In a year where several starting quarterbacks went down with season-ending injuries, Burrow’s injury could impact fantasy managers the most.
Weeks 8-10, Burrow was the QB6, throwing for 978 yards and seven touchdowns. In what has been a season of bad injury luck, taking him out of Cincinnati’s control for the next seven games is a huge downgrade for the entire offense.
When looking at Ja’Marr Chase, it might be best to take a look at what Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams did when their backup quarterbacks took over their offenses. Wilson has at least 12 goals in his last four games, and Adams saw 13 in his last outing. Jake Browning finding Chase for a two-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter gives fantasy managers hope.
Tee Higgins, when healthy, will be the only other receiver worth considering starting. He would be the obvious second choice, but will likely have up-and-down weeks. Tyler Boyd, Trenton Irwin and Tanner Hudson were fun throughout. See you on the waiver wire.
Burrow still has a sure place in the dynasty. He will have approximately 10 months to recover from this injury before the start of next season. Your recovery timeline after surgery should be shown.
Fantasy tip stems from Mark Andrews’ season-ending injury
The impact of Mark Andrews’ injury was summed up immediately after the star tight end was tackled inside the 5-yard line with 11 minutes left in the first quarter on “Thursday Night Football.”
Quarterback Lamar Jackson came up to his teammate and then slammed his helmet into the ground. The two were “peanut butter and jelly,” Jackson said, and the quarterback may have had a premonition about the long-term prognosis.
It’s a high ankle injury, which coach John Harbaugh confirmed goes beyond a sprain and will be season-ending. For the Ravens, it’s devastating for their Super Bowl hopes.
For fantasy managers, we’re talking about a TE3 at a position that has a dearth of star players.
If you’re one of those fantasy managers who suffered this huge loss, the trade deadline in most Yahoo leagues is Saturday, November 18th. No matter what, it will be impossible to replicate Andrews’ production via trade without taking a significant chunk from another position on your roster.
On the waiver wire, here are tight ends listed in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues: Pat Freiermuth, Luke Musgrave, Tyler Higbee, and Chigozeme Okonkwo.
As for the rest of Baltimore’s offense, last night’s game gave us a good indication of how targets will be distributed, and the focus was clearly on the Ravens’ wide receivers: Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham Jr. And Rashod Bateman.
Of Jackson’s 26 passes during the game, 13 of them targeted the wide receiver trio. Beckham led the way with seven touchdowns, finishing 4-116-0 and his first 100-yard game since the NFC Championship game in January 2022. Flowers caught three of four targets for 43, and had 68 receiving yards. The run for a touchdown was called back due to a questionable holding penalty.
Beckham may look like the biggest receiver of targets, but he only ran 17 routes. Flowers led the team with 32 tackles, coming out of the slot on 12 of them. These are the types of paths Andrews has taken, and they are a good indicator of increasing volume. Pittman ran 25 routes, but was targeted only twice and caught one ball for 10 yards. Even though he ran more routes than Beckham, the fact that OBJ clearly out-produced Pittman shows the pecking order.
Isaiah is likely the next guy on the Ravens’ tight end depth chart, and he ran 29 routes on Thursday. He saw two goals and didn’t catch anything. In Week 1, when Andrews missed the game, he likely caught one ball for four yards, so he may have a high hill to climb if fantasy managers expect Andrews to hit.
Jackson has taken five snaps for 20-plus yards, and connected on one for 51 yards. He did more of his work on passes in the first 10 yards, and 12 of his passes were from that depth. He connected on 11 for 145 yards and a score. This is where Flowers could become a bigger factor, as all three of his receptions were for 43 yards at that depth. Keep him in the lineup.
OBJ is a wild card, as he struggled with injuries all year, and suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the game. Monitor his condition and matches. The Batman could be in hiding, as Matt Harmon has been highly talented for a long time. He’s finally healthy, and could see his goals go up in the wake of this injury.
Mark Andrews’ redemption timeline and dynasty predictions
Dr. Edwin BorrasFantasy Points’ medical expert who just completed his tenure with the Minnesota Twins’ medical staff, provided this assessment of Andrews’ injury to dynasty managers who may want to know about the long-term consequences of this injury:
“Mark Andrews unfortunately suffered a sprained and fractured ankle, according to Jim Harbaugh,” Boras said. “This is it [probably] The same injury OBJ suffered in 2017 and Michael Thomas suffered in 2020 [the original injury not all of his complications]. In rare cases, this can be a two-month injury. However, based on the team’s feedback regarding adequate recovery, we should expect at least 3-4 months for a full recovery. “Barring complications, Andrews should have no issues returning by the first week of 2024.”
“Beer enthusiast. Subtly charming alcohol junkie. Wannabe internet buff. Typical pop culture lover.”
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