Fantasy Football Early Week 8 Waiver Wire: Does Miles Sanders injury make Kenneth Gainwell a must-add?

Hopefully, Week 8 will be better for Fantasy players than Week 7 was, given what a huge role injuries and bye weeks played in this week’s action. However, we got a bit of bad news on that front Sunday afternoon when Miles Sanders was forced out of his game with an ankle injury, while Josh Jacobs went off with a chest injury — and neither was able to return.

Jacobs was already going to miss Week 8 with the Raiders on a bye, and given the extra time off, it probably won’t make Kenyan Drake a must-add Fantasy option — though he would likely be worth starting in most leagues if Jacobs did end up having to miss time. So, it’s the Eagles side of this that is going to be most interesting for the Week 7 waiver wire, though it’s fair to wonder whether the Eagles have an in-house replacement ready to slide into your Fantasy lineups.

In theory, you would expect Kenneth Gainwell to step up as the replacement for Sanders, given that he’s been the primary backup for Sanders so far this season. However, Gainwell split work with Boston Scott after Sanders injury, especially in the fourth quarter, when Scott stayed in for a scoring drive and got multiple chances to punch in a touchdown, ultimately scoring on his third try near the goal line. Scott ended up with seven carries for 24 yards and a touchdown while Gainwell had just 20 yards on five carries, however Gainwell was a bigger factor in the passing game (4 for 41 and a TD on eight targets) while Scott had just two targets. 

The concern here, then, is that this might still end up being a frustrating split that we won’t quite know how to take advantage of. I do think Gainwell would be the lead option and better Fantasy player, though he and Scott’s skill sets kind of overlap as smaller backs who excel in the passing game but may not be well suited for every-down work. How the Eagles choose to divvy up work will be interesting, though this hasn’t exactly been a great situation for running backs in Fantasy — Gainwell, Scott, and Sanders combined for just 17 carries in the game. 

Still, Gainwell will be well worth targeting on waivers this week, and may actually end up being the No. 1 target depending on how the rest of the week shakes out. Scott would also be a target, especially with a cake matchup on the way against the Lions in Week 8. 

Here’s who else we might be looking for this week:

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