Mark Andrews is the consensus top tight end in the Week 8 fantasy TE rankings with Travis Kelce on bye, but a knee injury threatens his availability for Baltimore’s Thursday Night Football matchup against the Buccaneers. If Andrews doesn’t play, backup Isaiah Likely would be a popular streamer off the waiver wire, but he’s far from the only sleeper who Andrews owners should consider. Knowing the latest updates on Andrews’ status is crucial ahead of your first start ’em, sit ’em decision of the week.
We’ll continue to update this article with news on Andrews until the official active/inactive report comes out on Thursday around 6:50 p.m. ET.
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Is Mark Andrews playing Thursday night Week 8?
UPDATE: Andrews failed to practice on Wednesday and is officially “questionable” for Thursday night’s game against Tampa. It feels as if he’s a true game-time decision, but the lack of practice is definitely a worry.
UPDATE 2: NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported Thursday afternoon that Andrews is “hopeful” that he can play on Thursday night.
UPDATE 3: Andrews is officially ACTIVE.
Andrews (knee) failed to practice on Tuesday after being an estimated “DNP” on Monday. That’s similar to his pattern the week before when he skipped practice on Wednesday and Thursday before getting in a limited session on Friday and ultimately playing. Nonetheless, after a zero-catch, two-target performance in Week 7, fantasy owners are understandably worried about Andrews’ availability in a short week.
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Andrews’ no-show last week was certainly a shock, but keep in mind that Cleveland has one of the best TE defenses in the NFL. More important, Andrews still played 88 percent of snaps (slightly less than his usual amount) and had a 94.7-percent route participation rate, which is on par with his season average. If Andrews was affected by his knee issues, there really weren’t any clues in his baseline numbers.
WEEK 8 STANDARD RANKINGS
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Andrews is always a must-start when active, but against a Tampa defense allowing the 10th-most fantasy points per game to TEs, he has slightly more upside than usual. If Andrews is out, Isaiah Likely would start and be a solid streaming option, but he would be behind Irv Smith Jr. (vs. Cardinals), Juwan Johnson (vs. Raiders), and, if active, Daniel Bellinger (@ Seahawks) in the streamer pecking order.
WEEK 8 PPR RANKINGS
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Lamar Jackson’s value takes a slight hit without Andrews, but he’s still an easy call as a QB1 with or without Andrews. WRs Rashod Bateman (undisclosed) and Devin Duvernay would see slight bumps in value.
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