{"id":154486,"date":"2023-12-07T14:15:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T19:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=154486"},"modified":"2023-12-07T12:49:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T17:49:28","slug":"how-to-manage-late-season-injuries-fantasy-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/12\/07\/how-to-manage-late-season-injuries-fantasy-football\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Manage Late-Season Injuries in Fantasy Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A significant number of players got injured in week 13, just before the start of the fantasy football playoffs. Here&#8217;s an update on those players and how managers should handle these situations.<\/p>\n<h3>Big Name Injuries<\/h3>\n<p>Tank Dell&#8217;s rookie season is over. He sustained a season-ending leg injury in Sunday&#8217;s victory against Denver. This one is devastating for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/texans\/\" target=\"_self\">Texans<\/a> and fantasy managers alike. Dell racked up 43 targets over his last four outings and was a huge part of this offense. Nico Collins, Noah Brown, and tight end Dalton Schultz are obvious candidates to be more involved moving forward. In deeper formats, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/03\/12\/john-metchie-2022-nfl-draft-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_self\">John Metchie<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/07\/xavier-hutchinson-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">rookie Xavier Hutchinson<\/a> are worth keeping tabs on.<\/p>\n<p>Trevor Lawrence suffered a lower-body injury on Monday night, but the results are better than expected. Lawrence escaped with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/jaguars-qb-trevor-lawrence-thankful-ankle-injury-isn-t-worse-than-he-thought\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">just a sprained ankle<\/a> on what appeared to be a gruesome injury. He likely won&#8217;t play this week, but the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_self\">Jaguars<\/a> are optimistic about Lawrence returning soon.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Lawrence&#8217;s teammate Christian Kirk isn&#8217;t so lucky. Kirk, Jacksonville&#8217;s leader in receiving yards, will miss the remainder of the fantasy football season. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/02\/parker-washington-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">Rookie receiver Parker Washington<\/a> filled in for Kirk on Monday night, totaling six receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown. Washington shouldn&#8217;t be in fantasy lineups until his quarterback returns, but he can become a solid contributor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_self\">Steelers<\/a> quarterback Kenny Pickett underwent surgery on his ankle and is likely to be placed on injured reserve. Mitchell Trubisky will be the starter for at least a few games. Since Trubisky is somehow worse than Pickett, this makes the entire offense less desirable for fantasy football.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow Steeler Najee Harris also appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelers.com\/news\/week-14-injury-report-patriots\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the team&#8217;s injury report<\/a> for their Thursday night matchup. Harris didn&#8217;t participate in consecutive practices this week and is questionable to play. Assuming Harris doesn&#8217;t play, Jaylen Warren instantly becomes a must-start.<\/p>\n<p>Harris isn&#8217;t the only starting running back likely to miss Thursday&#8217;s game. Rhamondre Stevenson injured his ankle last Sunday, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\">Patriots<\/a> have already ruled him out for this week. Starting Ezekiel Elliot in 2023 feels gross, but based on volume alone, he&#8217;s a FLEX option until Stevenson returns.<\/p>\n<p>Given his injury history, Christian Watson&#8217;s hamstring injury is concerning. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbay.com\/2023\/09\/08\/hamstring-injury-makes-wr-christian-watson-unavailable-packers-season-opener-with-bears\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watson missed the first few games of the season with a similar hamstring injury.<\/a> It&#8217;s a tough loss for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/packers\/\" target=\"_self\">Green Bay<\/a> since Watson was very productive as of late. Until he returns, expect Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, and Dontayvion Wicks to be weekly FLEX options in fantasy football.<\/p>\n<h3>Players to Monitor<\/h3>\n<p>Derek Carr is dealing with a concussion, ribs, and shoulder injury. I&#8217;ll go out on a limb here and say one of those will keep him from playing this week. Jameis Winston is the next man up, and he has some favorable matchups on deck. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/saints\/\" target=\"_self\">Saints<\/a> take on the Panthers and Giants in back-to-back weeks, making Winston a solid option in 2QB leagues.<\/p>\n<p>Kenneth Walker&#8217;s injury isn&#8217;t new, but fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\/\" target=\"_self\">Seahawk<\/a> Zach Charbonnet is also injured. Pete Carroll said both Walker and Charbonnet were able to <a href=\"https:\/\/5thdownfantasy.com\/news\/kenneth-walker-iii-oblique-able-to-do-stuff-in-walkthrough-wednesday\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;do stuff&#8221;<\/a> in Wednesday&#8217;s practice. Not very helpful information, but it&#8217;s better than either one not participating. For fantasy football managers, if either one is active, start them. If not, don&#8217;t bother putting 3rd string running back Deejay Dallas into your lineup.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/washington-commanders\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington <\/a>Commanders&#8217; lead running back Brian Robinson left Sunday&#8217;s game with a hamstring injury. They&#8217;re on a bye this week, so Robinson may not miss any games. Antonio Gibson should see a large workload if this injury keeps Robinson sidelined after the bye. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/24\/chris-rodriguez-jr-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">Rookie Chris Rodriguez<\/a> is worth stashing in deeper leagues if Robinson misses time.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: [Troy Taormina] &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Injuries over the last week have more or less derailed fantasy football rosters. Here&#8217;s how to deal with each major injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4775,"featured_media":151930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[231,9497,7426,10035,6249],"class_list":["post-154486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-derek-carr","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-najee-harris","tag-tank-dell","tag-trevor-lawrence"],"modified_by":"Michael Zimmelman","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4775"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}