Once again the NFL blew the doors off with a thrilling set of games in the early Sunday afternoon lineup. We had some unexpected blowouts, massive comebacks in the 4th quarter and even 2 overtime games. Then the later afternoon slate started and we were given 3 matchups where the games were no longer in doubt after the first few minutes of the 1st quarter.
Taylor Swift’s Chiefs were in a surprisingly competitive matchup against the Jets in the Sunday nighter, a game where Zach Wilson legitimately outplayed Patrick Mahomes, but then we finished off the week with a dud as the Seahawks easily took care of the Giants on Monday night. At least we’re (temporarily) done with the double Monday night games.
Heading into week 5, NFL Fantasy is about to get ramped up even more. Bye weeks begin, with the Browns, Chargers, Seahawks and Bucs all having an off week.
Players who were placed on the IR are now eligible to return to practice for their respective clubs, opening up a 21 day window for them to be officially added to the lineup. And quietly the NFLPA won a battle against the NFL to get Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams reinstated early after being originally suspended for 6 games for violating the league’s gambling policy.
As always, there’s too much going on every Sunday to remember it all, so we’re here to break down the most important stories of the week before you set your lineups for Week 5.
Let’s start with the latest Injury reports.
Notable Injuries
There were plenty of injuries to note from this past weekend, but we’ll exclude any updates regarding those who are about to enter their team’s bye week. Quarterbacks Deshaun Watson (shoulder) and Justin Herbert (broken finger – non throwing hand) are expected to use the extra week and come back healthy for week 6, so we’ll update their status next week if there are any concerns then. Same goes for Mike Evans, who has been a revelation this season, but now has the always concerning hamstring injury.
Kenny Pickett (QB) – PIT – Knee
When Kenny Pickett went down on Sunday, it really looked like this would be a major injury to the Steelers 2 year starter. He’s since been diagnosed with a bone bruise, and while his week 5 status was originally in doubt, that is much better news than a ligament injury. The Steelers have their bye week in week 6, so many assumed it would make sense to rest Pickett this coming week against the Ravens to potentially have him back in week 7. However, it now appears as though the former Pitt QB will suit up with “limited mobility” in Week 5.
Pickett and the Steelers Offense looked poised for a breakout season after an impressive preseason, but it hasn’t all come together for the club. After getting blown out by the Texans last week, the Steelers might have had to consider giving backup Mitch Trubisky another look regardless of the Pickett injury. This is a situation to be avoided if possible this weekend.
Jimmy Garoppolo (QB) – LV – Concussion
Garoppolo remains in concussion protocol on Monday after missing the team’s week 4 loss to the Chargers. Luckily, the Raiders don’t play until Monday night against the Packers, so Jimmy G had an extra day to be cleared. With him getting in a full practice on Friday, he’s now set to resume taking snaps under centre. Josh Jacobs had an excellent day catching passes from rookie Aiden O’Connell, and Adams still got 13 targets so there isn’t that much of a major drop-off for the Raiders fantasy options if O’Connell is forced back into action at some point this season.
Javonte Williams (RB) – DEN – Hip Flexor
Willliams has yet to have the breakout performance that many expected as he works his way back from last season’s ACL tear, and the Broncos are in a tough week 5 matchup against the Jets. Add in the new hip flexor that Williams suffered in their week 4 comeback win against the Bears, and he’s hard to start this coming week. For what it’s worth, Adam Schefter has reported that Williams isn’t supposed to miss much time, with a pre-game workout likely being the determining factor on whether he takes the field, so there’s a chance he’s in there against New York this week. With Samaje Perine struggling, rookie Jaleel McLaughlin took full control of the backfield after Williams’s departure, rushing 7 times for 72 yards adding 3 catches for 32 yards. He might be the top waiver priority add this week, regardless of Williams’s injury status.
Kyren Williams (RB) – LAR – Hip Contusion
Just a minor injury to make a note of, Kyren Williams suffered a hip contusion in week 4 but was able to play through it for the remainder of the game. He isn’t expected to miss any time, and as the RB3 on the season, there’s no reason to take him out of your lineup unless things change drastically this week.
Rico Dowdle – (RB) – DAL – Hip
Again only a factor in extremely deep leagues, Dowdle underwent an MRI and it was revealed he has a bruised hip. He left the game early on Sunday and could reportedly miss some time. This is relevant only because Deuce Vaughn saw 8 carries after Dowdle left. While Pollard will remain the clear lead back, giving the explosive Vaughn extra touches gives him the possibility of breaking off a big play and becoming fantasy relevant.
Davante Adams – (WR) – LV – Shoulder
Despite injuring his shoulder in the first half and entering halftime without recording a catch, Adams salvaged his fantasy day with 8 receptions for 75 yards. Not a standout day for the WR5 on the season, but fairly reasonable considering the injury and the fact that he had a 4th round rookie at quarterback. Despite the injury looking serious when it happened, Adams barely missed time and should be back at full strength with Jimmy Garoppolo (presumably) returning in week 5.
Tee Higgins (WR) – CIN – Ribs
Higgins, like the rest of the Bengals offense, has had a rough start to the season. He exploded for almost 27 fantasy points in week 2, but has scored 0, 3 and 2 points in the other 3 weeks. During the week 4 blowout against the Titans, Higgins fell awkwardly and suffered a broken rib. He isn’t expected to miss anytime, as he will likely strap on a flak jacket and play through the pain. But as someone who makes his biggest catches in high traffic areas, it’s hard to see how the injury won’t affect him for at least a few weeks. He’s trending on the wrong side of things as kickoff approaches, putting his Week 5 availability in doubt. With the Bengals not playing until 4pm (ET) on Sunday, you’re probably better off trying to find another option on waivers and monitor the updates closely.
Deebo Samuel (WR) – SF – Knee/Ribs
Samuel was used exclusively as a decoy in week 4 as the 49ers used Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey to run all over the overmatched Cardinals defense. Samuel didn’t record a single target on Sunday as he nurses both Rib and Knee injuries. Predicting the usage of the Niners superstars is going to be a headache all season long. Samuel put up back to back 20 + point games before scoring less than 1 point on Sunday despite logging 48 out of a possible 55 offensive snaps. If it looks like the team is taking the same approach next week against a much tougher Dallas defense, Samuel might have to spend some time on your fantasy bench.
Pat Freiermuth (TE) – PIT – Hamstring
Freiermuth suffered a hamstring injury during Sunday’s 30-6 blowout loss to the Houston Texans and was quickly ruled out of the remainder of the game. Early reports have Freiermuth missing the next 2-3 weeks, meaning he will likely return sometime after the team’s week 6 bye week. Freiermuth has only 13 targets and 8 catches on the season but is still the TE13 overall – showing how terrible the position has been this season. There’s a good chance you can drop Freiermuth for a streaming option to get you through the next couple of weeks and scoop him back up after the Steelers bye week if you need the roster spot now.
Tyler Higbee (TE) – LAR – Thumb
Higbee “got his thumb banged up a bit” according to Rams head coach Sean McVay during Sunday’s win over the Colts. It doesn’t exactly sound like a serious issue for fantasy football’s TE9 on the season. Higbee hasn’t been the target hog many expected him to be while Cooper Kupp recovered from injury with Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams and Tutu Atwell taking over the offense, but Higbee has almost 200 yards on the young season. If only he’d fallen into the end zone once or twice this season, we would be looking at his fantasy impact much differently.
Terron Armstead (T) – MIA – Knee
I know I’ve written about Armstead enough already, but after the explosive start to the Dolphins vs. Bills game this past Sunday, it’s almost impossible to not notice how different the offense looked when Armstead left the game with his latest injury. Raheem Mostert, who entered the game as the RB1 only managed 9 yards on 7 carries. Achane had a good fantasy day, but that was due to finding the endzone twice early in the game. The Bills defense only sacked Tagovailoa 4 times, but were in his face for most of the second half. The Dolphins just don’t have enough depth along the offensive line for Armstead to miss any time, and the early reports have him missing weeks, not days. This is a major detriment to the Dolphins offense for the coming weeks.
IR Returnees
As stated in the intro, this week is the first time that teams can activate players from the PUP, giving them 21 days to return to a game.
One of the biggest storylines all offseason was the Jonathan Taylor situation in Indianapolis, and while there was some reprieve from it for the past month, it looks ready to ramp up with Colt head coach Shane Steichen saying that he expects Taylor to be practicing with the team on Wednesday of this week.
The Indianapolis front office responded by handing out a 3 year, $42M contract with $26.5M in guarantees to put an end to the soap opera. The Colts offense had exceeded expectations already this season and the team has a real shot at competing in the AFC South with their 2-2 start. As well as Zach Moss has played, adding Taylor will give them a new explosive wrinkle to the offense. Taylor returning to the Colts was also probably his best fit – any team that he would excel on already had a starting running back that the team trusts.
Cooper Kupp is also set to return to practice on Wednesday for the Rams. Los Angeles has been a surprise to start the season, and their passing game led by 5th round rookie Puka Nacua and a revitalized Matthew Stafford looks ready to be elevated even further with the addition of one of the best receivers in the league. Putting Kupp on the IR was definitely the right choice for the long term prospects of both his career and the Rams season, and if he’s back and truly healthy, his addition will only open things up more for everyone on the offense vs. Philadelphia this weekend.
While the Buffalo Bills got dealt a devastating blow this past weekend, losing one of the league’s top cornerbacks in Tre’Davious White to a torn achilles, they look to be bolstering their pass rush with the return of Von Miller. The Bills only recorded 4 sacks against the Dolphins despite getting relentless pressure, so adding a finisher like Miller to the 2nd best scoring defense in fantasy is a scary thought.
One player who’s window to return won’t be opened this week is Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. The Cards are another surprise team this season, with Joshua Dobbs leading a capable NFL offense. Arizona made an excessive financial commitment to Murray, but seem to be in the middle of a major rebuild, leading to serious questions about his future with the team. I don’t think they’ll be able to find a buyer this season for Murray and his contract, but armed with two 1st round picks in this quarterback heavy rookie draft, that seems to be their desired goal. I feel like once the Cards are out of playoff contention, they’ll bring Murray back for the last couple games of the season to showcase him around the league in the hopes of an offseason deal. There are just too many question marks surrounding him this season.
Why Are Coaches STILL Playing Injured Players
I’m not inside NFL locker rooms, nor am I in the coaches meetings, or have any type of medical degree, but from an outsider who watches way too much football on a weekly basis, I just cannot understand the logic of starting these injured players – particularly at quarterback.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense has been an absolute disaster this season. Burrow missed yet another preseason after injuring his calf, and despite his star receiver and good friend Ja’Marr Chase publicly stating that he hopes Burrow gets put on IR and comes back in week 5, the Bengals have instead started Burrow in every game – a decision that has led to a dismal 1-3 start. The offense has only topped 20 points once this season and has been held to 3 points twice.
Yet again this past Sunday, Burrow lined up in shotgun for over 95% of the offensive snaps. There’s definitely a place in the NFL for the shotgun, but it’s absurd to run it that much. It cuts the running game almost in half, as the back can only take off with any sort of momentum in one direction on handoffs, meaning that Burrow and his wonky calf has to carry the offense with the passing game. But the problem is, he clearly cannot plant that leg and throw the ball with any accuracy. He enters week 5 with a 57.6% completion rate, and the misses have been egregious.
It’s fine that the Bengals don’t trust Jake Browning, the only other quarterback on the active roster, to start. He’s a 27 year old undrafted quarterback who has yet to complete a pass in the NFL – but the Bengals had a solid veteran backup in Trevor Siemian on the roster during preseason and opted to cut him. And no, that decision was not made in July prior to the Burrow injury – he was a part of the team’s final cuts when Burrow’s status was still very much up in the air.
The Bengals face a surprising Cardinals defense this week and an always tough Seahawks unit in week 6 before they mercifully have their bye week, but then will come back and face the 49ers, the Bills, the Texans (who if you haven’t been following are extremely stout against the pass) and then the Ravens from weeks 8-11. This situation has no signs of getting better, all because the Bengals were too stubborn to give Burrow the time he needed at the start of the season.
The New Orleans Saints decided to overlook the evidence in Cincinnati this past week and opted to start Derek Carr and his bum shoulder despite rostering a more than serviceable backup in Jameis Winston. The Saints lost to the Bucs 26 – 9 and Carr finished the game with a punitive 3.4 yards per attempt. Alvin Kamara made his return to the lineup from suspension and was a benefactor of Carr’s constant dump-off as he was targeted 14 times for 13 receptions. He also broke the record for the least amount of receiving yards on 13 catches – the previous record was 71 yards on 13 catches. Kamara finished with 33 yards. Less than half. This offense was painful to watch. Chris Olave was irrelevant all game, and essentially was out there for a cardio workout, finishing with just 1 reception for 4 yards.
There’s so much evidence on a weekly basis that an injured player isn’t as good as the backup plan, and yet these coaches (likely influenced by the players themselves) keep rolling them out much to their own detriment. It’s a false hope that they will eventually figure it out, and performances like these make watching the injury reports for fantasy purposes all the more important.
-Devon Gallant
Twitter: @DevGallant
Photo: MarylandGov Pics. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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