The Los Angeles Chargers will face the New Orleans Saints in Week 8. Here’s the latest fantasy football news and advice to help you with your lineups this week and moving forward, especially regarding QB Justin Herbert.
Is Justin Herbert Playing in Week 8?
Herbert is not listed on the injury report this week, so barring any setbacks, he is on track to play this weekend.
We’ll continue to monitor the Chargers’ injury report. You can also visit and bookmark our NFL Injury Tracker and Fantasy News Tracker for the latest updates.
Should You Start or Sit Justin Herbert in Week 8?
Per our NFL Week 8 Stats and Insights piece, Herbert became the first QB since Ryan Tannehill (Week 2, 2021) to throw for 345 yards without a touchdown or interception. That’s just a fancy stat to tell you that Herbert had a historically boring fantasy game and that has pretty much been the story of his 2024 season.
This is the most run-centric team in the NFL, and even in a game where they asked their franchise QB to cut it loose, he didn’t produce top-15 numbers. The Saints’ defense is taking on water (26+ points allowed in four straight games), but I expect that to further encourage Jim Harbaugh to attempt to impose his will upon the visitors, not to attack through the air.
Herbert is a talented QB without any path to fantasy upside. In two-QB leagues, I prefer Trevor Lawrence and Drake Maye to him with relative ease.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Advice Cheat Sheet for every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Justin Herbert’s Fantasy Points Projection in Week 8
Herbert is projected to score 8.6 fantasy points in Week 8. This includes 120.7 passing yards, 0.8 passing touchdowns, and 0.3 interceptions. It also includes 1.8 rushing attempts for 6.1 yards and 0.1 touchdowns.
Check out the free PFN Fantasy Start-Sit Optimizer for the latest projections and advice for your lineups this week.
Justin Herbert’s Week 8 Fantasy Ranking
Our Weekly Consensus PPR Rankings are below — both positional and overall. They were last updated at 11:45 PM ET on Saturday, January 25.
Conference Championship QB PPR Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF (at KC)
2) Jalen Hurts | PHI (vs. WAS)
3) Jayden Daniels | WAS (at PHI)
4) Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. BUF)
New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Chargers Insights
New Orleans Saints
Team: The Saints have lost five straight since starting 2-0. They’re the first team since the 2015 Dallas Cowboys to lose at least five in a row after starting 2-0 (that Cowboys team fell to 2-7 after starting QB Tony Romo was injured in Week 2).
Team: The Saints have won the past 11 games played in Week 8, out-scoring opponents 361-227 (+12.2 PPG) during that run.
QB: In the first two weeks of this season, Derek Carr completed 61.5% of his deep passes with a 113.0 passer rating on such passes. His numbers since (45.4 passer rating and 35% complete) look more like Spencer Rattler than an MVP candidate.
Offense: All the passing game injuries have also killed the running game. Since Week 3, the Saints are averaging 3.1 yards per carry on running back carries, second-worst in the NFL. That includes the third-fewest yards before contact per carry (2.2).
Defense: The Saints have allowed 502 rush yards in the last two games, their most in a two-game span since 1980. For the first time since 2012, New Orleans has given up 200+ rush yards in consecutive games; the last team to allow 200+ rush yards in three straight games was the 2019 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Fantasy: Alvin Kamara has not had a 10-plus-yard carry in three straight games, and over his past four, despite having a pair of rushing touchdowns, the majority (56.9%) of his fantasy points have come as a receiver.
Betting: The Saints have seen 13 of their past 14 games played on extended rest go under the projected total (most recently, Week 5 at Chiefs, a 26-13 loss with a 43.5-point closing total).
Los Angeles Chargers
Team: The average NFL game this season has seen 44.8 points scored – not a single Chargers game has reached 40 points yet.
QB: On Monday night, Justin Herbert became the first QB since Ryan Tannehill (Week 2, 2021) to throw for 345 yards without a touchdown or interception.
Offense: JK Dobbins was the story of the first two weeks this season (27 carries for 266 yards, 9.9 yards per carry), but he has failed to average even 4.0 yards per carry in the four games since, checking in under 3.0 in three of those games.
Defense: Los Angeles allows a score on just 25% of drives this season, the lowest rate in the league and 13 percentage points better than the league average.
Fantasy: The Chargers are amongst the most run-centric offenses, and on Monday night, when they took to the air, the early passes weren’t exactly going to the players on fantasy rosters – Will Dissly and Simi Fehoko saw eight of Justin Herbert’s first 10 targets.
Betting: Seven of Justin Herbert’s last eight home starts have finished under the total, including each of the past four.
