Jalen Coker Start or Sit Advice for Week 8

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jalen Coker has had a roller-coaster season so far, posting a few huge games, a few duds and some time missed due to injury. The volatile receiver will head to Lambeau Field for Thursday Night Football as his Carolina Panthers visit the Green Bay Packers to start Week 8. Can you count on Coker to be in your fantasy football lineup this week, or should you leave him sitting on your bench even with four teams on a bye week?

Let’s take a look at what to expect from Carolina and from Coker as they take on the Packers in Green Bay.

Jalen Coker Start or Sit Advice for Week 8

Coker started the season with a boom, going off for eight catches for 138 yards, two touchdowns and 36.8 FPTS in Week 1 against the Bears. He had another eight-catch game in Week 2, but only had two catches before leaving Week 3’s game with a quadriceps injury.

He missed Week 4 with the injury and used the team’s Week 5 bye to further recover and be ready to go in Week 6, when the Panthers were visiting the Eagles. Coker had six catches for 97 yards in that game and, encouragingly, received 13 targets, continuing to showcase a strong connection with emerging QB Bryce Young.

The entire Panthers offense, including Coker, seemed to be back on track, but they fell flat in Week 7 at home in a division matchup against the Bucs. Coker caught just one of his four targets for nine yards, producing his worst stat line in a complete game this season.

On Monday, Coker was listed as limited with a shoulder injury, which was a new injury concern. He got in a full practice on Tuesday, though, and was not listed on the injury report on Wednesday. While he may not be quite 100% while battling multiple injuries, it looks like the third-year receiver will be on the field looking to continue his breakout campaign.

Last week’s dud from the Panthers as a whole is definitely concerning, but they should be able to bounce back against the Packers. Green Bay has been one of the 10 best matchups in the NFL for wide receivers this season. Opposing receivers have scored six touchdowns in seven games against the Packers, averaging 14.1 receptions for 156.7 receiving yards per game. Last week, both Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown had good showings against the Pack. Jameson Williams and Ryan Flournoy each found the end zone against Green Bay in the last two weeks, which could be a good sign for Coker since they are not their team’s No. 1 receiver, much like Coker is for the Panthers

Coker’s huge target share in Week 6 is a positive sign that he is past his quad injury from earlier this season, and I’m ready to give him a mulligan for last week as a strange outlier. He is a solid WR2 in what should be an exciting matchup on Thursday Night Football. He and Young should be in position for a bounce-back performance, making him a strong starting option in almost all formats this week.

For single-game DFS contests like the NFL Showdown $1.25M Thursday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (CAR @ GB) on DraftKings, Coker is a boom-or-bust play with a very high ceiling. He has a salary of $7,800 in a FLEX spot and $11,700 in the Captain’s spot. Despite his volatility, his upside makes him worth starting since he has shown off such a high ceiling.

Start or Sit: Start Jalen Coker as a WR2 with upside in Week 8