Staying on top of injuries throughout the week, and especially on Sunday mornings, is one of the easiest ways to maintain an edge in fantasy football. Outside of, you know, just making sure you don’t have inactive players in your starting lineup, it’s important to understand how one injury can greatly impact the fantasy potential of other skill position players within a game.
Lucky for you, this weekly series is here to help. Rather than just frantically refreshing each team’s injury report, I’ll do the heavy lifting each Saturday night and update injuries and provide analysis once inactives are released and early game-time decisions finalized on Sunday mornings.
Early inactives
Cody Latimer, WR, Denver Broncos (thigh) – Out
Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Denver Broncos (ankle) – Out
Trevor Siemian, QB, Denver Broncos (shoulder) – Out
T.J. Jones, WR, Detroit Lions (shoulder) – Out
Tom Savage, QB, Houston Texans (concussion) – Out
Marqise Lee, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars (ankle) – Out
Hunter Henry, TE, Los Angeles Chargers (abs) – Out
Greg Zuerlein, K, Los Angeles Rams (back) – Out
Julius Thomas, TE, Miami Dolphins (foot) – Out
Rex Burkhead, RB, New England Patriots (knee) – Out
Taverres King, WR, New York Giants (concussion) – Out
Clive Walford, TE, Oakland Raiders (concussion) – Out
James Conner, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers (knee) – Out
Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers (calf) – Out
DeSean Jackson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ankle) – Out
O.J. Howard, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ankle) – Out
Questionable
John Brown, WR, Arizona Cardinals (toe) – Questionable (likely)
Kerwynn Williams, RB, Arizona Cardinals (quad) – Game-time Decision
Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
Mohamed Sanu, WR, Atlanta Falcons (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Buffalo Bills (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Devin Funchess, WR, Carolina Panthers (shoulder) – Questionable (likely)
Adam Shaheen, TE, Chicago Bears (chest) – Questionable (likely)
Duke Johnson, RB, Cleveland Browns (shoulder) – Questionable (likely)
Paxton Lynch, QB, Denver Broncos (ankle) – Game-time Decision
Allen Hurns, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers (hand) – Game-time Decision
Damien Williams, RB, Miami Dolphins (shoulder) – Doubtful
DeVante Parker, WR, Miami Dolphins (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
James White, RB, New England Patriots (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
Chris Hogan, WR, New England Patriots (shoulder) – Questionable (likely)
Matt Forte, RB, New York Jets (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
Garrett Celek, TE, San Francisco 49ers (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Cameron Brate, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Jamison Crowder, WR, Washington Redskins (hamstring) – Questionable (likely)
Samaje Perine, RB, Washington Redskins (groin) – Game-time Decision
Updates/analysis
James White/Rex Burkhead, RB, New England Patriots – Inactive – As is always the case with a Bill Belichick backfield, we really have no idea what’s going to happen. But I think the most likely scenario is that Mike Gillislee assumes all of the goal-line carries, Dion Lewis gets an uptick in both targets and carries, and Brandon Bolden mixes in for a handful of touches. As it stands, I’m bumping Lewis up to fringe-RB1 status. Gillislee has the “revenge game” narrative working in his favor, but I think he’ll be entirely touchdown-dependent. The matchup is great all around, however, with the Bills 11-point underdogs on the road and giving up the most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season.
Chris Hogan, WR, New England Patriots – Inactive – With Hogan out, Rob Gronkowski and Brandin Cooks get a slight boost in my rankings. This season, Gronkowski is averaging +2.0 more fantasy points per game without Hogan, while Cooks averages +3.8 more fantasy points per game.
Emmanuel Sanders/Cody Latimer, WR, Denver Broncos – Inactive – Demaryius Thomas has seen at least eight targets in each of his last eight games. Considering Denver is without their two other starting wide receivers, he should be a lock to reach this number again this week. Thomas had a touchdown in each of Brock Osweiler’s three starts this season. Although Washington is allowing the seventh-fewest fantasy points per game to outside wide receivers, this is enough for me to bump Thomas to the high-end WR2 range.
DeSean Jackson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Inactive – Last season, Mike Evans had five games with at least 13 targets and four games with at least 100 yards. This season, he has zero such games. He should, however, be in line for more targets this week with Jackson and O.J. Howard both out. The matchup is strong as well. Carolina is allowing the most fantasy points per game to wide receivers since Week 8, and James Bradberry (who should shadow Evans) has allowed the third-most yards into his coverage of any cornerback this season. I have Evans as a mid-range WR1 this week.
Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers – Active – Ekeler is active Sunday, but the reports are that he’ll play on special teams only. Ekeler has been playing on 31 percent of the team’s running back snaps since Week 7. I suspect these now vacated snaps will be split among Melvin Gordon and Branden Oliver. This was enough for me to bump Gordon up to the high-end RB1 range.
Damien Williams, RB, Miami Dolphins – Inactive – Kenyan Drake has played on 94 percent of the team’s running back snaps (most) over the past three weeks, while also seeing 94 percent of the team’s running back touches (most) over this span. Over this stretch, he averages 21.3 carries per game, 6.3 targets per game, 25.6 actual fantasy points per game, and 21.4 expected fantasy points per game. With Williams out, Drake should be locked into a similar workload this week against the Patriots. While gamescript is unlikely to be good, the Patriots rank worst in yards per carry allowed and seventh-worst in receiving fantasy points allowed to enemy backs. Drake is a mid to low-end RB1 again this week.
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