It’s always a challenge to navigate through injuries in fantasy football. As we head into Week 2, a handful of players are dealing with preexisting injuries, while others have injuries they picked up in Week 1.
As we start looking at our lineups ahead of this week, what are the latest injury updates on Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, and Hollywood Brown?
Latest News and Injury Updates Impacting Fantasy
Keenan Allen, WR, Chicago Bears
Allen sat out the final month of last season with a heel injury. While I still believe he would have played had the Los Angeles Chargers had something to play for, perhaps the injury was more legitimate than I believed at the time.
It’s unclear whether Allen is dealing with the same injury or an entirely new one. Either way, he was on the Week 1 injury report with a heel issue, which he played through. But the difference between this week and last week is he practiced all three days ahead of Week 1.
Allen did not practice on Wednesday as the Bears began their preparation for a Sunday night trip to Houston. Head coach Matt Eberflus described it as a “rest day” for Allen. That’s a little bit encouraging, but Eberflus stopped short of saying Allen would be fine, indicating the team would reevaluate on Thursday.
Keenan Allen (heel) is being given a rest day on Wednesday, per Matt Eberflus. Team is going to evaluate it tomorrow and see where he is. Rome Odunze is not practicing today, will be "day to day."
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) September 11, 2024
Allen is a veteran and doesn’t need to practice to play. He’s also a player who has dealt with a bevy of injuries the past couple of years and is 32 years old.
At this point, I don’t have a clear read on whether Allen will play. If I had to assign a percentage to it, I would say it’s 55-45 he plays, which is not a whole lot of confidence.
If Allen can’t go, DJ Moore could be in for an extra-heavy workload. We might also see more 12 personnel, with the Bears opting to utilize Gerald Everett and Cole Kmet instead of their backup wide receivers.
Rome Odunze, WR, Chicago Bears
Unfortunately, Allen isn’t the only Bears WR at risk of missing this week’s contest.
Rookie wideout Rome Odunze left last week’s game with a knee issue. He did not practice on Wednesday, either, and has been described as “day-to-day.” Yet, I guess that’s at least better than the increasingly popular “week-to-week” that’s been going around.
The sentiment surrounding Odunze feels much more negative. Thursday and Friday practices will be telling, but my instincts tell me Odunze will not participate at all in either of them and be ruled out on Friday.
Odunze wasn’t on the fantasy radar anyway, as he’s the WR3 for a rookie quarterback who looked completely in over his head in Week 1. Caleb Williams will improve, but his WR3 was never going to be fantasy relevant. Odunze was always a second-half play and remains that way.
If Odunze does surprisingly suit up with Allen sitting out, perhaps he could be on the Flex radar, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Hollywood Brown, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Brown first went down in the Kansas City Chiefs’ initial preseason game, suffering an SC joint injury similar to the one Tyreek Hill sustained in 2019 — one that cost Hill four games.
After being evaluated, Brown avoided surgery and was given a 4-6 week timeline, which we are now nearing the tail end of.
Brown did not practice at all ahead of Week 1 and was ruled out early in the week. While Wednesday practice participation is mostly meaningless, it does matter for players who did not play the week before. Brown’s absence from Wednesday’s practice is an ominous sign for his Week 2 availability.
Additionally, it being so early in the season, and with the Chiefs coming off a win, Kansas City has little incentive to push the envelope, especially considering the tricky nature of Brown’s injury.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on Hollywood Brown: "They all set a little different. It's something that has to move to get back into place… from what I understand. I'm not a physician by any means. You're talking just centimeters of it being off can be a problem. So you want to…
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) September 11, 2024
Reading between the lines on this quote from Andy Reid, fantasy managers shouldn’t expect Brown to play this week. That means another week of Xavier Worthy operating in two-receiver sets. Given his usage last week, though, the rookie remains a volatile option.