In a surprise fantasy football managers never want to see, Jaylen Warren was a late addition to the injury report on Monday morning. Ahead of the last game of the first round of the fantasy playoffs with minimal pivot options, is the Pittsburgh Steelers RB going to play tonight?
Is Jaylen Warren Playing Tonight?
Update: Warren is ACTIVE
Warren was healthy all week leading up to Monday night’s contest. He did not appear on any practice reports Wednesday through Friday. Warren was added to the injury report Monday morning, which is never what fantasy managers want to see.​
The good news is Warren is not dealing with an injury, but an illness. While illnesses are typically dismissed as nothing serious, this is not a case of a player missing practice ahead of a game. Warren woke up sick on gameday.​
Tom Pelissero reported that the team is optimistic Warren plays tonight. However, there is no way he will be feeling 100%.
The Steelers will make a final determination on Warren’s availability approximately 90 minutes before the 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff. Given that he woke up sick this morning, the team has limited time to evaluate how he responds throughout the day. Expect Warren to be active, but it wouldn’t be shocking at all to see him in a reduced role.
Warren’s Fantasy Football Outlook
There was nothing fancy on the 38-yard, third-down dump off pass to Warren on Sunday in Baltimore, but against the all out pressure, it opened up and he scored.
It’s a good thing too because his other 10 touches picked up just 24 yards and had no excitement attached to them.
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All in all, Warren has scored in three straight, but he did split snaps with Kenneth Gainwell down the middle last week and only outtouched him by one). You’re on reasonably thin ice here, but with Gainwell the preferred option and the expectation for this to be a more favorable script, I think you can get away with considering Warren as a RB2 in PPR formats.
It’s not always a work of art, but he’s the favorite in this backfield for rush attempts and has caught 30 of his 35 targets on the year.
— Kyle Soppe, PFSN Fantasy Analyst
If Warren ends up feeling too sick to be in his usual role, we already know Gainwell can handle it. He posted 31.4 fantasy points back in Week 4 in the one game Warren missed. Of course, anyone rostering Gainwell who doesn’t have Warren is unlikely to be in a position to start him.
If you happen to roster both Steelers’ backs, this is going to be a tough decision. Given the relatively even split and how effective Gainwell has been recently, it may be prudent to err on the side of Gainwell and not take the risk that Warren is fake active or is unable to finish the game.
