Week 14: Injury Report & Other Things I Want to Talk About

Hello all,

A corporate greeting today because the Philadelphia Eagles are ALL BUSINESS. At this point in the season, the true Super Bowl contenders are distancing themselves from the pack, crossing the double digit win threshold, and aiming for those playoff bye weeks. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and are now gearing up for your own playoff runs. Possibly starting this week!

Week 14 Byes and Relevant Players:

• Baltimore Ravens – QB Lamar Jackson, RB Derrick Henry, WR Zay Flowers, WR Rashod Bateman, WR Diontae Johnson (it’s actually over), TE Mark Andrews

• Denver Broncos – QB Bo Nix, RB Javonte Williams, WR Courtland Sutton

• Indianapolis Colts – QB Anthony Richardson, RB Jonathon Taylor, WR Josh Downs (my prince), WR Michael Pittman Jr., WR Adonai Mitchell

• New England Patriots – QB Drake Maye (my other prince, heir to the Patriots dynasty), RB Rhamondre Stevenson, WR DeMario Douglas, TE Hunter Henry

• Washington Commanders – QB Jayden Daniels, RB Brian Robinson Jr., WR Terry McLaurin, TE Zach Ertz

Week 14 Over/Unders:

Highest Over/Unders (via FanDuel)

• 51.5 – Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions –Thursday Night BANGER

• 49.5 – Buffalo Bills @ Los Angeles Rams

• 49.5 – Cincinnati Bengals @ Dallas Cowboys – There is a Simpsons-themed CGI-animated alt cast for this MNF game so the NFL can finally hit their one untouched market, Simpsons fans

Lowest Over/Unders (via FanDuel)

• 39.5 – Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans

• 40.5 – New Orleans Saints @ New York Giants

• 41.5 – Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 14 Defenses for Beth:

1. Philadelphia Eagles

2. Pittsburgh Steelers

3. Tier Break    -

4. Miami Dolphins

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

6. Minnesota Vikings

Week 14 Injury Report:

• RB Christian McCaffrey (knee) – Today’s top story. This PCL injury is sidelining CMC likely for the rest of the fantasy season. If you drafted in 1.01, pulled a rabbit out of a hat, and still made the fantasy playoffs, well done. Got anything else in there?

• RB Jordan Mason (ankle) – McCaffrey’s handcuff is also going on the IR, putting RB Isaac Guerendo in the San Francisco backfield. All that talk about safety blankets – oopsy! Guerendo has showed some juice in his snaps even before this situation, so I’d call him a priority add for all teams.

• RB Bucky Irving (hip) – After another studly performance in their overtime win on Sunday, Irving downplayed the severity of this hip injury. He did leave the game however and is listed as “Questionable” for next weekend. Chances are running mate RB Rachaad White is already on a team in your league. If he is not, claim him. White is a top 15 RB if Bucky doesn’t suit up.

• WR Ladd McConkey (knee) – The second-round stand out came into their game against Atlanta with a nagging shoulder injury already. Then, he left the game with a knee injury. HC Jim Harbaugh refused to give more details after the game. Need to monitor this one.

• QB Brock Purdy (shoulder) – This injury dates back to the 49ers Week 11 game against the Seattle Seahawks. After a week of uncertainty, Purdy played through that injury on Sunday Night against the Buffalo Bills. In that loss, no part of their offense looked all that good. You would think Purdy is healthy enough to continue playing but I fear there may be some business decisions made behind closed doors before the 9ers give him his franchise QB contract this offseason. Don’t be surprised if he ends up resting games in the future.

• QB Trevor Lawrence (concussion) – Rumor had it that the Jags were considering sitting Lawrence down for the rest of the year before Sunday’s game against the Texans. After hurrying back from his shoulder injury, TLaw received a scary hit in that game, and is now in the concussion protocol. Jacksonville has to be considering 2025 first and foremost as Lawrence recovers. I would say stock down for the Jags offense but I don’t actually know if it could get any lower. If you need to start WR Brian Thomas Jr., pray for a touchdown.

• WR Devonta Smith (concussion) – It sounds like Skinny Batman had a chance to play in Baltimore last weekend. So there’s optimism for Smith to be back on the field for week 14 if you need him.

• QB, TE Taysom Hill (knee) – If you picked up Taysom Hill on my recommendation, nice. But you can drop him now. He’s out for the year it sounds like. Tough time to be a Saints fan.

• TE Dallas Goedert (knee) – Early tests say this one isn’t too serious. He’s probably fine but keep an eye on this if you are relying on Goedert.

• WR Marquise Brown (shoulder) – After an up-and-down early career with the Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals, The Kansas City Chiefs signed Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to join second-year WR Rashee Rice, first-round rookie WR Xavier Worthy, and KC staple TE Travis Kelce in a four-headed monster offense. Halfway through the season, WR DeAndre Hopkins and TE Noah Gray are relevant fantasy players. The NFL is crazy. Brown’s injury was a headline of the preseason and after surgery in September, the quote was “months” for his timeline. Months later, here we are. It sounds like Hollywood will be back, like, kind of soon. Probably can’t trust him for your fantasy team but someone to root for in the late season.

• WR Calvin Austin III (head) – Wasn’t expecting to speak about Calvin Austin much at all this season but he had another TD this week. If any sickos are out there in play 7WR leagues got some points from Austin, it sounds like he is in the protocol as well.

• TE Theo Johnson (foot) – I don’t know who was rostering Giants rookie Theo Johnson but in case you were, you don’t need to anymore. WE ARE out for the year.

Other Things I Want to Talk About

• Browns QB Jameis Winston changed everything in that offense. His stat line on last night’s unexpected thriller was 497 yards, 4 TDs, a 2-point conversion, and 3 INTs, including 2 pick-6s. That could not be more Jameis Winston football. I cannot promise Winston will have that much passing floor in fantasy every week moving forward but his volume does lift the pass catchers. With Jameis at the helm, WR Jerry Jeudy, WR Elijah Moore, and WR Cedrick Tillman are pulled out of irrelevance and TE David Njoku becomes an arguable top-5 guy at his position. They don’t get dinged for the inevitable Winston interceptions so they are definitely FLEXable moving forward. Again, not promises on this one, but even Jameis himself could be a half-decent boom-bust streamer. It’s almost an offense too crowded with talent to predict who is going to produce each week which is CRAZY to say considering how pathetic they were with QB Deshaun Watson early in the year. What is Cleveland’s plan at QB in the future? Will Winston be part of it? “You can’t say the sky’s the limit when people have been to the moon.”

• The rookie tight end curse is back on the table. Falcons TE Kyle Pitts and TE Sam LaPorta both broke records in their rookie seasons, only to disappoint in year 2. Pitts continues to faceplant every year since. LaPorta has rebounded a bit this year, but isn’t close to paying off his round 4-5 fantasy price tag. Raiders rookie TE Brock Bowers though, oh my god, I am ready to be hurt again. He is good. Let’s put it in perspective. Sam LaPorta took the record for TE rookie receptions (86) last season. Bears legend TE Mike Ditka holds the rookie TE record for receiving yards (1,076). With 5 games to go, Bowers currently sits at 84 catches for 884 yards. Any more performances like we saw on Black Friday, it’s damn well likely he takes both.

• After scoring 33 points this season, all other teams are 53-1. The Bengals are 2-4. QB Joe Burrow and WR Ja’Marr Chase would be in the middle of the MVP and OPOY conversations if their team was anywhere near playoff relevant. The Bengals defense has been that bad. For fantasy purposes, play all Bengals and play everyone going against the Bengals. I am very interested to see where free agent WR Tee Higgins goes this offseason because he too is performing well after returning from injury, and the team simply cannot warrant giving Higgins the money he deserves without first investing in that defense.

• Magic exists on this Earth and the Chiefs are using it for evil. They have won 14 consecutive one-score games and many of them under strange circumstances. Blocked punts, game-breaking flags, everything in the book. The Raiders picked them apart on a potential game-winning drive on Friday, only to get an illegal shift call, pushing them out of field goal range, forcing another play, during which the referees blew the whistle, which was later ignored, but did result in a fumbled snap, and lost the Raiders the game, 19-17. The script writers are getting real creative now.

• QB Daniel Jones landed a job somewhere on the Minnesota Vikings depth chart. Good for him!

• RB Gus Edwards is the new lead guy for the run-heavy Los Angeles Chargers, so go add him if he’s on the waiver wire!

Send me your matchups if you are in the playoffs. Good luck this week! See the catalog and more of my writing on my website here: https://scottkauffman4.wixsite.com/my-site