Injuries are one of the most difficult parts of fantasy football. Not only from the perspective of seeing talented players dealing with everything from ailments to serious recovery timelines, but also the fallout of sorting through what it means for lineups.
News came out over the past 24-48 hours about injuries for two talented wideouts in the NFL that had plenty of fans going into fantasy draft season.
In this article, we’ll dive into the specifics of the injuries and what it means for your fantasy draft plans.
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Fantasy Fallout Of Luther Burden’s Injury
Burden has been a player that has been the focus of every “training camp hype” article. Ben Johnson has been overtly vocal in his praise of the second-year wideout and his mentality going into this season.
With DJ Moore out of town, the path for the WR1 in terms of targets on this team is a two-horse race. Burden and Rome Odunze have been the subject of numerous debates on fantasy football podcasts and articles in an attempt to determine how we should be ranking these players.
Things got a bit of cold water splashed on them this weekend though as Burden was seen limping off the field at practice after landing a bit awkwardly during a 1-on-1 route.
The expectation is now that Burden will miss about a month as he recovers from a minor groin injury. This puts his return timeline right up to the start of the NFL season and Week 1 is up in the air.
However, the injury could have been far worse and it actually could be a blessing in disguise for savvy fantasy managers.
If Burden took the field with the starting offense in the preseason, there’s a strong possibility that one or two splash plays would have sent his ADP skyrocketing. As of right now, his ADP is sitting around WR22 (which I’ve identified as laughably low) and there’s a possibility that it drops a few spots now.
He still remains a priority target for me in fantasy drafts this offseason and I’ll gladly take the discount going into Week 1. He’ll hold tight at WR18 in my rankings.
Fantasy Fallout Of Alec Pierce’s Injury
Alec Pierce was a standout last season in Indianapolis as he continued his career development arch and assumed the WR1 role for Daniel Jones.
He performed so well that the Colts felt comfortable trading away Michael Pittman Jr. – and his contract – this offseason and compensating Pierce with a large extension.
However, Pierce’s recovery from surgery on his left ankle over the offseason hasn’t exactly gone the way that he would hope.
Despite assurances that he would be on track to play Week 1, Pierce has missed all practices this summer and has been absent from training camp.
Add in the news that we just got yesterday that Pierce had to have another PRP injection and it’s time to officially change our outlook on Pierce from a fantasy standpoint. He’s been the subject of many optimistic articles here on the website over this summer, but we’ll need to now pivot.
When he gets onto the field, he’ll be productive. Yet, we have no clarity as to when that will actually take place. It could be Week 5 after a stint on the PUP. It might be Week 2 if he returns to the practice field here shortly.
But fantasy managers can’t have ambiguity at this point of draft season. We need to start locking in our opinions and stances on players’ ADPs and the unknowns surrounding Pierce’s timeline to return make it a situation to avoid.
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I’ve held Pierce around WR32 in my rankings up to this point. In my rankings sweep this morning though, he took a slight tumble down to WR36. This puts him behind players like Marvin Harrison Jr., Brian Thomas Jr., DK Metcalf, and Courtland Sutton.
Pierce holds immensely more upside than those players – or more particularly a higher floor as the WR1 in his offense – but until we get clarity on when exactly he’ll be back on the field, he needs to be moved down the board.
