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 Josh Jacobs, MarShawn Lloyd, and Kenneth Walker III?
Latest News and Injury Updates Impacting Fantasy
Josh Jacobs, RB, Green Bay Packers
The Packers leaned on Josh Jacobs in their opening-week bout against the Philadelphia Eagles. The former Las Vegas Raiders RB ran for an impressive 84 yards on 16 carries while tacking on two receptions for 20 yards. Jacobs played 73% of the snaps.
There was nothing concerning that happened to Jacobs during the game, but he did pop up on Wednesday’s practice report with a back issue.
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Head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters that Jacobs was limited in practice in Wednesday. Given that it’s Wednesday and Jacobs was still able to get in a limited session, this feels like a big old nothing burger.
This is likely nothing more than a bit of soreness stemming from a heavy workload in the first game of the season. Fantasy managers should have zero concerns about Jacobs’ availability for this Sunday’s game against the Colts.
With Malik Willis set to start, Jacobs should see all the volume he can handle.
MarShawn Lloyd, RB, Green Bay Packers
It has been a wild ride for the Packers’ rookie running back. He was set to open the season as the team’s RB3 behind Jacobs and AJ Dillon. After Dillon went on IR, Lloyd had the inside track to the RB2 job. Then, a hamstring injury of his own sidelined Lloyd, elevating Emmanuel Wilson to the backup role.
Lloyd was initially an IR candidate himself, but recovered enough to avoid it. However, despite practicing all three days last week, Lloyd was inactive against the Eagles.
The story this week could end up being the same thing. Lloyd practiced Wednesday, albeit in a limited capacity.
It’s great news that Lloyd is continuing to participate, but we would really like to see him get in a full session. My guess is that is a prerequisite to him being activated as the presumptive RB2 behind Jacobs.
Regardless of Lloyd’s status, he belongs nowhere near fantasy lineups this week. We need to see it first before considering whether Lloyd’s role is large enough to warrant starting.
Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seattle Seahawks
It was a hot debut for Kenneth Walker III against the Broncos. The Seahawks’ RB1 did what he wanted on the ground, amassing 103 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
Late in the game, Walker left with what was described as an abdominal issue. After the game, Walker downplayed the injury, indicating he was perfectly fine. Shockingly, Walker is not, in fact, perfectly fine.
Now, this doesn’t mean Walker won’t play on Sunday when the Seahawks take on the Patriots. However, it is not a great sign that Walker did not practice at all on Wednesday or Thursday with what is officially being called an oblique injury.
This is a new coaching staff for the Seahawks. As a result, using past procedure to predict the future might not be the best move.
Under Pete Carroll, the team was always pretty cautious with players at practice who were banged up. It would not have been a surprise to see someone go DNP-LP-DNP and be fine for Sunday. We have no idea if that will be the case under Mike Macdonald.
As of now, it’s too early to make any prediction as to whether Walker will play. What we do know is that if Walker can’t go, Zach Charbonnet would serve as the lead back and be on the RB2 radar.