As we inch closer to the middle of the season, key injuries to star NFL players are starting to pop up. To help you navigate through those injuries and try to keep your fantasy teams afloat (especially for those of you who picked Justin Jefferson first overall) this article provides some options to replace your damaged rosters.
If you need a quarterback then look no further than the Los Angeles Rams’s Matt Stafford. He has a variety of options to use in the passing game that would make him an ideal pickup for an injury replacement or someone to fill in for a bye-week QB. This can be seen last week from his performance against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Despite going against a top-five defense according to Pro Football Focus, Stafford was able to get his wide receivers Cooper Kupp (eight receptions for 118 yards) and Puka Nacua (seven receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown) into the game. If you have Kupp or Nacua on your team this can make for a great combo for points as when Stafford throws to either of them you get points for both the pass and catch.
Stafford is also going against the Arizona Cardinals this week who have a bottom-five defense with serious injuries in their secondary with Safety Budda Baker on injured reserve, or IR. Stafford is a solid QB who doesn’t turn the ball over that often so he is a safe pickup who could boom this week.
Running back is an extremely important position for your fantasy team due to the scarcity of consistent production at the position. With star rookie RB Devon Achane going down, a lot of teams need a replacement and the person that can do that is his teammate Jeff Wilson, Jr.
Being on IR for the start of the season Wilson Jr. has just recently been activated off of it, making him eligible to play this week. RB Raheem Mostert will still be getting a majority of the carries next week against the Carolina Panthers but when Wilson, Jr. was healthy last year he ran for 860 yards and five touchdowns while splitting carries with his teammates last year. Wilson Jr. is also going against a bottom-ten defense when they face the Carolina Panthers this week.
The Panthers just gave up 109 yards and a touchdown to Detroit Lions RB David Montogomery last week, so with the improved rushing attack of the Miami Dolphins, it would not be surprising to me if Wilson Jr. put up decent stats even as the backup RB. Just as a warning, Wilson, Jr. has not been called to the 53-man roster yet so there is still a chance he doesn’t play, but if that is the case, picking him up to fill out your backup RB slot is still a great move to make.
The Minnesota Vikings All-Pro wide receiver Jefferson is going to miss some time with a hamstring injury which is going to hurt a lot of teams. A good replacement for Jefferson would be his teammate K.J. Osborn. Osborn has been the second option for the Vikings for a couple of years now and plays almost half of his snaps at the slot receiver position according to NBC sports. Osborn is a guaranteed target for Kirk Cousins, which means at the very least he will have some guaranteed points.
The Vikings are also playing the Chicago Bears who are ranked as the second-worst defense in all of football with their corners giving up 388 passing yards and two touchdowns against Washington Commanders QB Sam Howell last week. Osborn is a bandage, not a fix but he can get you solid production for the next couple of weeks.
Someone who is having a surprise season is Atlanta Falcons tight end Jonnu Smith. Smith has become a safety valve receiver for QB Desmond Ridder who has been targeting Smith 5.4 times a game according to ESPN analytics. The Falcons love to run the football so they use a lot of two TE sets which means Smith sees the field a lot as a blocker but with that in mind when star rookie RB Bijan Robinson runs, this opens up the play-action playbook which is where a majority of Smiths catches come from. Smith is the fourth option on a solid offense and despite that has put up solid numbers at the position so for a safe pickup Smith makes a great backup TE.
Every week in fantasy football is key to winning because you never know when injuries can happen, so good luck on Sunday with these top picks.
Jasper Greuel is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the views expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Jasper about his column? email him at jg453620@ohio.edu.
