Start Chris Rodriguez Jr. or Tyjae Spears? Week 8

Updated Oct 28, 1:21 PM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 9 answer posts Tuesday.

Latest

Oct 25, 11:43 AM ET: Tyjae Spears: Questionable to Out (Knee) (Sleeper injury feed)
Oct 23, 4:13 PM ET: Tyjae Spears: Listed Questionable (Knee) (Sleeper injury feed)

Start Tyjae Spears over Chris Rodriguez Jr.

Spears projects lower, 5.6 to 7.0, and still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player: ADP 132 for Spears, 178 for Rodriguez.

Start

Tyjae Spears

RB · TEN · at CIN · Questionable

Market projects: 5.6; recent weeks avg
CIN D vs RB: 17.9; 4th fewest to RBs (2026)
Upside: Limited; 6 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 42%; Through Week 6
Target share: 10%; Through Week 6

Sit

Chris Rodriguez Jr.

RB · JAX · vs IND

Market projects: 7.0; fantasy pts
IND D vs RB: 22.0; 13th most to RBs (2026)
Upside: Rising; 65 of 100 at RB

Should I drop Chris Rodriguez Jr. for Tyjae Spears?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Tyjae Spears projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Chris Rodriguez Jr. 46 (4.6 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Chris Rodriguez Jr. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

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Our Week 8 call

Start Tyjae Spears over Chris Rodriguez Jr. in Week 8.

Market-based projections have Tyjae Spears at 5.6 points and Chris Rodriguez Jr. at 7.0, a gap of 1.4. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. Tyjae Spears still gets the call because it also weighs where drafters take each player, ADP 132 against 178, and that outweighs a gap this size. Chris Rodriguez Jr.'s number is scaled up from a partial market: not every stat the position needs is posted yet, so the rest is estimated from what is. No player market is posted for Tyjae Spears this week yet, so his 5.6 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 5, 6 and 7 (5.0, 6.3 and 5.5); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 7.0 fantasy points for Chris Rodriguez Jr., with 70 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Chris Rodriguez Jr. is 26 rushing yards and 0.3 touchdowns (13 and 11 market sources).

No Week 8 player market is posted for Tyjae Spears yet. His market-based projections were 5.0, 6.4 and 5.5 points in Weeks 5, 6 and 7, an average of 5.6, which stands in until his Week 8 market posts.

The market-based projection for Tyjae Spears is 0.2 touchdowns (11 market sources).

That puts Chris Rodriguez Jr. 1.4 points ahead of Tyjae Spears on these projections.

Week 8 matchups

Chris Rodriguez Jr. and JAX host IND on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

IND allowed 22.0 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 7 games, the 13th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 96 yards and 0.7 touchdowns a game against IND and caught passes for 39 more yards.

Tyjae Spears and TEN visit CIN on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

CIN allowed 17.9 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 6 games, the 4th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 81 yards and 0-1 touchdowns a game against CIN and caught passes for 32 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Chris Rodriguez Jr. has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chris Rodriguez Jr. is not on the injury report.

Tyjae Spears is listed as questionable with a knee injury.

Usage before Week 8

Through Week 6, Tyjae Spears played 42 percent of TEN snaps, took 14 percent of the carries, drew 10 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Tyjae Spears, Week 3 against NYG: 28 of 60 snaps, 3 carries for 5 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 4 against BAL: 23 of 64 snaps, 2 carries for 7 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for -1 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 5 against HOU: 34 of 63 snaps, 2 carries for 0 yards, 9 targets and 9 catches for 28 yards.

Tyjae Spears, Week 6 against IND: 11 of 46 snaps, 1 carry for 1 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 7 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Chris Rodriguez Jr. played 13 games for WAS and scored 92.0 PPR points, 7.1 a game, finishing RB51.

He ran 112 times for 500 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 3 of 4 targets for 30 yards.

He was on the field for 30 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Chris Rodriguez Jr., Week 18 of 2025 against PHI: 16 carries for 65 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 18 yards, 1 touchdown, 15.3 PPR points.

Chris Rodriguez Jr., Week 16 of 2025 against PHI: 28 of 54 snaps, 15 carries for 63 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 6 yards, 1 touchdown, 13.9 PPR points.

In 2025, Tyjae Spears played 13 games for TEN and scored 111.7 PPR points, 8.6 a game, finishing RB44.

He ran 72 times for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught 45 of 50 targets for 264 yards.

He was on the field for 46 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 8 calls

Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 8, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.

Drop or keep

Should I drop Chris Rodriguez Jr. for Tyjae Spears?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Tyjae Spears projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Chris Rodriguez Jr. 46 (4.6 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Chris Rodriguez Jr. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.
Should I drop Tyjae Spears for Chris Rodriguez Jr.?
No. Keep Tyjae Spears: he projects 51 market-implied PPR points from Week 8 through Week 17 (5.7 a game over 9 games), Chris Rodriguez Jr. 46 (4.6 a game over 10 games). For Week 8 the call starts Tyjae Spears over Chris Rodriguez Jr. Tyjae Spears is listed questionable.

Should I drop Tyjae Spears?