We’re finally getting a handful of top fantasy players back from injury this week – Faraz tells you what you need to know about all of them.
Justin Jefferson
We finally have Justin Jefferson practicing in full, and it looks like he’ll be back this week. Finally! Throw him back into your lineup without hesitation - don’t overthink this one. He actually has a good matchup on that left perimeter against the Raiders - they’ve given up the 3rd most fantasy points to WRs lining up on the side over the last 4 weeks. I think Jordan Addison takes a step down assuming that the top targets will be Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson… Addison wasn’t taking over as that guy for them anyway without Kirk Cousins, so he’s an iffy start for me this week.
Dallas Goedert
Dallas Goedert is likely back this week after getting a full practice on Wednesday… that’s a pretty good sign he’ll be good to go against the Cowboys this week. This has been the game the Eagles were targeting for his return and that’s the reason why they didn’t put him on IR, so I think you play him if you have him unless you have the Top-6 or 7 guys ahead of him, including Jake Ferguson who has a good matchup against Philly. Outside of those guys… LaPorta, Kittle, Hock, Kincaid, maybe Dalton Schultz if he’s good to go… I think Goedert is next up for me, ahead of guys like Isaiah Likely and Evan Engram.
With Goedert back, there is a chance Devonta Smith takes a step back in targets… but if you remember, something similar happened last year where Goedert missed Weeks 11 through 15, and Devonta benefitted the rest of the way. Smith went 8 for 113 with 2 TDs and then 9 for 115 in the two games after Goedert returned, so you never know… keep starting Devonta Smith.
Dawson Knox
Dawson Knox practiced in full on Wednesday after the Bills opened up his 21-day practice window - and that full practice means he could potentially play this week. The question now becomes: what happens to Kincaid? Do they do what they did before where they had these guys rotate and play a lot of 12 personnel with 2 TEs on the field? Once Knox went down, Kincaid’s route participation went full-time… before that, we were looking at only 67%. Hopefully that’s not something we see unfold this week against the Chiefs - rational coaching would tell you that it shouldn’t happen because you’re actually getting production out of that position now, and you were not getting production out of the TE position before that. Josh Allen needs weapons behind Stefon Diggs… but I don’t know if I can count on rational coaching with this team. I’m hoping they don’t touch Kincaid’s role, but we’re about to find out over the next week or two after we see Knox play 1 or 2 games.