Week 1 Injury Report & Fantasy Impact
Week One of the NFL season is officially in the books and it feels like Christmas. As we all know, football is a violent sport. This violent sport comes with injuries. Luckily, the majority of all the “stars” of the league made it past week one without any major injuries. However, fantasy managers may be scrambling as many fantasy relevant players did go down with an injury. Let’s take a dive into the weekends injuries and evaluate the fantasy impact of them.
Related | Week 1 DraftKings Main Slate Recap
Marlon Mack, Running Back for Indianapolis Colts
Colts Running Back Marlon Mack was carted to the locker room in the second quarter of Sunday’s game. He was initially diagnosed with an ankle injury and immediately ruled out for the rest of the game. It has been later confirmed that Mack tore his achilles tendon. This puts Mack on the season ending IR, opening the door for 2nd round rookie, Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor will get the opportunity to carry a heavy workload that fantasy managers wanted sooner than expected. Nyheim Hynes will resume as the 3rd down back in an offense led by Phillip Rivers, who targets the running back a lot. Hynes is worth picking up on the waiver wire, especially in PPR formats. Jonathan Taylor will be a safe running back from here on out as he won’t be splitting carries with Mack any longer.
Kenny Golladay, Wide Receiver for Detroit Lions
Detroit’s number one wide receiver popped up on the injury report this week by surprise. A hamstring injury left Golladay on the sidelines for Sunday’s game. For fantasy owners, you were disappointed to be forced to place him on your bench. With soft tissue injuries like a hamstring strain, players tend to rush back too fast. When they do the chances of reinjury skyrockets. For example, Adam Thielen last year battled a hamstring injury all year. Theilen never let his hamstring fully heal and was disappointed in fantasy due to his lack of health. Golladay watching this game from the sidelines might be key for keeping him healthy for the whole year.
DeVante Parker, Wide Receiver for Miami Dolphins
DeVante Parker left Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots in the 3rd quarter with a lingering hamstring issue. Late in training camp, Parker was spotted on the injury report leading up to week one’s match up with a hamstring injury. Parker was listed as active come game time after getting the questionable tag all week.
Hamstrings are tricky. Parker found out just how tricky they can be. If the hamstring isn’t fully recovered, instances like Parker have a high chance of happening. It is likely that Parker won’t leave the injury report all week again heading into week two and will be a game time decision for Sunday’s game against the Bills. Parker managers need to have a backup plan if the hamstring lingers farther into the season. If Preston Williams is sitting on the waiver wire in your league, pick him up. Williams is the likely culprit of more targets if Parker misses any time.
Blake Jarwin, Tight End for Dallas Cowboys
Jarwin started to gain steam towards the end of draft season as a risk free late round tight end flier. Unfortunately the Jarwin believers will have to wait a whole year to see their guy can become fantasy relevant. Cowboys fear that Jarwin tore his ACL while making a cut on one of his routes. Based on the video, it is clear when Jarwin plants his foot and twists to make a cut, his knee completely gives out on him. He immediately grabs his knee and never returns to the game. Cowboys await the MRI results to confirm the injury but likely fantasy managers will be without Jarwin for the rest of the season.
Blake Bell and Dalton Schultz as of now will be Jarwins replacements, however, no manager will rush to the waiver wire to pick those names up. Each will take on the majority of the targets that were gonna go Jarwin’s way, however, the trio of Cowboys receivers will see a little bump in targets as well. Jarwin’s injury will only make the wide receivers slightly safer fantasy options but no drastic fantasy changes.
Michael Thomas, Wide Receiver for New Orleans Saints
Thomas is the first “superstar” fantasy option to get banged up on Sunday. Thomas limped off the field late in the game against the Buccaneers. He was later diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain. Thomas has already stated that he plans on playing through the injury which is good and bad news at the same time.
Saquon Barkley just last year suffered a high-ankle sprain. Even though he was still good, he wasn’t the smash superstar fantasy player we got used to the year prior. He lost explosiveness in games as high-ankle sprains cause immense pain if not fully recovered to cut and accelerate. Thomas will be placed on the Saints injury report for the foreseeable future and sounds like he won’t miss any time with this injury. If Thomas is on the field come game day, managers have to plug him into fantasy lineups due to his first round draft price. However, expect the next couple of weeks to be frustrating, wondering why Thomas isn’t getting his usual dominant market share.
Le’Veon Bell, Running Back for New York Jets
Le’Veon Bell’s inefficient day was cut short due to a hamstring injury. What was bizarre was Bell pulled up grabbing his hamstring on a route only to later come back into the game before exiting once again. Head coach Adam Gase stated after the game he regretted putting Bell back into the game. Now, Gase has also stated that he expects Bell to miss some time with this injury, which is never a good sign. Hamstrings can linger throughout the season.
I expect Bell to fully miss a couple games. When he returns, hopefully he is eased back into action. This would reduce the risk of reinjuring the hamstring as we have seen many players in the past come back too soon to only reinjure the same hamstring. Bell will remain on the fantasy manager’s bench for some time. Frank Gore and Josh Adams received the workload in Bell’s absence. However, I would not be surprised if the Jets reach out to free agent running backs or other teams for other running back services.
George Kittle, Tight End for San Francisco 49ers
George Kittle was held in check throughout Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. He started with four catches for 44 yards on five targets in the first half when he was completely healthy. After a hit from a Cardinals safety to the knees of Kittle, Kittle fell awkwardly and was taken to the locker room before returning to the second half. The second half was unsuccessful for the star tight end as he didn’t catch a single pass.
Kittle was optimistic after the game saying he was feeling “fantastic” after hurting his knee. Head Coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t as optimistic as Kittle stating that “We’ll see how he comes in on Wednesday”. This leaves fantasy managers questioning his availability for this upcoming week. It would not surprise me if the 49ers sit their All-Pro tight end this week to make sure he is at full health throughout the season. Fantasy managers with Kittle on their team will need to read practice reports throughout the week to make sure Kittle is practicing ahead of his week two matchup. Managers should also browse the waiver wire and pick up a backup tight end just in case the 49ers want to play it safe. 49ers paid Kittle a lot of money and want him as healthy as possible throughout the season.
