PSA:
Phil is out unexpectedly this week due to some personal issues. We hope that he will be back next week. As part of that, I will be covering this article. It may be a bit briefer than usual, as I’m traveling, but I will do my best to capture the depth that Phil gets into.
Injury Overview
Bucky Irving is out once again this week. Rachaad White will get the start and is a strong play once again, although he may have some upside concerns when it comes to GPPs.
Chris Godwin will miss for the Buccaneers. With Mike Evans already out, Tampa Bay is incredibly thin at wide receiver, although Tez Johnson is intriguing this week after his four-reception performance in limited playing time last week.
Chuba Hubbard is likely to miss this week after not practicing on Wednesday and Thursday. Rico Dowdle will once again see the full workload for the Panthers this week. Dowdle is an excellent play this week.
Baltimore’s entire defense continues to be injured, but it does look to be improving. They should get Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton back this week, barring any injuries, but will still be without Roquan Smith and their starting defensive linemen. This should set up well for Los Angeles, similar to what we saw last week.
Lamar Jackson will miss this week for Baltimore once again, which just continues to be a massive problem for the Ravens this week.
Kyler Murray may miss this week with a foot injury. If he’s unable to go, Jacoby Brissett will get the start.
Omarion Hampton was placed on Injured Reserve this week. This likely creates a scenario where Kimani Vidal/Hassan Haskins cannibalize each other to the point of neither having great value. If you’re looking for someone who is going completely under-the-radar, it could be Haskins, as he should see the goal-line work, as he’s the bigger of the two.
Brock Bowers will likely miss this week with a knee injury. Tight end Michael Mayer and Jakobi Meyers should see the workload with Bowers out. Mayer has not played since Week 3 as he is returning from injury.
Slate Overview
What to do at wide receiver?
The key to this slate is the wide receiver position this week. Primarily, what to do with Puka Nacua. Expect Nacua to be rostered as high as 25-30%. At $8,700, rosters that are built with Nacua are largely going to look very similar. On a typical week, Nacua is just plug-and-play. He’s the type of player that you’re going to want some exposure to almost every week. However, you could get away with doing a complete fade this week of Nacua. There are two primary concerns for the receiver this week. First is the matchup. With Lamar Jackson being out, it could be a low-scoring game, and the Rams could go to a run-heavy approach. The second concern is the weather. In Baltimore this week, we could be seeing 20MPH winds and rain showers. This obviously impacts the passing upside of any game.