Training camp is in full swing, and while fantasy managers are busy pouring over preseason workloads and snap counts, the injury bug is already throwing major wrenches into fantasy football draft strategies.
When high-profile stars start missing practice – or worse, leaving preseason games in physical discomfort – it creates instant waves across Consensus ADP. Staying ahead of these updates is the best way to stay ahead of the rest of your league.
Here’s the latest injury news on key players like Jeremiyah Love, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle.
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2026 Fantasy Football Injury Updates: Jeremiyah Love, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Injury: High-Ankle Sprain
Jeremiyah Love left Week 1 of the NFL preseason a little banged up and Mike LaFleur had this to say on Saturday, two days after the game:
“He came in yesterday a little bit more sore than he left. He was in great spirits even yesterday… but we’ll keep him out this week as we just let it heal. So, a little bit more sore than what we were anticipating.”
The expectation at that point for fantasy football managers was that Love was going to be sidelined for just a bit and then would return to practice shortly after…all with the intention of being good to go for Week 1.
Unfortunately, we got an update on Sunday evening that Love has been diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain that will sideline him for the remainder of the NFL preseason. This also means that Week 1 is quite possibly in jeopardy for the rookie RB – or maybe longer.
One of the most likely outcomes is that Love returns in Week 2 or Week 3, but is not 100% himself. A dynamic RB that excels at cutting in the open field needs stability in his ankles to be able to make those sharp cuts.
It might be several weeks into the season before we see the rookie back to fully himself, which will allow Tyler Allgeier plenty of time to establish himself as a reliable option to help shoulder the workload for this team.
When Love gets back to full strength, it might be tough for him to walk in and take over the backfield completely. He’s taken a tumble down my rankings a bit and now lands at RB17.
Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers
Injury: “Tightness”
It’s never an encouraging sign for fantasy managers when Christian McCaffrey gets added to the injury report early on in the preseason and is missing training camp.
At the time of writing, he’s now missed over a week of practice with muscle “tightness” and there’s currently no indication of when he’s going to return to the practice field.
With CMC’s injury history, him missing over a week of practice with a vague injury is just a recipe for PTSD for fantasy managers around the world. However, one theory floated out by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is that McCaffrey is holding in for a new contract after the extensions that were handed out to Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs.
This would obviously be the ideal scenario for fantasy managers versus some substantial injury that we have very little information on, but we’re now stuck in a waiting game.
For the time being, McCaffrey holds tight in my draft rankings. But there’s a possibility that if this continues on much longer, I’ll be forced to move him down the board.
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George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers
Injury: Torn Achilles
George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles on January 11th in the San Francisco 49ers’ playoff game and it is absolutely remarkable that we are even near a point where he’s being considered to start this NFL season.
Kittle recently remarked that he’s optimistic that he’ll avoid the PUP list (which would sideline him for the first four games of the year) and he should be set to return to practice here soon.
As far as when exactly “soon” is is completely dependent upon the team’s doctors and how Kittle is progressing in his recovery. Still, it sounds as though there’s a chance that Kittle could play Week 1, but it’s highly unlikely that he’d be anywhere near his normal snap count or workload.
Kittle was on my do not draft list earlier this offseason, but he’s slowly moved higher and higher up my rankings as we’ve gotten closer to September. If he does return to practice in the next week, I’ll most likely have the soon-to-be 33 year old TE as a borderline top 10 option at the position for fantasy football.
If it’s still late August and he hasn’t made it back to the field, I’ll be forced to move him down a tier or two.
