It doesn’t take long for injuries to play a factor in the lineups for fantasy managers. The wide receiver position is not immune from these problems.
Here is the latest injury update for wide receivers Jameson Williams of the Detroit Lions, Jayden Reed of the Green Bay Packers, and Joshua Palmer of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Latest News and Injury Updates Impacting Fantasy
Jameson Williams, Wide Receiver, Detroit Lions
Williams has been a limited participant in practice all week and was listed as questionable in the Lions’ final injury report prior to Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Saturday, Jordan Schultz reported Williams will play in the game. This was reinforced by more reports overnight and into Sunday morning.
Williams is coming off a fantastic performance in Week 1 vs. the Los Angeles Rams, catching five passes (on nine targets) for a career-high 121 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown catch.
He finished with 24.4 fantasy points in the Week 1 win, easily his most fantasy points in a game in his NFL career. In fact, last season in 12 games, Williams had a total of 80.3 fantasy points.
Williams, who is the WR29 in the Pro Football Network’s Fantasy Rankings, is now averaging 70.0 receiving yards per game over his last four regular-season games after averaging 15.7 YPG in his first 15 career games.
Jayden Reed, Wide Receiver, Green Bay Packers
After not being listed on the Packers injury report Wednesday or Thursday, Reed was a limited participant in practice Friday and added to the injury report as questionable with calf and shin issues.
This would be a serious blow for the Packers, who are already dealing with quarterback Jordan Love’s injury status. So if Love cannot go — listed as questionable in Friday’s injury report (knee) — giving backup quarterback Malik Willis as many weapons as possible is a necessity for the Packers.
And there was no better performance by a wide receiver in the NFL in Week 1 than Reed’s game. The second-year receiver caught four passes for 138 yards and a 70-yard touchdown reception and added a 33-yard touchdown run. He finished with 33.1 fantasy points, the most of any wide receiver this season.
Reed, who is WR36 in PFN’s rankings, finished with 171 scrimmage yards.
If Reed is unable to play Sunday, fantasy managers do have the luxury of potentially turning to some other young players in the Packers wide receiver core, including Christian Watson (WR42) and Romeo Doubs (WR56).
Joshua Palmer, Wide Receiver, Los Angeles Chargers
Palmer, who was limited in practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, did not practice at all Friday because of a knee injury and is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Palmer is tracking to play against the Panthers.
Knee problems are hardly new for Palmer, who spent time on the IR last season with a knee injury. And the fact that he was the only Chargers player to be downgraded on the final injury report could be a signal to fantasy managers that Palmer could be out for Sunday’s game.
While this would be a problem for the Chargers, who are very thin at the wide receiver position, it probably isn’t a major issue for most fantasy managers.
Palmer is the WR44 in PFN’s latest rankings, and he gave a mediocre performance in Week 1, finishing with two catches for 15 yards and 3.5 fantasy points, despite being on the field for 81% of the team’s offensive snaps.