FLEX Finder Week 8: Tez Johnson, Malik Washington, and woes of the Byepocalypse

If you thought this column was recommending some dregs before, wait until what Week 8 has in store for you: We have six teams on bye. Pickings were so slim that I seriously debated the merits of Van Jefferson. Running backs are nearly impossible to find cheap this year on DraftKings.

Last week's article recommended some smart things like Kyle Pittsand Alec Pierce. It also recommended two running backs that we're running it back with in Week 8, and that's the true sign of desperation, because neither of those backs did work for fantasy teams last week either. We're developing column staples, and almost always for worse.

Once again, my rules for this weekly article:

1) I will not recommend quarterbacks -you're on your own there.

2) I will not recommend any running back who costs more than $5,000, wideout who costs more than $4,500, or tight end that costs more than $4,000 inDraftKings' DFS Slate- I just figured this was an easy cutoff for what a FLEX really is.

3) I consider any player who garners over 50 yards or scores a victory for the column - anything more you get out of that, well, great for you. Let's set expectations low because we are combing for outliers.

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Running BacksTyler Allgeier, ATL, $4,800

OK, so last week's Allgeier roll went poorly. He missed a bit of his normal workload with a hip/ankle injury that has haunted him on this week's injury report.

The Falcons have obscene home/road splits in favor of being the home team, which they are this week. The Dolphins have allowed 140 or more rushing yards in five of seven games this year, and haven't allowed lower than 100 in a game yet. Bijan Robinson is going to get his, but there's room for Allgeier to roll here in what is the more bankable roll of "kill that clock" back against a bad run defense.

Tyjae Spears, TEN - $4,700

Is Tyjae Spears generating value for you, or is he just here to take value away from Tony Pollard? Yes. The answer is just yes. I need to believe this.

He did lose a small share of snaps with Mike McCoy as interim coach (weirdly Pollard was given clock-killing duties in a blowout loss), but my guess is that we'll keep seeing plenty of Spears. The Colts defense isn't impenetrable. In fact, the Titans scored 20 points against it in Week 3, which is the most they've scored all season when not recovering a fumble on an intercepted pass for a touchdown.

Like I said, dire straits. Hope for 50 yards. It's a bad situation. Spears is one of the best of the lot.

Kyle Monangai, CHI, $4,900

New to the ranks, Monangai started getting more run after Chicago's Week 5 bye, surfacing with 34.4 percent of the snaps in Week 6 before besting that with a season-best 44.9 percent in Week 7. Meanwhile, Chicago's run game effectiveness has grown greatly, with D'Andre Swift throwing up RB1 numbers the last two weeks. Swift has spent plenty of time on the injury report over the past few weeks and I think at this point we can say that he is being managed.

I do think the Ravens have a run in them, and they're a more physical defense than they've shown at times this year. They'll be healthier with Roquan Smith back. But even when this team was healthy earlier this year, they were bleeding rushing yardage. They did allow a season-low 74 rushing yards to the Rams before their bye week, but that is very much an outlier. I like the idea of buying in on Chicago's upwards trend more than I like the idea of buying in on Baltimore's defense.

Brashard Smith, KC, $4,100

Most of Smith's season-best 14-carry workload came at the end of a blowout on Sunday, as the Raiders were non-competitive. I understand that.

Are the Commanders set up to be much more competitive on Monday night? With Marcus Mariotaunder center? I have my doubts. I don't get an injury report to look at filing on Wednesday night, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more missed time for Deebo Samuelor Terry McLaurin. I also think the Chiefs should be incentivized to continue messing around with Smith in the red zone and in designed packages - he has at least three targets in each of the last four games. I'd rather that floor than beg on the Kareem Hunt touchdown steps.

Matthew Berry's Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 8 of 2025 seasonPatrick Mahomes, Jonathan Taylor, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tyler Warren highlight positional rankings for Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season.

• Matthew Berry,

Wide receiversTez Johnson, TB, $4,300

Mike Evans' horrific concussion/clavicle injury (both suffered on the same play) all but ended the hopes that the Buccaneers will ever have a fully healthy wideout room until the playoffs. Chris Godwin remains out. Emeka Egbuka probably will gut it out, but he didn't exactly look 100 percent last week against the Lions.

Tez found a season-high nine targets, has scored in back-to-back games, and gone over 40 yards in each of the last three while playing about 2/3rds of the snaps. I hardly think of him as a guaranteed hit, but he's the best of a weak field this week.

Troy Franklin, DEN, $4,200

The extremely movable force meets the man incapable of producing the fantasy points his underlying volume says are there. Franklin saw a season-high 10 targets against the Giants in the Week 7 comeback, and managed just three catches for 19 yards and a deflected touchdown catch. Franklin has a much steadier role than Marvin Mims($3,900, also a fair play in my opinion) in the offense. He's just been pathologically unable to turn that into anything.

But these are the Dallas Cowboys. The defense had a great Week 7 against the Commanders, but they were also playing a team with zero NFL caliber wideouts. Is Franklin an NFL caliber wideout? I think so, but it would be nice if he actually did something in this game to make me feel like I'm right.

Malik Washington, MIA, $3,700

Fantasy football's newest PPR scam. Washington has at least five targets and four catches in each of his last three games. He has turned that into ... 52 scoreless yards. Legendary.

With Darren Waller sidelined, though, and the Dolphins projecting to pass plenty going forward ... what else are they going to do? Somebody will have to catch the ball next to Jaylen Waddle, and Waddle hasn't exactly been the most durable player in the league himself. As you'll learn often in this column, volume has to go somewhere. And based on the recent boxscores it is either Washington or "Tanner Conner."

Josh Reynolds, NYJ, $3,900

This is what fantasy football is all about. Reynolds managed nine targets against the Panthers in one of the ugliest games in the NFL season (so far, there are several Jets games left) and turned them into 3/27.

The Bengals are just a miserable defense by every account and Garrett Wilson remains likely to be out. This is one of those situations where it makes me feel absolutely disgusting to even try to fit the player in to the lineup. But the target vacuum at cost is so low that I think you have to roll the dice at the price.

Jaylin Noel ($3500) and Jayden Higgins, HOU ($3500)

I doubt Nico Collins will play after a Monday night concussion. It doesn't feel like Christian Kirk will play after being ruled out with a re-aggravation of his hamstring injury ahead of Week 7. All the targets are being funneled to Dalton Schultz by many projectors. I think instead it's time for the rookies to show it against a 49ers defense that is high-effort but low-talent without Fred Warner and Nick Bosa.

The Texans could absolutely crater on offense in this game. It wouldn't surprise me. But I don't think Schultz is the target-earner you're looking for. To me either of these rookies are a better play.

Jordan Love, Chimere Dike, Troy Franklin headline Week 8's Regression FilesThis week's Regression Files includes a close look at total team air yards, along with players running particularly hot or cold headed into Week 8.

• Denny Carter,

Tight endsKyle Pitts, ATL, $3,900

Even with a terrible passing game from the Falcons, Pitts delivered with a 7/62 line on 10 targets in Week 7. The Dolphins are allergic enough to defense that my concern here is mostly "the Falcons might stop throwing," but I'm willing to keep rolling with Pitts at this price.

Theo Johnson, NYG, $3,700

With Daniel Bellinger on the injury report and almost zero wideouts on the roster not named Wan'Dale Robinson, Johnson projects to step into plenty of volume. He's had 18 targets over New York's last three and three touchdowns to go along with that. Four touchdowns total since Jaxson Dart took over. It'll be hard to find better than that at this price point.