The recent COVID-19 outbreaks across the NFL has created chaos in the NFL fantasy football streets. With all of the craziness surrounding Week 18, fantasy players need to look into the NFL injury report and break down who to trust. Below is start/sit advice for lineups based on injury news and notes.
Week 18 Fantasy Football Injury Report & News Updates
Julio Jones – WR – Tennessee Titans
Jones missed last week’s game on the COVID list. He is also nursing a hamstring injury but he was able to practice back-to-back days fully at the end of the week. In his last three starts, he had a snap share of fewer than 56 percent in each of those contests. This week against the Texans may seem like a juicy matchup as well as him having a cheap DFS price on all sites will lead some people to spark interest in putting him into their lineups. Jones has failed to acquire ten DraftKings points dating all the way back to week two. The old Jones just appears to have faded away this year in Tennessee, leading to him being an easy player to fade this week.
Joe Burrow – QB – Cincinnati Bengals
Burrow has been officially ruled out for this week’s game against the Browns. A move to make sure that he will be healthy going into the playoffs even if there is still a chance they could get the one seed in the AFC. This does damage the upside of his teammates Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd as Brandon Allen is now under center.
Joe Mixon – RB – Cincinnati Bengals
After Mixon tested positive for COVID on Wednesday he has been ruled out on Sunday. Now Samaje Perine will be elevated into the starting running back role. This will be the first time that Mixon misses all season so we have not seen many games where Perine saw over 10 touches. Though his receiving prowess has been seen which is certainly a plus as well as the Browns ranking 20th in rush DVOA, Perine is an interesting play this week.
Elijah Mitchell – RB – San Francisco 49ers
Mitchell returned from injury last week against the Texans having 21 carries for 119 yards and two receptions for 11 yards and a score. Though there was some worry about his health going into the Rams game this week. He was able to practice in a limited fashion but he will be good to go this week. Even if his touches are limited this week Mitchell has the weekly upside of finishing as a top-five running back regardless of if Jimmy Garoppolo or Trey Lance is under center.
Diontae Johnson – WR – Pittsburgh Steelers
Earlier in the week, Johnson was placed on the COVID list but was activated on the seventh. In his matchup against the Ravens this week we could see a strong showing for the clear lead receiver in Pittsburgh. While Ben Roethlisberger has been far from an ideal quarterback dating back to last season he is capable of feeding the ball to Johnson. Against the 30th-ranked pass defense via DVOA, Johnson is a solid play this week.
Aaron Rodgers – QB – Green Bay Packers
Rodgers will start this week according to head coach Matt LaFleur. Though it seems very unlikely that he and the main starters make it far into the game. It seems likely that we see a drive or two out of Rodgers but anything past that would not make much sense. Expect to see tons of Jordan Love against the Lions this week.
Lamar Jackson – QB – Baltimore Ravens
Jackson has been ruled out again for this week’s matchup against the Steelers. This will be the fourth straight miss for Jackson in this time we have seen Tyler Huntley and Josh Johnson. Huntley will be the guy this week who has immense rushing upside. While the Steelers defense looked amazing against Baker Mayfield and the Browns last week the Ravens are a completely different beast. Expect a solid showing out of Huntley who does not negatively impact the main skill players on the team like Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown.
James Conner – RB – Arizona Cardinals
Conner is currently listed as questionable with a heel injury against the Seahawks this week. With Chase Edmonds ruled out this week the team will look to heavily rely on Conner if he is given the nod to play. If the Cardinals defense is able to slow down the Seahawks offense which is very possible, this game could get out of hand and we can see tons of rushing from the Cardinals.
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