Panthers vs. Packers Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 8

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Panthers vs. Packers Week 8 matchup on Thursday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Panthers vs. Packers Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Jordan Love

Love completed 27 of 45 passes (60%) for 274 yards (6.1 Y/A), 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception Sunday in Detroit.

Love has now completed over 60% of his passes in two games this season.

He has thrown for fewer than 7.0 yards per pass attempt in five of seven games.

He has thrown multiple passing touchdowns in all but one game.

81.3% (13 of 16) of Green Bay's touchdowns have been passing, fourth in the league.

The good news is the Packers kept throwing the ball heavily on Sunday, even with Josh Jacobs back.

Green Bay threw 13% more than expected against the Lions.

Green Bay is third in pass rate over expectation for the season (+5.8%), with a pass over expectation in six of seven games.

That has kept Love in the fringe QB1 mix for fantasy despite his uneven passing efficiency.

The Panthers are a bit more of a run funnel for opposing offenses.

Teams have thrown the ball 3.2% below expectations against Carolina, the fifth-lowest rate.

The Packers haven't been able to run the ball effectively, but this may be a chance to lean on Jacobs in his second game.

When these teams met in Week 9 last season, the Packers threw 3.6% below expectations.

Hopefully, Matt LaFleur learned from that, as Green Bay lost 16-13 as 13-point favorites.

In that game, Love was QB24 (9.0 fantasy points), completing 26 of 37 passes (70.3%) for 273 yards (7.4 Y/A) with no touchdowns and an interception.

Love also faced Ejiro Evero in 2023.

In that matchup, Love was 17 of 28 (60.7%) for 219 yards (7.8 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

The Panthers rank second in disguising their coverage pre-snap (40.1%).

Love has had some hiccups against disguised coverage this season, completing 53.6% of his passes for 6.5 Y/A with 0.36 fantasy points per dropback.

Against static post-snap looks, Love has completed 62.6% of his passes for 7.6 Y/A and 0.48 fantasy points per dropback.

In that matchup last season, Love threw for 5.9 Y/A against disguised coverages compared to 8.3 Y/A against static looks.

Carolina has held up against the pass this season, ranking ninth in passing points allowed per attempt (0.37), sixth in completion rate (60.5%), fifth in yards per pass attempt (6.3), and eighth in touchdown rate (3.5%).

They have allowed Caleb Williams (18.8 passing points) and Jared Goff (20.5) to turn good fantasy lines, so we don't have to completely hide.

I am pricing in Love as a fringe QB1 option this week.

I would prefer to use him as an upside QB2 if I had the luxury, but I would not go wild looking for a streamer to replace him.

There is some volatility here if Green Bay tries to run and Love stays on the low end of completion rate and yards per pass attempt.

But the Packers may have a broken rushing attack, and the Panthers also play aggressively, so we could get a game where both sides push each other.

Bryce Young

Sunday was a disastrous outing for Young and the Carolina offense.

Young completed 14 of 27 passes (51.9%) for 163 yards (6.0 Y/A) with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in a 43-13 home thumping against the Buccaneers.

Young did not even play in the fourth quarter of the blowout loss.

The yards per pass attempt were a season low.

Young also took a season-high 5 sacks.

Another down note for Young and this passing offense is that Taylor Moton was lost for the season after just coming back in Week 6.

With Moton off the field this season, Young has been pressured on a league-high 46.9% of his dropbacks.

Monroe Freeling has played right tackle for Moton, allowing 16 pressures and an 8.7% pressure rate, second-highest on the team behind left tackle Rasheed Walker (10.1%).

As good as the season has started for Young, he has completed fewer than 55% of his passes in three of his past four starts.

He is 20th in completion rate versus expectation (-3.1%) over that span.

However, as we covered with Love, the Panthers have taken a pass-heavy approach this season to offset the lack of extreme accuracy.

Carolina is second in pass rate over expectations (+6.9%), throwing the ball more than expected in every game this season.

Green Bay allows 12.1 passing points per game (7th), 6.4 yards per pass attempt (8th), and a 3.7% touchdown rate (10th).

The Packers were not challenged by good passing games until the past two weeks.

They held up great against Dak Prescott in Week 6 (10.3 points) but then allowed 303 passing yards and 9.5 Y/A to Jared Goff last week (18 points).

Young has had a good track record against Jonathan Gannon.

He has faced him twice, scoring 27.1 and 21.3 fantasy points.

Young has thrown for only 6.0 Y/A and 6.1 Y/A in those outings but has thrown 5 touchdowns.

Green Bay has also run a high rate of disguised coverages this season, ranking third behind Carolina (39.5%).

Young has been better against those looks, throwing for 9.1 Y/A and a 65.6% completion rate, compared with 56.7% completion and 6.9 Y/A against static coverages post-snap.

I am treating Young similarly in the fringe QB1 range.

I also would prefer to use him as a QB2 to price in some downside, but I don't want to completely throw out the start of his season because of last week's dud.

This game still has the potential to feature a lot of passing from both sides.

Panthers vs. Packers Fantasy Running Back Preview

Chuba Hubbard

Hubbard finished with 60 yards on 11 touches on Sunday, his fewest touches in a game this season.

Hubbard still played 78.6% of snaps and handled 11 of 15 backfield touches with the starters still playing.

The offense just flatlined overall.

Before Sunday, Hubbard had at least 20 touches and 100 total yards in each of his previous three games.

He was an RB1 scorer in every game before Sunday.

Hubbard is in a spot to rebound as a back-end RB1/high RB2.

Green Bay has played a lot better against the run since getting shredded by Atlanta in Week 3.

Outside of that game, they have allowed 3.3 YPC to running backs with 0.54 yards before contact per rush.

Last week, they did everything they could against Jahmyr Gibbs and Detroit.

They did allow 121 rushing yards, but it took 30 attempts, while the Packers allowed only 0.67 yards before contact per rush.

The Packers have given up some receiving work to backs, ranking 19th in receiving points allowed to backfields (8.6 per game).

Josh Jacobs

Jacobs handled 16 touches for 91 total yards and a touchdown in his first appearance this season.

He played 53.8% of snaps and handled 66.7% of backfield touches.

Jacobs did not cure the ailing run game, rushing 11 times for 36 yards (3.3 YPC).

He did make an impact as a pass catcher, however, catching 5 of 7 targets for 55 yards and a touchdown.

He also dropped what would have been a second receiving touchdown on a 17-yard wheel route.

One thing underrated about Jacobs last year was his role as a pass catcher.

Before his injury last year, Jacobs saw a spike in receiving usage, running a route on 51.1% of dropbacks (RB13) with 3.1 receptions per game (RB7).

That gives him added outs if Green Bay cannot get the run game on track and still needs to stay pass-heavy, even with Jacobs back.

This game is a short turnaround from his first action, but we should expect Jacobs to ramp up his snap share and touches as we move on.

This matchup offers upside for Jacobs as a back-end RB1.

Carolina has been all over the place defending backs.

They have had a few strong showings this year against Bijan Robinson (81 total yards) and Jahmyr Gibbs (77 total yards), but they've also allowed spike weeks to D'Andre Swift (134 yards and 3 touchdowns) and Bucky Irving (110 yards and 2 touchdowns).

They allowed 258 total yards and 4 touchdowns to the Chicago backs in Week 1, then 250 yards and 3 touchdowns to the Tampa Bay backfield on Sunday.

All things added up, they have allowed 5.5 yards per touch (31st) and are 30th in points allowed per touch (1.01) to backfields.

Panthers vs. Packers Fantasy Wide Receiver Preview

Tetairoa McMillan

McMillan caught 4 of 6 targets for 40 yards in Sunday's beatdown.

McMillan still has solid WR2 upside, with 25.6% of Carolina's targets (WR13) and 2.22 yards per route run (WR17).

The Packers have been good against the pass overall this season, but they have been vulnerable to receiver production given the volume they have seen.

The Packers face 21.9 targets per game to wide receivers (3rd most).

Green Bay is 27th in points allowed to WR1 targets (18.4 per game).

They are 28th in points allowed to outside receivers (25.4 per game), where McMillan plays 75.7% of his snaps, allowing 8.1 yards per target (18th) and a 5% touchdown rate (22nd) to those receivers.

Christian Watson

Watson grabbed 5 of 8 targets for 57 yards on Sunday.

Watson has been out-targeted by Golden, but he still has at least 8 targets in every game except one because Green Bay has remained pass-heavy.

Watson still has 21.3% of the Green Bay targets (WR23), 31.4% of the air yards (WR24), and 2.48 yards per route run (WR10).

Watson sees high-leverage targets, averaging 13.9 air yards per target (WR20) with 39.1% of the Green Bay targets into the end zone (WR9).

That is still the profile of an upside WR2, and we have upside here.

Carolina ends up in single-high coverage 59.5% of the time, the fifth-highest rate in the league.

Watson has been targeted on a team-high 24.3% of his routes against single-high coverages for 2.09 yards per route.

Against Cover 3 (which Carolina runs at a league-high 51.7% rate), Watson has been targeted on a team-high 26.9% of his routes for 2.71 yards per route run.

Carolina wasn't tested last week because the Bucs didn't have to throw, but they are still missing Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson on the outside.

Golden is also entering this week a bit banged up, which could push some work Watson's way.

Matthew Golden

Golden caught 6 of 12 targets for 39 yards in Detroit.

Golden left some meat on the bone again.

He was the WR1 in expected points for Week 7, but failed to cash in on the opportunities.

The results were hardly flattering, but Golden received double-digit targets for the fourth time this season.

Golden has 26.2% of the Green Bay targets (WR8), 39.9% of the air yards (WR8), and 2.06 yards per route run (WR21).

Golden was banged up in the second quarter on Sunday.

He played through shoulder and foot injuries, but a short week could affect him.

Follow his status heading into Thursday night.

Beyond his injury status, there are added signals that this could be a Watson week over Golden, but if Golden is good to suit up, he is also an upside WR2.

Jalen Coker

Nobody in this offense got there on Sunday, but Coker had his worst game of the season, catching 1 of 4 targets for 9 yards.

It was a total failure for the entire offense to give Coker some of a pass for the down week.

He has still been targeted on a team-high 25% of his routes this season, averaging 2.10 yards per route (WR19).

Coker picked up a shoulder injury on Sunday, something to track in a short week.

If Coker is ready for Thursday, he is on the WR2/WR3 line but still has upside.

Coker plays 45.9% of his snaps from the slot.

In the slot, he has been targeted on only 18.3% of his routes for 0.99 yards per route.

Green Bay has been excellent against slot receivers, allowing 5.1 yards per target (2nd) and a 2.2% touchdown rate (5th) to those receivers.

While the slot matchup does Coker zero favors, he has been targeted on 30.6% of his routes for 3.04 yards per route out wide, where he can catch some of the same matchup notes highlighted earlier.

Savion Williams

Williams caught all 3 of his targets for 47 yards on Sunday and added 2 rushes for 4 yards.

Williams is still more of a single-game DFS option, but he's taken control of the WR3 spot.

Williams ran a route on 67.4% of the dropbacks on Sunday, up from 59.1% in Week 6.

Panthers vs. Packers Fantasy Tight End Preview

Tucker Kraft

Kraft secured 4 of 6 targets for 48 yards and a touchdown in Detroit.

Kraft got into the paint for the second time this season, which covered another week of lighter usage.

He had 14.3% of the targets.

Kraft has hit a 20% target share twice in a game this season.

Kraft is the TE16 in target share for the season (16.3%).

On a positive note, he ran a route on 80.4% of the dropbacks, his highest rate since Week 2.

With Golden coming into the week beat up, Kraft could be more active here as a back-end TE1.

There is not a lot of matchup appeal here outside of touchdown production.

Carolina ranks seventh in receptions allowed to tight ends (4.7 per game) and eighth in yards per target allowed to tight ends (5.9).

They have allowed a 59.6% catch rate to tight ends (3rd).

However, they have allowed an 8.5% touchdown rate, which is 23rd.

Panthers TEs

Both Tommy Tremble and Darren Waller have TE1 scoring weeks this season, but both of those games came with touchdowns.

Both are still touchdown-dependent TE2 options.

Waller has been on the field for 53.3% of dropbacks, and Tremble for 41.2%.

Green Bay has also been really strong against tight ends, allowing a 66.7% catch rate (5th), 5.5 yards per target (4th), and a 4.8% touchdown rate (13th) to the position.

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