Fantasy Football Injuries to Monitor

by Peter Overzet

3 months ago

The injury bug is an unfortunate reality of NFL football, but normally it doesn’t strike too hard until the season is underway.

Unfortunately, the preseason hits keep coming as two promising rookies suffered injuries that threaten their availability…

J.J. McCarthy tears his meniscus. One day after I got hyped about his preseason play, the Vikings rookie QB is now out indefinitely after the tear in his knee was discovered. There’s hope that he’ll only miss a few weeks if the meniscus can be “trimmed,” but if it requires a full repair he would “miss many months.” We’ll keep you posted, but it’s the Sam Darnold show until we hear otherwise.

Full breakdown of JJ’s injury from Ian

Tyrone Tracy Jr. suffers a non-contact leg injury. This was initially thought to be a season-ender, but a follow-up report said that it’s not as bad as it looked. This is great news considering the initial reactions, though the sprain is likely to slow his start to the season. Eric Gray is the clear No. 2 on the depth chart for as long as Tracy is sidelined.

We’ll keep you posted on updated timelines…

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What else is in today’s newsletter?

Kendall’s Roundtable: The players we are higher on than consensus
Watercooler: An Aiyuk update

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The Fantasy Roundtable

by Kendall Valenzuela

Welcome back to the Roundtable! This season I will try to get as many fantasy football analysts (and friends) to give us their best advice, overreactions, and maybe even some life lessons along the way. This is meant to be insightful, but also fun—so please be sure to enjoy and also give everyone a follow if you have the chance!

Today's Roundtable contributors include the amazingly talented (and Fantasy Life's own) Samantha Holt and rising superstar LaQuan Jones from NFL Network! Let's get into it…

Who is a player you are higher on than consensus fantasy rankings?

LaQuan: I’m a lot higher than most this season on Drake London, who I believe has top-10 WR potential. It was never London’s talent capping his full fantasy potential, it was the poor QB play and a dull offensive scheme.

Kirk Cousins is a huge QB upgrade that could help London over the hump. Since 2018, Cousins has the third-highest completion rate at 67.8%. The biggest issue for London was having a QB who could target him with catchable passes. Justin Jefferson ranks sixth in catchable targets while London ranks 45th among WRs since 2021. I believe he can turn these targets into fantasy points.

Sam: Romeo Doubs is someone I’m picking up in the back half of every draft I can. Last year while Christian Watson was dealing with a lingering hamstring injury, Doubs was able to capitalize on his opportunities with 674 yards and 8 TDs. The only other Packers receiver to exceed that output was Jayden Reed with 793 yards and an equal 8 TDs. Now Reed sits at a consensus ADP of 60, Watson at 70 and Doubs at 101. If Watson struggles at all to stay on the field, Doubs will see immediate usage and at the cost, he’s a perfect stash.

Kendall: Now this could come back to haunt me, but I have been drafting a ton of Rome Odunze this offseason! The path is definitely murky—he is the WR3 behind DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, but I think if we squint hard enough we can see that the talent Odunze possesses could push him up the depth chart eventually.

Both Moore and Allen are coming off 26% and 30% target-share seasons, respectively. FantasyLife+ projections have Odunze notching 90 targets, 724 receiving yards and 129 PPR points in 2024. We never want injuries to happen, but if Moore or Allen were to go down then Odunze would be in line for a big production increase. Overall, if you draft Odunze you have to practice patience. He will not be an immediate starter for you, but with time hopefully we could see him shine in what looks to be an ascending offense.

Which RB in the Cincinnati backfield do you like more? Zack Moss or Chase Brown?

Kendall: I have been drafting Chase Brown more than Zack Moss over the last month. Moss did not play in the first preseason game because of an illness, but Brown is believed to be considered an immediate contributing starter by the team.

Now, Moss does fit this role with the Bengals especially well. Both the Colts and the Bengals have a similar ground game, which means that it won't take much time for Moss to ramp up with his new team. This is an offense I want a piece of and even if this is a split backfield, I think that Brown will outperform his current ADP. He’s one of my favorite Zero-RB targets at the moment.