Khalil Shakir start or sit: Week 8 fantasy football advice

The Buffalo Bills will welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to kick off Week 8, with the matchup set for Thursday Night Football. While Buffalo’s receiving hierarchy is essentially set, second-year wideout Khalil Shakir had his best performance of the season in last week’s loss to the New England Patriots.

We look ahead as to whether Shakir can carry that performance over into Week 8, and whether he’s a lock to start in standard or PPR fantasy leagues.

Fantasy Football analysis: Bills WR Khalil Shakir

Shakir has been relatively quiet this season, ranking as WR111 in full PPR fantasy leagues. The second-year wideout has caught eight of his nine targets for 75 receiving yards with one touchdown this season.

Start or sit in Week 8 PPR leagues?

Sit. Shakir has no lack of talent, but there’s a reason he’s averaging just 3.1 PPR fantasy points per game this season. With Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, and now Dalton Kincaid ahead of him in the food chain, Shakir is the odd man out when it comes to consistent targets. His 7.5 fantasy performance last week was encouraging, but fantasy managers should wait to see more from the second-year wideout before starting him.

In both smaller and larger fantasy leagues, Shakir is a true sleeper in the deepest of fantasy leagues. At best, he boasts some risky WR4 value in larger leagues.

Start or sit in Week 8 standard leagues?

Sit. Shakir’s 10.7 receiving yards per game average this season is just a step below his 11.5 average from his rookie season. For fantasy managers, that doesn’t exactly instill confidence in rolling with him in lineups for Week 8. While Tampa Bay is much more susceptible through the air, Shakir’s receiving yardage is far from sufficient to warrant him as a starter. If anything, he very much remains touchdown-dependent to remain fantasy-relevant on a weekly basis.

Player(s) you would start ahead of Khalil Shakir

If we’re keeping with the trend of deep sleepers, Ray-Ray McCloud III of the San Francisco 49ers could be worth a gamble play, at least for this week. McCloud finished with a season-high 20 receiving yards last week after catching two of his three targets. With Deebo Samuel out, he’ll see an elevated role in the short term with the Cincinnati Bengals on deck this week.

So far this season, Cincinnati is giving up 21.8 fantasy points per game to opposing receivers, which ranks 16th in the NFL.