First Look: Week 8 NFL DFS Injury News and Notes

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Week 7 brought us a significant amount of injuries to some of the more prominent players in the league. The ramifications on some of these will extend beyond week 8 as there were ACL tears,  hamstring injuries and foot sprains. Let’s get to these situations right away. 

Odell Beckham Jr. – OUT For The Season With A Torn ACL

– Jarvis Landry ($5,600 DK/$5,800 FD) 

– Rashard Higgins ($4,200 DK/$5,500 FD) 

– Donovan Peoples-Jones ($3,800 DK/$5,200) 

With Beckham Jr. set to miss the rest of the season, it’s likely that Rashard Higgins slides in as the WR2 in this offense. This is the same role that Higgins saw in week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals once Beckham Jr. got hurt and he turned 6 targets into a 6-110-0 receiving line. Landry will act as the WR1 moving forward while Donovan Peoples-Jones should battle it out with KhaDarel Hodges for the WR3 role. Hodges has been hurt but is expected to return this week. My guess is that Peoples-Jones has earned the WR3 role for now, especially after a 3-56-1 line this past Sunday. All things considered, Higgins’ price tag, particularly on DK, looks like an attractive one relative to the role he’ll be playing. An interesting nugget to consider for this offense moving forward – the Browns’ were an incredibly run heavy team when Nick Chubb was healthy, but without him, they’ve let Baker Mayfield cook a bit more regardless of game script. They own a team total in the high 20s in their date against the Las Vegas Raiders in week 9. 

Chris Carson – Week-to-week With Mid-Foot Sprain

– Carlos Hyde ($5,300 DK/$5,000 FD) 

– Travis Homer ($4,000 DK/$4,900 FD) (Questionable with a knee injury) 

– DeeJay Dallas ($4,000 DK/$4,600 FD) 

Despite Carson missing the entire second half yesterday due to this mid-foot sprain, his injury isn’t considered significant at this time. However, he’ll still miss this critical matchup against the San Francisco 49ers this week at the very least. Carlos Hyde played nearly 50% of the snaps with Carson going down and Travis Homer leaving the game with a knee injury. While Carson missing is the quickest route to big volume, Homer potentially missing this game as well is quite significant too. Homer serves as the change of pace/passing down back and without him, they’d have to play rookie DeeJay Dallas, who hasn’t played much at this point. Hyde generated a 15-68-1 rushing line with Carson leaving the game but probably more importantly he saw 4 targets. Homer hasn’t been ruled out just yet and given the ramification’s to Hyde’s potential passing workload, this is certainly a situation worth monitoring throughout the week.

UPDATE: Carlos Hyde (hamstring) is now questionable to play as well. Coach Carroll is “hopeful” that he can play this Sunday but we’ll need further confirmation. There’s a route here for rookie DeeJay Dallas to be the primary back despite the lack of playing time.

Jeff Wilson Jr. – OUT With A High Ankle Sprain

– Jerick McKinnon ($5,700 DK/$6,000) 

– JaMycal Hasty ($5,000 DK/$5,600)

With Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman out in week 7, it was Jeff Wilson Jr. who carried the workload for the 49ers, generating a surprising 17-112-3 rushing line while Jerrick McKinnon rushed 3 times for -1 yards and was clearly third in the depth chart. Well, Wilson Jr. is now hurt and he joins Mostert and Coleman on the injury reserve. Coleman is nearing a return but even if he comes back this week, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be ready to handle a big workload. If that’s the case, you’ll want to look at JaMycal Hasty this week as he could potentially be in line for RB1 volume IF McKinnon is held back again for rest. If the latter isn’t the case and coach Shanahan views McKinnon as the clear starter, he’ll be the one you’ll want to prioritize despite the bigger price tag. It’s a difficult situation to read early on but we’re hopeful to have more specifics later in the week. At this moment, it’s more likely that McKinnon is viewed as the starter and they were truly trying to rest him last week while Hasty gets backup duties but this hasn’t been confirmed. 

Concussions

There were so many concussions around the league in week 7 that I have to give it it’s own headline. Yikes. Here’s the list below accompanied by the player(s) that would benefit the most IF said player is ruled out for week 8 due to being in concussion protocol. 

Andy Dalton 

– Ben DiNucci 

Phillip Lindsay 

– Melvin Gordon III (has seen big volume without Lindsay around this season and has 20+ touches upside in this context) 

Brashad Perriman 

– Denzel Mims

– Braxton Berrios

Jamison Crowder is also questionable to play this week after missing week 7. Target tree could condense a bunch here for Mims and Berrios if both Perriman and Crowder are out. 

N’Keal Harry

– Jakobi Meyers

Other Injuries We’re Monitoring

Below is a list of other significant injuries we’re following for week 8 followed by the player(s) that benefit the most IF said player is out. 

Christian McCaffrey (Thursday Night Football; was spotted at practice on Monday wearing red non-participation jersey) 

– Mike Davis

Aaron Jones

– Jamaal Williams (would benefit even further if Tyler Ervin is ruled out once again) 

Joe Mixon (now day-to-day instead of week-to-week)

– Giovani Bernard

Michael Thomas 

– Alvin Kamara 

– Marquez Callaway (Questionable to play after leaving game with a leg injury) 

– Tre’Quan Smith 

Diontae Johnson

– Chase Claypool 

– James Washington 

Deebo Samuel (Not expected to play) 

– Brandon Aiyuk

Sammy Watkins 

– Demarcus Robinson

– Mecole Hardman

– Byron Pringle

John Brown 

– Gabriel Davis

Mark Ingram 

– Gus Edwards

– J.K. Dobbins 

Austin Hooper (Doubtful) 

– Harrison Bryant

– David Njoku 

Tyler Higbee (Questionable; missed Monday Night Football last week) 

– Gerald Everett