Allen Lazard Injury Update: Is he playing in Week 10?

With Sunday’s kickoff quickly approaching, fantasy football managers are searching for much-needed clarity on several critical players. The one question that remains is if Allen Lazard is playing in Week 10. While still searching for a WR2, the Green Bay Packers could use all the help they can get, and the return of one of their brightest stars of the season would be a good start. Fantasy managers could get a welcome boost in Week 10 if Allen Lazard makes his return from the injury that has forced him out since Week 3.

In what feels like déjà vu, it seems like Allen Lazard will be a game-time decision yet again.

Update, 14th November: The Green Bay Packers chose to activate Christian Kirksey, but remain cautious with Allen Lazard, who has yet to be activated.

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Allen Lazard a ‘game-time decision’ against the Jaguars in Week 10

After weeks of practicing and waiting to see if he was going to play, the window of opportunity is quickly closing on the Packers WR. We thought we would see Lazard play last week as he had gotten in almost two weeks of practice with the team leading into their Thursday night game.

However, Lazard was not at practice on Friday, according to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport later reported that Lazard is still dealing with soreness, per source. He did not say that this was a setback, but it remains hard to know unless the team confirms either way.

Related | Fantasy WR Injury Report Week 10: Preston Williams, Deebo Samuel, AJ Brown, more

When asked about his wide receiver’s status, Head coach Matt LaFleur categorized Lazard as questionable, potentially foreshadowing an activation to the 53-man roster before Sunday.

The Packers’ number two wide receiver has been out with a core muscle injury since his career-best game in Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints. Getting him back will be a huge boost for this offense, and it’s still possible he’ll make his return this week against his former team.

The Packers still have one more week if they choose to wait before bringing up Lazard, as once the player practices, it opens a 21-day window to then activate the player to the 53-man roster. 

If he is playing in Week 10, Allen Lazard could be a sneaky WR3/Flex for fantasy

With it being so long since we have seen him, I think the general masses have forgotten how good Lazard was in the season’s opening weeks.

In his short time on the field this year, Allen Lazard had 13 receptions on 17 targets for 254 yards and two touchdowns. Amazingly, even though he has played in five fewer games than Marquez Valdes-Scantling, he only trails him by 16 fantasy points. 

From Weeks 1 through 3, it was Allen Lazard who was the team’s WR1 in fantasy points (52.1 to Davante Adams’ 48.2), and he was WR10 overall. If he is going to play, this would be a great matchup.

Related | Cooper Kupp or Robert Woods: Which Rams WR to play vs. Seahawks?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have questions when it comes to which corner could cover Lazard if he is in the slot as D.J. Hayden is eligible to come off IR from his hamstring injury. If he is back, this is a matchup to attack as we saw the combination of Parris Campbell, Adam Humphries, and Tyler Boyd combine for 209 yards and a touchdown on 18 receptions. The team, however, could stick with Tre Herndon, who has done a solid job in the slot, allowing 0.26 fantasy points per targeted route.

As a unit, the Jaguars rank fifth in Defense Points Against Consistency (D-PAC) with a score of 21.02, meaning they are a matchup that you want to attack in fantasy and plugin as many players as you can against this team. Especially Allen Lazard if he is playing this week.

In a perfect world, we would love to see Lazard play a whole game before trusting him, but if you are thin at the position or have players on a bye, Lazard could be worth the risk knowing how much the Packers lack at pass catchers, not named Davante Adams.

Even if Allen Lazard does play, it’s going to have a very limited effect on Davante Adams

There is nothing I can say at this point that would even do justice to how good Davante Adams is and the incredible stretch that he is on. Over his last three games, Adams has gone to a different level of production, piling up 30 receptions, 422 yards, and six touchdowns. That’s more than most receivers have in an entire year. Adams leads the league in red zone targets (13) and ranks second among wide receivers in PPR points.

Adams is 11th in receptions (69), seventh in yards (675), second in touchdowns (8), is WR2 in PPR scoring (168.5 pts), and has the highest points per game average of any wide receiver (28.1). He has also done all of this in only six games, including Week 2, where he left early after three targets.

The Jaguars have allowed the third-most points per target to wide receivers through nine weeks, so Adams could and likely will get going quickly as I don’t expect them to be able to hold onto the ball and keep the Packers offense off the field. It will not surprise me at all to see the QB1, RB1, and WR1 all come out of this game.

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Tommy Garrett is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can read more of his work here and follow him at @TommygarrettPFN on Twitter.