Fantasy Football Sleeper Wide Receivers To Play In Week 8, The Star WR To Avoid

In last week's sleeper column, our sleepers unfortunately stayed mostly asleep.

The WR to avoid, Terry McLaurin had just one catch for 11 yards in what looked like a monsoon in Washington, but Jakobi Meyers and Allen Lazard's limited production did not help our cause.

This week we get back to the win column, as we look ahead to the Week 8 rankings on FantasyPros, here are a few wide receivers I like more than outside their top-36 consensus rankings.

It's feels wrong to say this, but there's a lot to like about Parker's situation in Miami.

He's the No. 1 receiver on a team that basically trails all the time. He's tied for 11th in the NFL in Air Yards. Take Miami's Week 5 bye out of the equation and Parker jumps to eighth overall in the league. His average depth of target (aDOT) of 17.1 is the highest mark in the league for players with more than 20 targets.

Since Ryan Fitzpatrick was reinserted into the starting lineup, Parker's usage rate has spiked.

Parker recorded season highs in catches (five), targets (10) and has four redzone targets in the last two weeks, hauling in two touchdowns. He has a touchdown in three straight games.

It's hard to invest in anything into the Dolphins.

I get that.

14-point underdogs on Monday Night Football against the Steelers. A projected point total of roughly 14...I'm not giving you much room for fantasy success.

But! Parker checks off the two main things we always look for with our sleepers.

Talent and opportunity.

The former first-round pick has never lacked talent. He's just been unable to stay on the field or he's struggled to stay out of the coach's doghouse. Right now, he appears to be in good standing in both areas and because of that his (fantasy) opportunity has never been higher.

I like Parker as a boom-or-bust WR 3 this week.

Speaking of opportunity, a brand new one has opened up in Houston after Will Fuller's injury.

I love Kenny Stills this week but he's a little too overqualified for this column coming in as FantasyPros' No. 29 wide receiver. Which leads us to Mr. Coutee, all the way down at No. 47.

After getting a ton of preseason hype, Coutee had been buried on the depth chart as he dealt with a few injuries. Healthy now and with Fuller out of the way, Houston's slot receiver played a season-high 69 percent of the snaps last week. Right in time for a juicy matching against a porous Raiders secondary that allows the third-most points to opposing wide receivers.

He not only played a season-high 69 percent of the snaps, but ran a route on 76 percent of them. Going against the Raiders and Lamarcus Joyner in particular, should create ample opportunities for him to thrive. FantasyPros' Mike Tagliere explained in his outstanding column just how bad Oakland has been against the slot, which is where Coutee will live.

This game has the highest projected over/under total of the week, so we want to over-index and invest as much player capital in this matchup as we can. Especially when we're this low in the rankings and need to reach for potential/production.

Going to keep this relatively short-and-sweet.

Chris Harris.

Chris Harris is one of the best corners in all of football and he's going to be shadowing Hilton all over the field. That's not something you want to see as a fantasy owner.

He shut down Keenan Allen. Four catches for 18 yards.

Outside of one throw, he shut down Tyreek Hill. Three catches, 74 yards.

No Titans receiver did anything against Denver.

He shut down D.J. Chark. Four catches, 44 yards.

He shut down Davante Adams. Four catches for 56 yards.

In deeper leagues, you may not own better options than T.Y. Hilton so as I've stressed each week, take this as a sign of caution to do more research. Don't automatically sit one of your best players.

But the evidence is here, Chris Harris is as elite as they come. Denver's defense ranks as a top-10 unit against the pass so far this season.

I'm avoiding T.Y. this week as I set my lineups for Week 8.