Fantasy Football: Week 11 Injury Report
Injuries are an unfortunate part of football. It's one thing we hate having occur to not only the players we roster but within the game itself. With that said, this does create opportunities for teammates, opening up potential pickups in season-long leagues while also producing value plays in daily fantasy football.
Using the practice report, we can glean a lot of information based on who's available and what coaches are saying from press conferences. This knowledge can allow us to make emergency plans to pivot or change our lineups come Sunday morning when inactives are announced.
Based on this week's practice reports, here are a few quick-hitters to give you a leg up on lineup decisions as crunch time approaches for Sunday lineup lock.
Who's In
James Conner suffered a concussion in last week's game against the Carolina Panthers, but he has progressed well throughout the week getting in full participation. Expectations are that he will play, so long he passes the concussion protocol. Conner currently projects for 16.63 points, which grades him to be the eighth-best running back in our model. The Steelers are heavy favorites in our game projections, meaning Conner should play a heavy hand in that forecast as he's top three in the league in touches per game (22.3).
The Minnesota Vikings should expect to have their top two receivers this week. Stefon Diggs has practiced in full this week after dealing with a rib injury going into Minnesota's Week 9 game, and has come out of their bye fully healthy. Adam Thielen has been limited this week with a lower back and calf injury, but he's not listed on the injury report heading into Sunday night. Thielen and Diggs are one of only a few receiving duo within the top 20 in PPR scoring, with Thielen being the overall WR1 coming into Week 11. Thielen had his 100-yard game streak snapped in Week 9 and will be looking to restart it against a top-six defense in the Chicago Bears.
Joe Mixon (knee) popped up on the injury report on Thursday, after not reporting an injury for the Cincinnati Bengals' Wednesday practice. He re-appeared on Friday and should be good to go for his game against the Baltimore Ravens. Mixon is currently a high-end RB2 in our models and has tough sledding against a Ravens unit that is top five in run defense, based on our rankings.
Royce Freeman (ankle) was limited in Wednesday's practice but became a full participant on Thursday, trending upward to full health. After Friday's news conference, Freeman was confirmed to play this week against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Denver backfield has been predominately owned by Phillip Lindsay, who had over 20 touches in the 2 games without Freeman, despite playing at his normal snap rates. Freeman could take away some of that work from Lindsay, but the Denver Broncos are heavy road underdogs -- 7.5 points on FanDuel Sportsbook -- and have been losing more and more key players on their offensive line.
Who's Probable
After being limited by a shoulder injury to start the week, Washington Redskins back Adrian Peterson said he is "feeling all the way healthy" and "refreshed" heading into Week 11. We project him for 16.8 carries and as our RB20.
Who's Questionable
Joe Flacco has missed practice with a hip injury this week, and the current expectation is that he will miss the game. Rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson missed Thursday's practice due to illness but participated on Friday. Jackson is expected to get the start if Flacco misses, with Griffin getting snaps in special package and situations. It doesn't appear that the Baltimore Ravens will name a starting quarterback until we are into the weekend. Either way, whoever starts are quarterback will be getting a soft matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, who have quickly plummeted in recent weeks. The Bengals are allowing the second-most FanDuel points per game (25.0) to opposing quarterbacks.
Sammy Watkins (foot) was held out last week in preparation for this week's game against the Los Angeles Rams. Expectations throughout the week were that he will be available to play in his "revenge game" but was a surprise non-participant for Friday's practice. FanDuel Sportsbook currently has this game at 63.5 points, which is the highest we have seen all season, and should include plenty of fantasy goodness. Our current models have three of the highest-scoring players in this game, with Watkins as a solid WR2 on the week and an affordable price tag of $6,600 on FanDuel.
Keke Coutee (hamstring) was confirmed on Friday to be a game-time decision for Sunday, and he's practiced on a limited basis this week. The Houston Texans were on bye last week and we haven't seen Coutee play in a game since Week 7. If Coutee happens to miss the game on Sunday we could see the Texans continue to roll out formations that include more tight ends, with DeAndre Hopkins and Demaryius Thomas as the primary wide receivers. In Week 9, Ryan Griffin, Jordan Thomas, and Jordan Akins all played 58% or more of the team's snaps with Akins leading the group in targets with three.
Marvin Jones (knee) has missed the entire week of practice after suffering a late injury against the Chicago Bears last week. With the Detroit Lions moving on from Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay figures to be the top wide receiver for the team. Golladay saw season-highs with 13 targets and 178 air yards last week, good enough for a 31% target market share and 53% air yards market share. Wide receivers Brandon Powell and T.J. Jones have been running behind the two starting receivers but have little to show for yet. With a thin receiving depth chart, Theo Riddick could be in the mix for more passing down work, as he has 15 targets and 62 routes run (per Pro Football Focus) over the last 2 weeks.
John Ross (groin) is questionable going into Week 11. It seems like Ross is having difficulty just staying on the field this season, with only six games played. Without A.J. Green again, the top three receivers for the Cincinnati Bengals could be Tyler Boyd, Cody Core, and Alex Erickson. The injuries continue to pile on for the Bengals and it reflects in Andy Dalton's projection with 264.5 passing yards, 1.39 touchdown passes and 0.91 interceptions.
Who's Out
As mentioned earlier, A.J. Green should be out this week even though he left Friday's practice as officially doubtful. There is a small chance he plays, but the odds are small, and the last Cincy player to play with a doubtful tag was three years ago. He was a non-participant for Wednesday and Thursday, and was seen doing limited work on Friday. This is positive news given that there were expectations that Green could miss a much larger portion of the season, but we will monitor the situation in case he is ready to play against the Cleveland Browns in Week 12.
Final Reminder
As it is with all injuries, each individual situation is fluid. Make sure to keep tabs throughout the weekend and keep up with our numberFire player news feed for up-to-date reports prior to kickoff. Good luck this week!
Gabriel Garrido is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Gabriel Garrido also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username guhreedoe28. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
