Week 8 of the 2026 NFL season kicks off with a Thursday Night Football matchup between a pair of NFC foes hoping to make a push for the playoffs. The 3-3 Carolina Panthers are looking to bounce back from a rough home loss as they travel to historic Lambeau Field to take on the 4-3 Green Bay Packers. The Packers are 7-point home favorites, and the over/under is 47.5 points.
Both teams are coming off division losses last week, with the Packers losing on the road to the Lions and the Panthers losing at home to the Bucs. Carolina is still atop the division despite the loss, while the Packers have a better record but are last in the ultra-competitive NFC North. Both teams have shown the potential to pile up points, but both offenses have also been inconsistent at times this season.
As news breaks throughout the week and we adjust our projections (powered by the award-winning expert ranker, Sean Koerner), player ratings in our Player Models will change as the projections change. For updates, visit the models directly.
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NFL DFS Stud Picks
Packers QB Jordan Love has the top ceiling and median projections in Thursday’s game in the FantasyLabs Consensus Projections, and he also has the top Projected Plus/Minus in a FLEX spot.
The Packers have the third-highest pass ratio in the NFL this season, meaning Love is getting a chance to air it out with very few running plays in the mix. He’s averaging 38.7 pass attempts per game and 279.7 passing yards per game. He has thrown 13 touchdowns and just five interceptions, with multiple touchdown tosses in six of his seven games this season.
Love has the highest Optimal% as a Captain in our NFL SimLabs for this contest, but he also has the highest ownership projection in that spot. He also has the highest Optimal% in a FLEX spot, along with the second-highest Optimal vs. Projected Ownership, since his ownership in that spot is lower.
Love has been carrying most of the workload for the Green Bay offense this season, and he’ll likely continue to air it out in this matchup with the Panthers, who have allowed nine QB touchdowns (seven passing, two rushing) in six games this season and rank in the middle of the league in DraftKings points allowed to the position.
The biggest injury situation to monitor for Thursday’s matchup involves one of Love’s top targets, Matthew Golden (shoulder/foot), who is listed as questionable. He is trending towards playing after being a non-participant on both Monday and Tuesday but returning to a limited session at Wednesday’s walkthrough. If he is out or plays but is less than 100%, it would radically impact the production of the rest of the Packers’ pass-catchers.
Christian Watson has the sixth-highest median and ceiling projections, but he’d get a huge boost if Golden is limited in any way. Watson has 34 catches for 595 yards and six touchdowns in his seven games, averaging 85 yards per game.
Watson is expensive, though, with the second-highest salary on the board, which seems to be driving most managers away from him. He has the highest Optimal vs. Projected Ownership in a Captain’s spot on this slate, since his ownership is so low in that spot. Building around him and including Love as a FLEX is a high-risk approach but could pay off if Watson and Love connect on multiple long passes or touchdowns, especially if Golden is less than full strength.
The third member of the Packers near the top of the salary structure worth considering is Josh Jacobs, who just returned last week from the Commissioner’s Exempt list. Jacobs only had 36 rushing yards on his 11 carries in his return but still had over 20 DraftKings points since he caught five of his seven targets for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Jacobs has a very juicy matchup against the Panthers, who have allowed the second-most DraftKings points to running backs this season, giving up nine rushing touchdowns to the position in just six games. Opposing running backs have averaged 126.8 rushing yards and 28.8 receiving yards per game against Carolina, and Jacobs has an incredibly high ceiling as a result.
In the SimLabs, he has the second-highest Optimal vs. Projected Ownership in the Captain’s spot behind only Watson. Overall, he has the fifth-highest Optimal% in the Captain’s spot and the fourth-highest in a FLEX spot.
On the other side of the matchup, running back Chuba Hubbard has the highest Optimal% in the Captain’s spot of all the Panthers, and he has the third-highest median and ceiling projections behind only the two starting QBs.
Hubbard is relatively affordable compared to the other studs but has been a regular focal point of the Panthers’ offense. Hubbard had 28.9 DraftKings points with 122 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the Panthers’ big win over the Lions just before a Week 5 bye and came out of the bye with 22.1 DraftKings points against the Eagles.
While he has shown a very high ceiling when the Panthers are rolling, the offense had a down game against the Bucs last week, and Hubbard only managed 10 DraftKings points as the team fell behind big early and had to go very pass-heavy.
His high ceiling makes him a strong tournament option against the Packers, who have allowed 10 RB touchdowns in seven games. Running backs have 95.1 rushing yards and 33.0 receiving yards per game against them on the year, and Hubbard has proven to be an every-down workhorse back with a high ceiling.
While Hubbard has a higher Optimal%, receiver Tetairoa McMillan has a better Optimal vs. Projected Ownership in the Captain’s spot, since his ownership projection in that spot is much lower. While Hubbard makes more sense as a Captain in cash lineups, McMillan’s lower ownership gives him more leverage for tournament builds.
McMillan showed his high upside with 14 catches on 16 targets for a massive 192 yards against the Lions in Week 4. He finished that game with an impressive 48.2 DraftKings points, and he reached at least 11 DraftKings points in four of his six games this season, showing he has a solid floor as well.
The Packers have been a favorable matchup for receivers this season, and McMillan will be a big part of the Panthers getting back on track after last week’s dud.
Bryce Young has higher raw median and ceiling projections than both McMillan and Hubbard. In fact, he has the second-highest in the matchup behind only Love’s. He has the second-highest Optimal% in a FLEX spot as well, although he ranks a little lower as a Captain since his ceiling is a little more limited.
Young struggled last week, completing 14-of-27 passes for 163 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble and finished with only 8.4 DraftKings points. It was his worst showing of the season by a wide margin, and he’ll be looking to bounce back and maintain the momentum he showed earlier in the season.
The Packers have been solid against QBs, allowing only the fifth-fewest points to the position, so based on that matchup, Young seems to be a better fit in a FLEX spot than as a Captain’s pick.
NFL DFS Midrange Picks
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