Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

With Week 1 laid to rest, we can start to dig into the questions that will be high on fantasy football manager's minds early in the season. Things like, could A.J. Brown be a WR2/3 for the rest of the year? Are the Browns going to flop, even with all of that rostered talent?

Can you guess the musical theme for this podcast? Contact us via email with your guess and we'll send a prize out to the first person to guess correctly. Cheers! Feel free to consult This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ask us your lineup questions @drinkfive on Twitter. Best of luck going forward!

Listen to the Fantasy Finish Line, 9/11/2019: Week 2 Preview: A Deep Dive

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes to get notifications whenever we release a new episode. We also broadcast the shows live at http://www.mixlr.com/drinkfive on Wednesday nights. Feel free to browse over and join in the discussion in the chat room!

Alright, let me just catch my breath. There, got it. What is the most stressful thing about playing fantasy football besides what to grill on game-day? Watching one of the players on your bench get injured and not knowing what happened, just how long they'll be out, and how it may affect your team (and others' teams as well!) down the road. Disclaimer: of course these injuries are hardest on the actual player themselves, this is just a game, etc! All of that being said, here's a rundown of the major injuries that occurred in Week 1 and my take on the dominoes that may fall because of those injuries.

For more in-depth analysis and discussion of these injury scenarios, tune in to the Fantasy Finish Line Podcast, Week 2 Preview: A Deep Dive.

• Nick Foles (broken left clavicle) – My understanding is that Foles underwent surgery with a plate and screws, which will allow for an earlier return... six to eight weeks, like the injury to Aaron Rodger’s throwing shoulder in 2017. The good news for Foles was that this injury was to his non-throwing shoulder, which should limit the amount of time spent on the sideline. In the meantime, Gardner Minshew (3% owned, Yahoo leagues) will serve as his replacement with Josh Dobbs as the backup. Minshew was just drafted this year in round 6 (178^th overall) and put on a good show against the Chiefs (22/25, 275 yards, 2 TD) and could end up being a QB2 in Superflex leagues. We’ll certainly find out what he’s made of this week against Houston.

• Tevin Coleman (high-ankle sprain) – Coleman was injured in the first play of the game. Typical. He won’t be going on IR and is expected to miss at least a few games. In the meantime, the 49ers will use Matt Breida, and Raheem Mostert (10% owned) in a greater capacity from week-to-week. We know who Breida is from last year, able to handle a little bit of everything he’s called upon to do and putting up 153 rushes for 814 yards and 3 TDs (5.3 YPC) and 27 receptions for 261 yards and 2 TDs. That said, everyone is still sleeping on Mostert – he has averaged 6.7 YPC over his career, had 9 carries for 40 yards in Week 1, and a 15-yard TD that was canceled due to a flag. Breida always seems to be on the verge of coming out of the game, so Mostert should be on fantasy rosters everywhere.

• Joe Mixon (sprained right ankle) – Mixon did not participate in practice on Wednesday. Looks like he’s headed for a game-time decision on Sunday. If he doesn’t play, Giovani Bernard (36% owned) has been, and will be a great fill-in starter. He’s had practice at this role and does just fine. With Rodney Anderson going to IR and Mixon starting off the season injured, Bernard’s fantasy production will just go up from here.

• Derrius Guice (meniscus sprain/tear) – Guice injured his other, non-ACL knee in Week 1. Guy can’t catch a break. The team is still trying to figure out whether he will need surgery. Adrian Peterson (53% owned) will be starting at RB once again for the foreseeable future and , but the guy we need to talk about here is Chris Thompson (36% owned) who caught 7-of-10 targets for 68 yards in Week 1. He needs to be owned as a bench stash in PPR leagues at the very least. There is no one else on the depth chart worth discussing right now, so Thompson should be in line for enough playing time to be fantasy relevant this year.

 Listen to the Fantasy Finish Line, 9/11/2019: Week 2 Preview: A Deep Dive

• Tyreek Hill (sternoclavicular joint) – Looks like 4-6 weeks out for Hill, but it could be more if rehabilitation doesn’t go as expected. No worries for Patrick Mahomes, though, as he can just fill-in-the-blanks at this point with whatever healthy receivers are on the squad, plus Travis Kelce. At this point, Sammy Watkins is the #1 WR (9 -of-11 targets for 198 yards and 3 TDs in Week 1) and it doesn’t look like that will be changing anytime soon. Apparently fully healthy for the first time since his rookie year in 2014, Watkins should be an every-week WR1 in the Chiefs offense. Congrats to those of you who snagged him in your drafts! With Hill out an extended time, Mecole Hardman (27% owned) was targeted heavily on waiver wires this week and we’ll surely see what he can do against the Raiders. Keep in mind he didn’t catch any passes in week 1 – temper expectations. Demarcus Robinson (1% owned) is my pick for the under-the-radar guy that gets a boost from this whole situation, not Hardman.

• Hunter Henry (tibial plateau fracture) – The good news is that this shouldn’t require surgery, the injury is to the left knee (as opposed to the right knee ACL tear from last year), and there are some new techniques to inject calcium into the fracture area to enhance healing and speed up his return. It’s not likely, though, that he’ll return before 4-6 weeks of recovery. Virgil Green (1% owned) is the next man up, but he has never been fantasy relevant. No, it’s more likely that we either see the return of Antonio Gates, or the Chargers simply redistribute Henry’s targets to Austin Ekeler and Mike Williams, mostly. Williams is notably also out with a knee injury and questionable for Sunday’s matchup with the Lions. Ouch, Chargers.

• Sterling Shepard (Concussion) – Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler, and J. Jones would make up the Giants’ receiving core if Shepard can’t be cleared in time for week 2’s matchup vs. the Bills. Just more targets for Evan Engram and Saquon Barkley, I suppose.

• Devin Funchess (broken collarbone) – Say what you will about Funchess, but he was still involved in this offense with 5 targets in week 1. With Funchess out until at least week 10, Parris Campbell (5% owned) should be forced to step up and we should see even more passes to the TE tandem of Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle.

Week 2 approaches, and with it a brand new set of rankings. Through waiver wires and injuries we'll march, setting the best possible lineups and picking up the players that could possibly turn out to be studs or difference makers in the weeks to come. This week, some players that we like more than the expert consensus are: David Montgomery, Raheem Mostert, Allen Robinson, Jamison Crowder, Courtland Sutton, and Austin Hooper. We also like the Los Angeles Chargers against the Lions. Best of luck, and tune in to the podcast on Wednesday at 9pm CT with any lineup questions!

Pay attention to these rankings throughout the week, as they will continue to evolve based on the latest injury updates, news, and player/matchup analysis. Good luck this season and remember, you can tweet us @drinkfive with any of your lineup questions!

Yeah, that's right. The Situation Room. Welcome to Week 1 of the 2019 Fantasy Football season.. no more preseason games that don't count toward winning that big, bad championship trophy. Tonight we'll discuss situations to monitor (positional battles, contract holdouts, etc) this week as we head into the first games of the season, as well as waiver wire pickups if applicable, and players that jump out at us according to our rankings.

Can you guess the musical theme for this podcast? Contact us via email with your guess and we'll send a prize out to the first person to guess correctly. Cheers! Feel free to consult This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ask us your lineup questions @drinkfive on Twitter. Best of luck going forward!

Listen to the Fantasy Finish Line, 9/5/2019: Week 1 Preview: The Situation Room

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes to get notifications whenever we release a new episode. We also broadcast the shows live at http://www.mixlr.com/drinkfive on Wednesday nights. Feel free to browse over and join in the discussion in the chat room!