Daniels is/has been (rightfully so!) and would like nothing more than to run up the score this week with their own ascending rookie QB against an exploitable Washington defense. I like Williams as a back-end QB1 option.

Fade:  Geno Smith, SEA (vs BUF)