New England Patriots’ RB Damien Harris has been a consistent presence on the team’s injury report this week. Harris was placed into the NFL concussion protocol to start the week. He needed to clear that protocol before he would be allowed to return to contact practice and potentially play Sunday. Let’s look at Harris’ injury status, whether he is playing against the Browns on Sunday, and the fantasy football impact of his status.
Is Damien Harris playing today vs. the Browns?
Unfortunately, the Patriots and fantasy football managers will be without Harris this week. After being listed as not participating all week at practice, Harris was downgraded to out on Saturday. That means Harris could not clear the NFL concussion protocol ahead of their Week 10 game against the Browns.
Harris will now remain in the protocol into Week 11. However, there is optimism that he will return to practice ahead of the Patriots’ Week 11 Thursday Night Football game. In some ways, it may actually benefit Harris for Week 11 by not playing in this game. The short turnaround can be tough for a running back to recover and perform well on Thursday. Harris will now be fresh for that Thursday encounter with the Atlanta Falcons.
J.J. Taylor should be active in Week 10
The positive news for the Patriots is that rookie RB Rhamondre Stevenson reportedly cleared the concussion protocol. That means New England will have one of their top two RBs available in Week 10. Stevenson did not practice this week but was reportedly able to work out in a non-contact fashion. He should have little limitations this week.
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The other two backs that will see work in Week 10 are Brandon Bolden and J.J. Taylor. With Harris inactive, Taylor will almost certainly be active for the fifth time this season. His highest workload came in Week 7 when he had 9 carries and 1 target against the Jets. Taylor scored 2 TDs in that game, but he was inactive the following two weeks.
Fantasy impact of Harris’ absence
The Patriots’ RB position is a minefield for fantasy managers, although the absence of Harris does relieve that pressure a little. Taylor is a prime example — 2 TDs in Week 7, only to be inactive the following week.
It is tough to know what role each back will play. Stevenson has averaged 9 carries and 2 targets per game over the last two weeks. In that same time frame, Harris averaged 19 carries and 1 target per game. Therefore, there are essentially 20 opportunities available, but how they will be split is tough to guess.
The other element is that the Browns have a strong run defense. Cleveland has been the seventh-toughest defense against RBs in terms of fantasy points. They have allowed an average of just 20.88 points per game to the position with an average of 1 touchdown per game.
If you have Stevenson on your roster, he should be a startable option, but Belichick is never simple with his decisions. Bolden was expected to take up the work in the receiving game, but he has just 2 targets in the past two games. This backfield is murky at best without the safety of Harris, who was the clear leader.
