Although fantasy managers are thrilled with the team-leading 10 targets, the nature of those targets is cause for concern considering the uneven play from backup quarterback Jameis Winston. Starter Jaxson Dart was forced from the game with a knee injury on the team’s first possession and it would not be shocking to see him miss games considering the mechanism of his injury, leaving the offense in the hands of the inconsistent Winston. Even so, fantasy managers will be thrilled to start Likely in a plus matchup against the Titans in Week 3, particularly considering the multitude of injuries at the position throughout the league.
Nabers departed the game at the end of the first quarter with a shoulder injury but was able to return after missing only one drive. His putrid box score can largely be attributed to uneven quarterback play from backup Jameis Winston, whom came on in relief of the injured Jaxson Dart after the team’s first possession. Beyond the fact that fantasy managers were left with a near goose egg from their third round selection, Nabers could be forced to contend with backup-level quarterback play in the coming weeks considering the mechanism of Dart’s knee injury. Even so, it will be difficult to sit Nabers in a cake matchup with the Titans in Week 3, making him a classic hold-your-breath start.
Mooney played well behind Malik Nabers and rookie Malachi Fields but was able to cash in on a 33-yard reception to pad his counting stats in the loss. Fantasy managers of Nabers will want to track his status closely in the coming week after the talented youngster briefly departed with a shoulder injury. An absence could thrust Mooney into a near every-down role against the Titans in Week 3.
Fields struggled alongside the rest of the Giants in a game played mostly with backup quarterback Jameis Winston under center. Jaxson Dart departed after the team’s first possession with what looked like an MCL sprain based on the mechanism of the injury, something that could force missed contests from the normal starter. That would position Fields in a difficult spot to return usable counting stats in the short term. He gets the struggling Titans in Week 3, where he’ll be best left on fantasy benches.
Dart was the victim of a dreaded high-low tackle early in the first quarter and immediately grabbed for his left knee. He was able to gingerly walk to the sideline under his own power, but was in clear and visible pain. Jameis Winston entered the game after a three-and-out from the Rams before Dart walked, again under his own power, to the locker room for additional testing. The team deemed him questionable to return, although it would be truly shocking to see Dart return to the game based on the replay of the play in question. Dart completed 3-of-5 passes for 20 yards prior to departing.
Nabers appeared to injure his shoulder late in the first quarter on what looked to be a routine play. He went up to attempt a contested catch and came down holding his shoulder. He immediately walked off the field and was seen in visible pain while be attended to by trainers. The team deemed him questionable to return shortly thereafter. Nabers caught 1-of-2 targets for one yard prior to departing.
Nabers left at the end of the first quarter with an apparent shoulder injury but returned to the game half way through the second quarter. Nabers has had a right shoulder issue dating back to his college days, something that could help to explain how he was injured on what looked to be a routine play. Fantasy managers can breathe a quick sigh of relief, at least for the time being.
Dart was the victim of a dreaded high-low tackle early in the first quarter and immediately grabbed for his left knee. He was able to gingerly walk to the sideline under his own power, but was in clear and visible pain. Jameis Winston entered the game after a three-and-out from the Rams before Dart walked, again under his own power, to the locker room for additional testing. The team deemed him questionable to return, although it would be truly shocking to see Dart return to the game based on the replay of the play in question. Dart completed 3-of-5 passes for 20 yards prior to departing.
Pierce will most certainly be out for numerous games after appearing to re-injure the heel that he had offseason surgery on in Week 2. Rapoport’s wording seems to indicate that additional surgery has not yet been ruled out, but Pierce will attempt to rehab the issue in the interim. It’s a disaster of a scenario for a team that extended Pierce while allowing Michael Pittman to walk in the offseason. Josh Downs appears most likely to become the focal point of the offense through the air in Pierce’s absence after amassing seven catches on nine targets in the team’s overtime loss to the Chiefs. When, or if, Pierce returns to the active roster in 2026 remains to be seen.
The seven-year veteran was released by the Giants prior to the start of the regular season, now landing on his feet in Indianapolis to presumably fill in for the injured Alec Pierce. Pierce recently re-injured the heel he had offseason surgery on and will miss an undetermined number of games. Slayton brings a similar, field-stretching archetype to a Colts team in desperate need of someone to elongate the middle of the field. It remains most likely that Josh Downs steps into the featured role through the air.
This comes a day after LaFleur said he did not believe Johnson suffered a serious injury in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks. The loss of Johnson would be another blow to a secondary that is already short Garrett Williams (Achilles) and also lost Max Melton (toe) in Week 2. Johnson leads all Cardinals DBs with 111 snaps through the first two weeks, and he appeared on 722 snaps last season. We’ll likely get a clearer timeline for Johnson’s absence in the coming days.
Durant suffered a hamstring strain and Locke suffered a torn plantar fascia in the team’s Week 2 win over the Commanders. Both players are reportedly going to miss multiple weeks, while a stint on injured reserve is not yet being ruled out for either player. In what has become somewhat of a yearly tradition in Dallas, the secondary is suddenly extremely thin on healthy bodies after the team invested significant capital re-tooling the back end this offseason. Expect Markquese Bell and Shavon Revel to enter the starting lineup for the time being.
The veteran tight end is reportedly healthy enough following ACL surgery to be brought in as a replacement for Dallas Goedert, the latter of whom is expected to miss multiple weeks with a sprained MCL. Ertz spent the first seven seasons of his professional career in Philadelphia before a three-year stint with the Cardinals and two more with the Commanders. The 12-year veteran turns 36 in November and profiles as a low-upside role player for as long as Goedert remains out, should he receive game-day call-ups from the practice squad.
News about a new injury for Nacua didn’t surface until Friday, throwing fantasy managers into a late-week scramble to find a suitable replacement, further convoluted by him entering the weekend as a game-time decision. Those that held out in hopes he would be able to play against the Giants now find themselves with limited options. Nacua reportedly went through an abridged pre-game workout to determine his availability, ultimately failing to prove healthy enough to go. The Rams suddenly find themselves extremely thin at wide receiver with Jordan Whittington also inactive. Tutu Atwell, Konata Mumpfield, and Xavier Smith will fight for snaps behind Davante Adams, while there remains the ever-present possibility the Rams lean into heavy personnel alignments. Joining Nacua and Whittington as inactives are S Kam Kinchens, WR CJ Daniels, QB Ty Simpson, and OL Bill Murray.
Banks was ruled out earlier in the week, leaving no surprises with the New York inactives for Monday Night Football against the Rams. While losing Banks is a significant loss for the secondary, the Rams will be without both Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington.
Goedert avoided a serious injury, but the veteran tight end will still be sidelined for a few weeks. It’s a blow to an Eagles passing game that has struggled coming out of the gate, as Goedert has already tallied five receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the first six quarters of football he has played this season. Veteran TE Johnny Mundt should be the favorite to replace Goedert going forward; he stepped in to play 49 snaps against the Titans. Mundt has 76 career receptions in 116 games and shouldn’t be viewed as an option to replace Goedert in fantasy leagues.
Njoku was unable to put any weight on his right leg and was carted from the field in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. Njoku has caught six passes for 67 scoreless yards for the Chargers in his first two games with the team and led all tight ends on the roster with 25 routes run. He’ll have to miss at least the next four games now that he’s landed on IR, but we should have a better sense of his return timeline in the coming days.
We don’t yet know when Kolar could return, but he will have to miss at least the next four games now that he’s on injured reserve. Kolar was seeing a decent workload during the first two weeks of the season, as his 72 snaps led all Chargers tight ends, while his 24 routes run were only one fewer than David Njoku’s 25. With Njoku (fibula) also on injured reserve, Oronde Gadsden could be in line for a significant workload over the next several weeks.
Left guard Kayode Awosika (fibula), who has started each of the team’s first two games this season, will also miss some time, per Harbaugh. The Chargers already placed TEs Charlie Kolar (forearm) and David Njoku (fibula) on injured reserve, so it’s safe to assume Tomlinson and Awosika are looking at shorter absences given the team’s decision to leave them on the active roster at this time. Tomlinson has totaled eight tackles and a half sack in the two games he has appeared in, on 65 defensive snaps. Awosika was replaced by former first-round pick Trevor Penning, who will likely step in as the starting left guard until Awosika returns.
While he doesn’t expect Williams to practice this week, Johnson did not rule out the possibility of him playing next Monday night against the Eagles. Williams received positive news on the hamstring injury he suffered in Week 2’s loss to the Vikings, but the Bears’ QB1 is still at risk of missing at least one game after Johnson called him “week-to-week” earlier on Monday. It wouldn’t be surprising if Johnson delayed naming a starting QB as long as he can to give himself a “competitive advantage” heading into Week 3. Fantasy managers rostering Williams will want a contingency plan in place heading into the week and should consider sitting Williams if Johnson doesn’t commit to starting him before Sunday’s games kick off.
Jennings was targeted just once in Week 1. It could be argued that we’re not sure what his target count would look like in a normal Vikings game given how quickly Kyler Murray got hurt, but there’s never been a normal Vikings game anyway. Jennings is best monitored from the waiver wire.
He also said he will “be talking about options at running back.” The subtext here is that Jones can’t handle 23-carry workloads in his age-32 season. DeeJay Dallas and Demond Claiborne are their backups on the roster with Jordan Mason on injured reserve. Dallas was just signed earlier this month. Claiborne is “not yet ready to carry the load” per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. We expect reporting to reveal the second main member of this committee at some point this week, and there’s a chance that said player is in the flex conversation against the Buccaneers in Week 3.
Penix will make his first start since Week 11 of last season, when he suffered a torn ACL against the Panthers. If he plays well enough, Penix will have a chance to secure the starting job for the remainder of the season, but he will have Tua Tagovailoa looming in the background once he is fully recovered from his oblique injury. Penix has struggled early in his career, throwing for 2,757-12-6 in 14 career games while completing just 59.6 percent of his passes. It seems unlikely that he will hold onto the job for the remaining 15 games of the season, but he’ll get the first legitimate crack at it after the Falcons were forced to start Cooper Rush for the first two weeks of the season. Penix shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than a low-end QB2 for fantasy purposes on Thursday night against the Packers.
X-rays came back negative last night but Pierce couldn’t put weight on it last night and left on crutches with a boot on. The fact that it was an aggravation is not promising. It sounds like Pierce could be looking at an extended absence. If true, Josh Downs will get some WR3 hype ahead of Week 3’s date against the Texans. If you were wondering why Laquon Treadwell was on the field deep in the game on Sunday night, Pierce’s injury is the reason.
So it sounds like this wasn’t just a ding and in fact has a chance to keep him out for the week. He left Week 2’s game in a walking boot after catching 2-of-3 targets for 19 yards. Jalen Tolbert could replace Douglas on the active roster in Week 3 for those of you in 75-team leagues.