Fantasy Injury Updates: Latest news on Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb, David Montgomery affecting Week 8 RB rankings

Many fantasy owners are itching for RBs Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb, David Montgomery to return, and each has varying outlooks heading into Week 8. Chubb is expected back while Montgomery is simply eligible to come off the IR, and Barkley is truly up in the air for Monday night. As always, we have the latest injury updates and how the status of each will affect our Week 8 fantasy RB rankings.

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WEEK 8 WAIVER WIRE:  Top pickups | Buy-low, sell-high

Saquon Barkley injury update

We don’t have much information on Barkley’s status yet, as New York has an extra day this week as they play Kansas City on Monday night. What we do know is he is set to return to practice Wednesday, so we’ll have to keep an eye out for practice reports. If he’s out, Devontae Booker would once again dominate touches for New York and has a real shot at success against one of the worst defenses in football. Unfortunately, you’re in a tough spot if you don’t already have Booker. Since it’s a Monday night game, you’ll likely be at the mercy of a game-time decision. If you decided to risk it with Barkley, grabbing Chiefs’ RB Jerick McKinnon would really be the only thing you could do to save yourself from a zero at RB, but if you slot Barkley into your flex spot, you’ll have more options.

If Barkley (ankle) does play, we rank him as our RB5 in standard leagues and RB6 in PPR. You’d have to think he’ll be heavily involved in the passing attack, especially if one or all of Kenny Golladay (knee), Sterling Shepard (hamstring), and Kadarius Toney (ankle) can’t play.

WEEK 8 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Nick Chubb injury update

Chubb (calf) is reportedly expected to make his return and play against Pittsburgh in Week 8. With Kareem Hunt (calf) out, the Browns could certainly use him, so if it’s 50/50, they’ll probably trot him out there. We’ll see if there are any setbacks, but for now, we expect Chubb to play. If he doesn’t play, it should be another D’Ernest Johnson game, but the Steelers’ defense will make his road to success tougher. 

We rank Chubb as the RB17 in standard and RB18 in PPR. The Steelers are the No. 7 defense against fantasy RBs, and with either a banged-up Baker Mayfield or a healthy Case Keenum, it’s hard to imagine Pittsburgh respecting the passing game. This should be an offensive struggle overall, so while you’re still starting Chubb, you can lower expectations.

WEEK 8 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

David Montgomery injury update

Montgomery (knee) is eligible to return from IR this week, but when he was injured three weeks ago, the timetable for return was set between four and five weeks. With little news coming out of Bears’ practice regarding his status, we don’t expect him to be back. In his absence, rookie Khalil Herbert has shined, as Damien Williams has missed most of the past two weeks (and one game) because of COVID. Against Tampa Bay, Herbert out-touched Williams 23 to five and became one of the few rushers over the past few seasons to run for 100-plus yards against that stout defense.

That said, it’s time to prioritize Herbert over Williams, and we put Herbert at the RB28 spot in standard and RB27 spot in PPR. His ceiling is high with the usage he’s getting, but San Francisco still has one of the best front-sevens in football. They allowed D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams to feast in Week 1, but almost all of that work was done in garbage time. Aaron Jones and Jonathan Taylor are the two RBs that had real success against them, but we expect the Bears’ offensive line to have issues.