The Tennessee Titans will face the Detroit Lions in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Titans skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Will Levis, QB
Levis (AC sprain in his right shoulder) was forced to sit out Sunday, but if he is the answer to your fantasy lineup concerns, you’re very much asking the wrong questions.
There are flashes of fantasy viability on a week-to-week basis (12+ rushing yards in all four healthy games this season and 66.4% completion percentage, up from 58.4% as a rookie), but they are offset by inconsistent decision-making that makes sustaining drives a near impossibility.
The second-year QB will have his job back when healthy, but I found it telling that Mason Rudolph had no issue in completing 12 of his first 15 passes for 100 yards and a score. He spread those 12 completions around to six different players, with four of his teammates having a 10+yard gain.
Levis’ development is slow, if not non-existent, at this point in time. And with DeAndre Hopkins now a Chief, projecting that to change in a meaningful way is irresponsible. That combination makes him the rare QB who I’d consider sitting in a Superflex setting.
Tony Pollard, RB
Pollard has been a top 20 running back in the majority of Tennessee’s games this season, though I can’t help but feel he is on borrowed time. Due to a lack of respect for this passing game, 40.4% of his carries this season have come against loaded boxes, resulting in less than a foot gained per carry before contact.
That’s a dangerous line to walk, especially for a team that is a serious risk to be scripted out of their ground attack this week. That said, an Aidan Hutchinson-less version of this defense proved to have some holes in it last week (their second play was a 34-yard cutback touchdown by Aaron Jones), and that could be the case moving forward.
The Lions allow rushing scores to opposing running backs at the fourth-highest rate this season, a metric that keeps Pollard inside my top 20, even if I have lasting concerns. Tyjae Spears (hamstring) could return to action this week, but with just one game of more than eight touches, I’m not overreacting to the status of Tennessee’s RB2.
Tyjae Spears, RB
A healthy version of Spears would be interesting in a spot like this, as Tennessee is an 11.5-point underdog in Detroit, but we just can’t be confident in that. The second-round pick missed last week with a hamstring injury, which had some reporters close to the team wondering if the Tulane product would be placed on injured reserve.
He’s avoided that designation, but what motivation do the Titans have to extend his role? Tony Pollard averages three catches per game and has been used as a bellcow all season (over 15 carries in five of six games).
Spears is a talented player, but talent alone doesn’t pay the fantasy bills. He doesn’t have a consistent role, and this offense struggles to get into scoring position. The math simply doesn’t work out enough to put him on Flex radars.
Calvin Ridley, WR
It’s TRIVIA TIME. Sound the alarms. Tell the children. Alert the authorities. It’s time to get fractionally smarter.
Question (answer within the DeAndre Hopkins write-up): How many players, entering Week 8, are averaging more receiving yards per game than Ridley and Hopkins combined?
The fact that I thought to ask such a question tells you all you need to know about this offense. Ridley was banged up early last week and still has just one top-40 finish (Week 2) on his 2024 ledger.
Woof.
The Lions have given up plenty of receiver points this season. They’ve also faced some of the brightest stars in the game (Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, and CeeDee Lamb to name a few).
Ridley isn’t the player we remember from his Jacksonville days, and with Detroit blitzing at the seventh-highest rate this season, you’re asking a lot for whoever is under center in Tennessee to support any receiver.
Target volume wasn’t the issue for Ridley, so Hopkins taking his talents to Kansas City doesn’t shift my position on the state of Tennessee’s offense. Ridley’s targets are empty calories, and that’s not going to change.
Tennessee Titans at Detroit Lions Game Insights
Tennessee Titans
Team: The Titans have only trailed at halftime in one of their six games this season. However, Tennessee is outscored 94-43 (-51) in the second half, which is the worst second-half point differential of any team this season.
QB: The decision-making has been an issue, but Will Levis’ completion percentage is 15 points higher this season than last when under pressure (55.6%).
Offense: Think things are working better with Mason Rudolph instead of Levis? The Titans are averaging -0.19 EPA per play with Levis on the field, which would rank 30th. With Rudolph on the field, the Titans are averaging -0.17 EPA per play, which would rank 28th.
Defense: The Titans are allowing a league-low 5.7 yards per play-action pass this season
Fantasy: Calvin Ridley has proven to be the definition of empty calories when it comes to targets over the past two weeks – three catches on 17 targets for 42 yards. Him being targeted on 28.3% of his routes over that stretch is great, but let him serve as a reminder that limitations under center can tank the value of any player, even if the role is strong.
Betting: The Titans have covered six of their past eight indoor games (average cover margin: +7.5 points).
Detroit Lions
Team: The Lions have a plus-62 point differential through six games played. It’s their second-best point differential through six games in the last 40 years (+
QB: Jared Goff has posted at least a 140 passer rating in three straight games. That’s tied for the longest streak in NFL history, along with Aaron Rodgers (2011), Kurt Warner (1999), and Roger Staubach (1971).
Jared Goff was under pressure on a season-high 51.7% of his dropbacks against the Vikings, finishing 10-of-11 for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns under pressure.
Goff is averaging a league-high 11.6 YPA under pressure this season; no other QB is over 9.0.
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Offense: The Lions didn’t average more than 2.36 points per drive in any of their first three games this season. Since, however, they’ve been at 2.82 or better, averaging a difficult-to-comprehend 3.53 points per drive over that stretch.
Defense: In Weeks 3-6, the Lions blitzed on just 28.4% of opponent dropbacks, spiking to 38.9% last week in Minnesota without Aidan Hutchinson.
Fantasy: Sam LaPorta has three finishes as a top 12 tight end and three finishes outside of the top 20.
Betting: Since the start of the 2021 season, the Lions have had the best home ATS team in the league (20-8, 71.4%).