Fantasy football advice, Week 8: who to start/sit for Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Bye week hell continues in Week 9 with six more teams on byes. And you thought it couldn’t have been worse in Week 8? Now, fantasy owners get to scramble as skill position players on the Patriots, Bengals, Washington, Cardinals, Bears and Texans all get to sit out of lineups. But with the Jaguars and Chiefs squaring off on Sunday, options, though few of them, still remain for fantasy owners.

It’s hard to believe at the midway point of 2016 that fantasy owners have been fading what used to be a potent Jaguars offense, but that’s exactly what is happening. It all starts with Blake Bortles, who is not the same quarterback who threw for 35 touchdowns in 2015, and it has dashed the upside of Allen Robinson significantly. Robinson remains a low-end WR2 in a middling matchup with the Chiefs, but until Bortles rights the ship, Robinson’s upside will be limited.

A lot can still be said for what Bortles has managed to do during garbage time, of which the Jaguars have had quite a lot of in 2016. With Julius Thomas off of the injury report, and off of a week where he caught a garbage-time touchdown, he is a TE1 with six teams on bye. Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee have the chance to provide decent flex value, but it’s unlikely that both will put up numbers against a capable Chiefs defense. Bortles can be considered a volatile QB1 streamer.

T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory haven’t been effective in 2016, and having both in the backfield leaves little room for either to thrive. With the running back position so thin, fantasy owners can’t be faulted if they are forced to address the Jaguars’ backfield, but this is a situation to avoid if possible.

Spencer Ware is out, which leaves Charcandrick West in line for a massive workload against an exploitable Jaguars run defense. He is a no-brainer RB1 after thriving in a featured role in the past. Travis Kelce also can be penned in as a TE1 as usual.

Jeremy Maclin returned to practice on Friday after suffering a hamstring injury during the week. Maclin has led a mediocre receiving game for the Chiefs, and will have to do battle against an underrated Jaguars secondary with Nick Foles at the helm. Fantasy owners could do worse than the floor that Maclin provides, but he is a sketchy flex option with so many factors against him.

Foles, Albert Wilson, Knile Davis and Chris Conley do not deserve fantasy consideration for Week 9 and beyond.