Drafts are happening right now, and the injury news has not stopped long enough for anyone to catch up. Some of these situations have resolved themselves over the past week. Others have gotten worse, and a couple have flipped entirely since the last time you checked. This is where every name that matters actually stands before you finalize your fantasy football board.
Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee on December 14, and doctors initially told him October was a realistic target for getting back on a field. Blowing past that, he worked with the first team throughout training camp and sat out the preseason entirely by design.
Xavier Worthy removed whatever doubt was left when a reporter asked him Wednesday about Mahomes potentially being cleared for the opener against the Denver Broncos.
“He’s back,” Worthy said. “It’s not potentially back.”
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So the health question is closed. Ranking him is the harder part. Over a quarter of his fantasy points came on the ground last season, easily a career high, and that is a number worth projecting regression on even before you factor in a serious knee injury.
Kansas City also added Kenneth Walker III, and the expectation is that this offense operates differently than it has at any point in the Mahomes era. That combination leaves him on the outside of QB1 status in most formats.
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Jeremiyah Love is still working his way back from the high ankle sprain he suffered on his final touch of the preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders, an injury that traces directly back to coaching malpractice. Mike LaFleur gave his rookie running back 14 touches in the first half of a game that does not count. Every other Arizona starter played a single series and went to the bench.
High ankle sprains are the slow ones, which is why this has dragged into September. Mike Garafolo reported on September 1 that a source put Love at about 50/50 for Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Nobody is pretending to know more than that.
Tyler Allgeier is likely in line for an increased role early in the season regardless of how this resolves. James Conner is still working back from the foot injury that ended his 2025, and Trey Benson has been ruled out for the entire season with a knee injury, which leaves Arizona without much behind Love. Allgeier is firmly on the RB2 radar if the rookie is not ready.
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
The scare was as bad as it gets. Ashton Jeanty dove for a catch during an August 23 team period, landed awkwardly with no defender near him, and had to be helped off by trainers because he could not put any pressure on his right leg. The entire team took a knee. Everyone in the industry, myself included, spent that night bracing for a torn ACL.
Fortunately, it is an ankle sprain. Jeanty has already been spotted walking without a limp. He has not practiced officially yet, though he has done work on the side, and when Klint Kubiak was asked about his availability for Week 1, the head coach implied he would be ready to go. I am continuing to draft him at a discount.
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Mike Washington would start any games Jeanty ends up missing, and the fourth-round rookie out of Arkansas at least gave Las Vegas a reason to think he could hold up, running for 168 yards across his three preseason appearances.
Josh Jacobs, RB, Green Bay Packers
The health part is fine. Josh Jacobs battled a variety of injuries down the stretch last season, and his efficiency cratered as a result, but everything coming out of Green Bay says he is healthy now.
The rest of it is the problem. His initial court date has been moved up to September 10, which is an interesting wrinkle, and I would imagine he wants this resolved as soon as possible.
My guess, and I want to be clear that this is a guess, is that he takes a plea at some point in September and the NFL hits him with six games. If we knew for certain that Jacobs would be back in Week 7, he becomes draftable. We do not know that. I am letting him be someone else’s problem.
MarShawn Lloyd is the next man up for an offense that has leaned heavily on the run game since Jacobs arrived, and Lloyd is currently fully healthy, which has been a rarity for him. He is also overpriced in the sixth or seventh round if Jacobs comes back in Week 7.
Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets
Breece Hall tweaked his groin at practice on August 17 after a routine grab on a short throw, going down without being touched. Aaron Glenn confirmed a strained groin that afternoon and downplayed it immediately, saying he did not think it was a big deal, though he added that Hall would be evaluated and would have imaging done.
Nothing since has changed the picture. Groin strains generally run two to four weeks, and Hall had more than three weeks of runway from the day it happened.
He is fully expected to play in Week 1. Draft him as normal. Braelon Allen is the name to file away if anything changes, especially with Isaiah Davis having spent time on the shelf this summer.
Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
The injury itself was severe and required extensive offseason attention. A dislocated ankle, a tibia and fibula fracture, and a deltoid ligament rupture are each major injuries on their own, and Cam Skattebo suffered all three at once.
He is pacing to be full go to open the season. Aside from a minor early-camp blip involving a failed backflip, nothing this summer has raised real concern about his health.
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The health is not why I am off him. New York signed Najee Harris to a one-year deal on August 18, adding a 6’1″, 232-pound back with four straight 1,000-yard seasons in Pittsburgh to a room that already had Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary in it. I think John Harbaugh likes his boring old school running back. Here is a bold prediction: Harris outscores Skattebo in fantasy points per game over the second half of the season.
Skattebo is coming off boards in the fourth round, which means there is no discount available on a player I am fading.
TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
TreVeyon Henderson has not practiced since August 24, when he slipped on a cut and left the session early. There is no real concern for Week 1 at this point, though a running back missing the entire final stretch of the ramp-up is obviously not ideal.
The health is not the reason I am out on him. I have been fading Henderson all year irrespective of it. Rhamondre Stevenson has been ranked ahead of him since my initial set of rankings in May, and I have not budged. It is still that way today.
Henderson ran 180 times for 911 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie and added 35 catches, which is a real season. New England still leaned on Stevenson through the postseason, and nothing this summer has told me that pecking order is changing.
D’Andre Swift, RB, Chicago Bears
D’Andre Swift left practice on September 3 in significant discomfort, holding his midsection. The immediate fear was a sports hernia, which is a multi-week problem at best and the kind of injury that follows a running back around for an entire season.
According to Adam Schefter, it is just a cramp. Crisis averted.
I am still aggressively targeting him in drafts. Swift is going around pick 52, a price that exists almost entirely because the market expects Kyle Monangai to take a bite out of his workload, and Monangai has barely been on a practice field since early August. ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported that Swift had arguably the best camp of any Chicago skill player this summer.
Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers
Chuba Hubbard is dealing with a hamstring injury and has been labeled week-to-week. Everything about the handling suggests a conservative approach with a veteran who has missed only six games across his first five NFL seasons.
As long as Hubbard is healthy, I expect him to start and function as the 1a to Jonathon Brooks’ 1b. That makes him a source of cheap volume this late in drafts, which is not an easy thing to find.
The longer this lingers, the more that softens. Hamstrings are the injury most likely to turn a week-to-week label into a month, and the entire case for Hubbard collapses if he cannot get on the field early. Check on this one daily as your draft approaches.
Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
Brooks has been absent from practice with soreness. It seems like no big deal and I am not worried about Week 1.
Carolina made him a second-round pick in 2024 despite a prior ACL tear, and he then tore the same ACL after 12 professional touches. He missed all of 2025. The fact that he is considered healthy now is not surprising, though soreness in a knee with that history is the kind of thing that demands monitoring as his reps climb.
I still think he is overpriced. Brooks certainly has more upside than Hubbard, but I expect Hubbard to start as long as he remains healthy.
Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Seattle has been unwilling to set any sort of timeline for his recovery from the torn ACL he suffered on January 17. What we do know right now is he’s not playing until at least Week 5, as Zach Charbonnet is on the PUP list. I do not expect him back until at least midseason.
A ramp-up period would be likely whenever he does return, and it is hard to imagine feeling good about flexing him at any point before Halloween. This is still a player with 20 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons, and he has proven capable of handling the valuable work near the goal line. If that holds for the second half of this season, Jadarian Price’s sixth-round ADP is going to be tough to justify.
Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
Kyle Monangai hyperextended his right knee at practice in mid-August, and Jeremy Fowler reported at the time that he was expected to miss multiple weeks. That came on the heels of a soft tissue issue in early August. Between the two, he has missed most of the Summer and every preseason game.
He has reportedly returned to running, which is a start. That still probably does not get him to Week 1. Roschon Johnson made the 53-man roster and would be Swift’s backup if Monangai cannot go.
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Monangai has been very cheap in fantasy drafts because of the injury. I still expect a fantasy-relevant role when he returns, and he is the handcuff to Swift. Draft him at the discount.
Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Ja’Marr Chase gave everyone a scare on August 25. He went up for a deep ball from Joe Burrow, came down wrong, tried to walk it off, and dropped to his knees before limping off the field. Non-contact knee injuries carry a specific kind of dread, and the video did not look good.
Disaster was averted, though. ESPN’s Ben Baby noted that Chase was not receiving any treatment on the sideline afterward, and Jeff Mueller, a doctor of physical therapy who covers injuries for Fantasy Points, read it early as a hyperextension without ligament trauma. That is exactly what it was.
There is no risk of him missing Week 1. Continue taking him at No. 3 overall as the WR1.
Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants
A torn ACL on September 28 ended Malik Nabers’ second season before it really started, and he had surgery less than a month later. Offseason reports indicated he needed a cleanup procedure, which dampened hopes of a September return at the time.
It is still unclear whether he will play in Week 1. That is the entire risk here, because a fully healthy Nabers is a surefire Round 1 pick.
Nabers looked like a generational talent as a rookie, and even with only three career games alongside Jaxson Dart, he is very clearly the featured piece of this passing game. I am willing to gamble at the 2/3 turn.
Rashee Rice, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Rehabbing a knee while incarcerated is not how most NFL players spend a summer. Rashee Rice is back on the practice field and projects as Kansas City’s leading target earner in Week 1, and he averages over 5.5 catches per game for his career.
Between the injuries and the off-field issues, the profile carries real risk. That is not my issue with him either, though. I am fading Rice because he is not actually good at football and we are drafting a role, not a player.
Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Zay Flowers returned to practice this week after missing time with an undisclosed injury. Baltimore never treated it as anything serious, and it was never a concern.
He remains one of my favorite picks at the 3/4 turn.
Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Emeka Egbuka sprained his toe on August 12 during Tampa Bay’s joint practice with the New York Jets and has not practiced since. The initial reporting was encouraging on every front. Tampa Bay described a stable sprain with no ligament damage and sounded optimistic about Week 1.
Todd Bowles muddied that on August 17, calling Egbuka day-to-day and week-to-week before saying he was not sure whether the injury would affect his availability for the opener. Bowles has a long history of vague injury updates. That alone would not move me.
The missed time is what moves me. Egbuka has now been off the field for more than three weeks with an injury nobody considers long term, and I have concerns he will not be ready. If I had to guess right now, I would say he does not play in Week 1.
That is not a full fade, because I expect him back at some point in September. It is enough to dock him a little.
Luther Burden III, WR, Chicago Bears
An early-August groin injury cost Luther Burden III the entire preseason. He has already returned to practice and is on track for Week 1.
I am pretty neutral on him. Burden is a young receiver with real tools in a system built to use them, and his summer setback pushed his ADP down a few spots while Rome Odunze moved up.
I will take him at the right price. Not reaching, not fading.
Rome Odunze, WR, Chicago Bears
Rome Odunze suffered a foot injury at practice on September 3. He tried to keep going before the training staff pulled him off the field, which is usually a decent tell about how the player felt in the moment.
It has been reported that this is not the same foot where he suffered the stress fracture last season. That distinction is the whole story here. An injury to the same foot would be a completely different conversation, and this is not that.
Reports are that he is okay. I am not currently concerned, and I am drafting him normally.
Mike Evans, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Mike Evans has missed practices throughout training camp with various soft tissue issues, a quad strain in late July and then a groin problem in the final week of August. He is back at practice now, and Jeremy Fowler reported that he plans to play in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams.
None of that is ideal, and it is a lot less ideal at 33 years old in a first season with a new team. Evans signed a three-year deal worth $42.5 million with San Francisco in March after 12 seasons in Tampa Bay.
I fear Father Time is closing in fast. Evans has dealt with recurring hamstring issues for two years running, and last season a hamstring strain followed by a broken collarbone held him to eight games and 30 catches for 368 yards. I expect his name to frequent the injury report all season.
He is a full fade.
Alec Pierce, WR, Indianapolis Colts
Alec Pierce signed a large contract this offseason, and Indianapolis moved on from Michael Pittman Jr. The situation itself looks fine. Left ankle surgery in the offseason then produced a recovery that bled well into training camp.
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He has returned to practice and looks better than expected. The problem is what all that missed time costs him. Pierce is not expected to run an expanded route tree, and he has been a simple route runner up to this point with no camp evidence that anything has changed, which points to a slow start.
I am not really interested.
Josh Downs, WR, Indianapolis Colts
Josh Downs is dealing with a calf injury that is not considered serious. There is no real concern for Week 1.
I am drafting him as normal. My skepticism is about role rather than health. Indianapolis just paid Pierce and still has Keenan Allen working the short areas, and I am skeptical Downs holds a prominent role in two-receiver sets. That caps his upside no matter how healthy the calf is.
Jordyn Tyson, WR, New Orleans Saints
The hate has gone too far.
Jordyn Tyson had soft tissue problems in college and the hamstring has cropped up again, delaying his pro debut by at least four weeks with a placement on IR. Strategically, you can draft him late and slot him into your IR spot. In reality, you are getting the eighth overall pick in the draft on a team that needs exactly what he does.
You do not have to spend big. Take him as WR45 to make sure you get him, and I think you will like where your roster sits for the stretch run.
If the injury scares you off, Juwan Johnson is my TE13 and stands to repeat or build on his career year from 2025.
Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers
Tucker Kraft looked like an emerging star before he tore his ACL on November 2. He has expressed complete confidence in his ability to debut with his teammates in Week 1, and Green Bay backed that up by activating him off the PUP list on July 31.
He appears good to go.
One note is worth factoring into roster construction. Kraft hinted in the middle of August that his role may not be fully expanded until midseason. That has not changed how I rank him, though it does make spending a late pick on a viable TE2 a reasonable hedge if you take the plunge on him.
George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers
George Kittle tore his Achilles on January 11, and a midseason return looked like the best-case scenario at the time. He is healthy now and traveled to Australia with the team for the opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne.
He is set to play in Week 1, but on a snap count.
A tight end on a pitch count in a game halfway around the world is a touchdown-or-bust TE2 to open the season. Jake Tonges is the Week 1 streamer if the situation changes before kickoff.
