Byemageddon has arrived!

We have been warning you for weeks that the toughest schedule to prep for would be the Week 8 hell known as byemageddon as six NFL teams – the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions and Las Vegas Raiders -- are on a bye and leave managers scrambling this week to field a team.

Pat Mahomes, the league’s top-scoring QB, leads the Gerbils against Who Dey this weekend.

The waiver wire action on Wednesday was indicative of the mad scramble several managers had to deal with before kickoffs start.

With seven weeks in the books and eight more to go before the playoffs begin, it is never too soon to predict “MVP,” “Best Bargain” and “Bust” pick candidates for the 2025 JSFL season. The biggest choice any manager faced was the dilemma Ron Hender faced when he had to choose between keeping WR Ja’Marr Chase or RB Christian McCaffrey.

He went with Chase and may have sealed his fortune before the game action ever started. McCaffrey, taken by Packers’ GM Jeff Lambert with the first pick in the draft, is the second-highest scoring RB on the board (his 127 points trail only the 151 posted by Tirade RB Jonathan Taylor) so far which may explain why the Packers are tied for first in the division and Ron has started the fall fire sale (shopping Jonathan Taylor likely to anyone who will give him the best package of picks next season).

Bijan Robinson (Recliners) is third in RB scoring with 111, followed by Jahmyr Gibbs (Gerbils) with 109, Josh Jacobs (Rangers) with 103, and Javonte Williams (Band Aids) with 102.

Chase, after a monster Thursday-night performance, has moved into fourth in WR scoring with 90, trailing only Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Who Dey) with 103, Amon-Ra St. Brown (Spread Beaters) and George Pickens (Packers) both with 93.

The biggest surprise is the top scorer in the league is Patrick Mahomes (Gerbils) with 166 points. Jalen Hurts (Rangers) is second in QB scoring with 148, Drake Maye (Packers) is third with 141, and Dak Prescott (Recliners) is fourth with 140.

Two surprising folks sit atop the scoring for tight ends so far as Jake Ferguson (Band Aids) leads with 66 points, followed by Trey McBride (Recliners) and Tyler Warren (WTNE) both with 64 points.

The players vying for Most Valuable Player honors are RBs Jonathan Taylor and Christian McCaffrey and QB Patrick Mahomes.

The Best Value Picks so far appear to be WRs Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Emeka Egbuka (Tirades) and Jake Ferguson (Band Aids).

The busts so far are headlined by last year’s Super Bowl MVP Derrick Henry (Band Aids) who has had two decent weeks and a season of frustration and a tendency to fumble. Other candidates are RB Saquon Barkley (WTNE), WR Brian Thomas Jr. (Invaiders) and RB TreVeyon Henderson (Gerbils).

Thursday Starts with Vikings at Chargers

The NFL schedule kicks off Thursday night with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Los Angeles Chargers. Thankfully, there are no international games on the slate for two more weeks. The “Aaron Rogers Bowl” is the featured attraction Sunday night as his former team, the Green Bay Packers, visit his current one in Pittsburgh. The slate wraps up Monday with just one game this week as the Washington Commanders, sans Jayden Daniels, visit the Kansas City Chiefs.

Game of the Week

Del Mar Packers (5-2) vs. Hermosa Recliners (5-2), Packers favored by 10: Could this be a preview of the JSFL Super Bowl? These two teams, along with the 5-2 Gerbils and 6-1 Spread Beaters, appear to be on a collision course in the playoffs of epic proportions. The Packers are catching the Recliners on an ideal week – TE Trey McBride, WR Puca Nacua and the Rams defense are all on byes. And, it appears that Jeff may get star QB Lamar Jackson back this week. With Lamar under center, the Packers get the positional nod at QB, RB2 with that McCaffrey dude (Go Niners!), both WRs in A.J. Brown and George Pickens, flex with RB James Cook III and the Colts’ defense. Chris gets the nod at RB1 with Bijan Robinson expected to run wild on the Miami defense and tight end T.J. Hockenson. Swami says, “Never bet against the Pack.” Take Del Mar and 7.

Best of the Rest

Tirades (2-5) vs. Spread Beaters (6-1), Tirades favored by nearly 20: The top dogs in the Silent Division limp into this one battered, bruised and with two starters (RB Ashton Jeanty and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) on bye. And, Ron does not give a crap about that. He is favored at nearly every position but his penchant to toss in the towel and improve his draft capital next year leaves the Swami flipping coins on this one. If Ron goes into the weekend with the guys he has now, the Swami would give the Tirades the edge, but Trader Ron may ship out the whole lot for a box of Ho-Hos, a case of Diet Coke and a fistful of draft picks. As it pencils out as of this writing Wednesday night, the Tirades have the edge at QB (Daniel Jones), both RBs in Jonathan Taylor and Breece Hall (the NFL trade deadline is 12 days away and Breece might end up somewhere very enticing, like, say, Kansas City?), flex in WR Emeka Egbuka and kicker Harrison Butker. The Spread Beaters only have the advantage at tight end (George Kittle, Go Niners!) and the Falcons defense (vs. Miami). The Spread Beaters are the walking wounded having lost QB Jayden Daniels for at least one to two weeks, maybe WR Nico Collins (concussion) for a week and RB Omirion Hampton still has to clear injured reserve (at least a 4-week stay). Every ounce of my soul says take the Tirades here but Ron has burned me so many times this season that the Swami is calling this one Spread Beaters by 1.

Band Aids (1-6) vs WTNE (4-3), Band Aids favored by 4: Here is another pairing that screams for an upset. The 1-6 Band Aids are catching Jordan’s WTNE without WR Malik Naybors (still on IR), and idle TE Brock Bowers, the Seahawks’ defense and Seattle kicker Jason Myers. The Band Aids only have positional advantages in three spots – WR2 Rashee Rice, flex RB Derrick Henry and the Patriots’ defense. WTNE has the edge at RB1 (Saquon Barkley) and tight end Tyler Warren.  We think the Chargers’ deadly duo of QB Justin Herbert and WR Ladd McConkey will be the difference in this one. We don’t expect RB Quinshon Judkins will run wild against the Patriots, but Saquon is overdue for a big rebound. Swami says bet on the upset and take WTNE by 1.

Rangers (1-6) vs. Invaiders (3-4), Rangers favored by 1: The Sunday Night game (Green Bay at Pittsburgh) will decide this one. If John’s Steelers (tight end Pat Freiermuth, K Chris Boswell and the Pittsburgh defense) and RB Josh Jacobs have a big night, this one is over. We (the Invaiders owner writing this) are hoping the Philadelphia defense, embarrassed by Cam Skattebo two weeks ago, will have a better way to contain him. As this one pencils out, the Rangers have a positional edge at RB2 (Kimani Vidal), Jacobs at flex and Chris Boswell at kicker. The Invaiders have the edge at both WRs with CeeDee Lamb and Chris Olave, tight end Travis Kelce and the Cleveland Browns’ defense. Swami is hoping and praying John’s guys forget to score this week and say take the Invaiders by 1.

Dog of the Week

Gerbils (5-2) vs Who Dey (3-4), Gerbils favored by nearly 40: This one has “ugly” written all over it. It also says Matty still has three starters on bye in his starting lineup (Trevor Lawrence at QB, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and WR Travis Hunter) and a fourth (TE Darren Waller) now on injured reserve. Expect the line on this one to tighten up significantly before the Sunday morning kickoff. And at least one more waiver wire grab may be needed as Matty can fill Smith-Njigba’s spot with flex WR Justin Jefferson. Matty has on his bench the Green Bay Packers QB (17 points projected), tight end Harold Fannin Jr. (5 points projected), and New England WR Kayshon Boutte (5 points projected). After them, it is a crap shoot with RB RJ Harvey (4 points projected). If the Swami’s math is correct, that should tighten things up closer to 10 points. The Swami does not think it will matter and says take the Gerbils and 12.