Here’s a few standard preface notes:
^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.
^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.
^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.
^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, S Smith (Carolina), Wayne, R White
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten
^ Here are the players added to that list since the start of the year:
RB: Benson
WR: Burleson, Driver, S Smith (NY Giants)
TE: Daniels, H Miller
^ And here are the players who were on our list, but have been removed from it:
RB: Lynch
WR: Owens, R Williams
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analysis and even video previews.
^ All times listed are EDT.
^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.
NOTE: There are a few players this week, noted by asterisks, whose primary value lies in PPR leagues.
Sunday, Nov. 1(Byes: Cincinnati, Kansas City, New England, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington)
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. RB Bradshaw, WR D Jackson, TE Celek
Denver at Baltimore, 1 p.m. QB Orton, WR Royal, QB Flacco, RB Rice*
Houston at Buffalo, 1 p.m. Texans all-in on marginal players, RB Jackson, WR Owens, WR Evans
Cleveland at Chicago, 1 p.m. Bears all-in on marginal players, Browns all-out
Seattle at Dallas, 1 p.m. RB J Jones, WR Burleson, WR AUSTIN
St. Louis at Detroit, 1 p.m. WR Avery, RB K SMITH
Minnesota at Green Bay, 1 p.m. All-in for marginal players on both teams (with Lee as the TE for the Packers)
Miami at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. RB R Williams, RB T JONES
San Francisco at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. WR Crabtree, WR Collie, WR Garcon
Oakland at San Diego, 4:05 p.m. Raiders all-out on marginal players, RB Sproles*
Jacksonville at Tennessee, 4:05 p.m. QB Garrard, WR SIMS-WALKER, WR Holt, Titans all-out on marginal players
Carolina at Arizona, 4:15 p.m. All-out on marginal Panthers, RB B Wells
Monday, Nov. 2
Atlanta at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m. All-out on marginal Falcons, All-in on marginal Saints (with RB Bush*)
NFL Week 8 Best Waiver Wire Pickups
NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.
1 Donald Lee
2 Alex Smith
3 Brian Hartline
4 Ryan Fitzpatrick
5 Chad Henne
Fantasy Drafthelp: Week 8 NFL Fantasy Advice
