Football is back! Week 1 delivered an exciting and unpredictable start to the season. Sure, we all knew Daniel Jones would post a top-three finish at quarterback, Javonte Williams and Quentin Johnston would land inside the top five at their positions, and Harold Fannin Jr. (a personal favorite of mine) would outpace David Njoku in targets—right?

Of course, one thing we could have expected was injuries. Unfortunately, they’re inevitable. But that’s why we’re here: to help you navigate these uncertainties.

If you're interested in discovering top players that could be available off the waiver wire, check out ASL's Alex Ciulla's "Fantasy Football Adds" or ASL founder Leonard LaPadula's "Streamers For The Desperate."

And with that, let’s dive in.

Quarterback:

 Injury – Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (Q – Toe) 

Opportunity – Mac Jones  

San Francisco needs to hire different personal trainers, add a hospital to its facility, or find some sort of witch doctor to remediate what feels like an injury curse. If I didn’t know any better, I would actually believe ‘the injury bug’ was real and maybe recommend an exterminator. But I digress.  

It seems like Purdy may not practice at all this week, and his status for next week’s contest against the New Orleans Saints is legitimately questionable. Although Mac Jones gets the opportunity if ‘Mr. Irrelevant misses time; it’s not one fantasy managers need to worry about unless in a very deep superflex league.  

If Purdy is out, expect a lot of Christian McCaffrey (like… a lot) and Brian Robinson. I’ll save my note for Ricky Pearsall when I cover the other injured 49ers.  

Running Back:

 Injury – Austin Ekeler, Washington Commanders (Q – Shoulder) 

Opportunity – Bill Croskey-Merritt, Chris Rodriguez 

Ekeler and Bill, as he is called, shared the workload evenly; each being given their own drives. Ekeler popped up on the injury report as limited in practice with a shoulder injury.  

I do not think this is an injury that will prevent Ekeler from seeing the field. Since the Commanders have a short week against the Packers, this is most likely a rest/precautionary move to keep him fresh. However, if he keeps this limited status heading into Thursday or becomes a game-time decision, immediately upgrade Bill to a low-end RB2.

Wide Receiver:

Injury – Drake London, Atlanta Falcons (Q – Shoulder) 

Opportunity – Kyle Pitts, Darnell Mooney, Ray-Ray McCloud III 

Drake London seemed to have sprained his shoulder on a near-touchdown catch (or was it a catch?) and is considered day-to-day. This is most likely a low-grade AC joint sprain, which would suggest London will play next Sunday against the Vikings. However, I would expect London to practice very little this week.  

If he misses time, immediately upgrade Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts, the latter of whom I believe would benefit most. Mooney is a question mark himself after turning in a handful of limited practices but being ruled out as a game-time decision in Week 1. Mooney would be upgraded to a WR3, low-end flex, and Pitts would be flirting with top ten tight end numbers, even against a tough defense in the Vikings. McCloud would be more of a dart throw in deeper leagues or best ball… but a blindfolded and spun around multiple times kind of dart throw. 

 Injury – Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers (Q – Shoulder) 

Opportunity – Ricky Pearsall 

Jennings left last week’s game with a shoulder injury and is truly a question mark for Week 2. Reports from the team stated the MRI was clean but they are still waiting on a CT scan. This is concerning. Unless the team is being very cautious (as they should be), a CT scan assumes a fracture. Whether the team fears that or not is still unknown but that is worrisome to say the least and the outcomes vary greatly. How the CT comes back will be the difference between one week and 3-4 weeks. 

This leaves Pearsall as the sole beneficiary of the wide receiver room. He was already a focal point, and if Jennings does in fact miss time, you can upgrade him as a set it and forget it WR2 (even if Mac Jones is throwing the ball). 

 Injury – Xavier Worthy, Kansas City Chiefs (D – Shoulder) 

Opportunity – Hollywood Brown, Travis Kelce 

Worthy left Friday’s game early with what we know now as a dislocated shoulder. Although the Chiefs have been noncommittal about his status, we can expect Worthy to miss at least a couple of weeks with this injury. The primary beneficiaries here are Brown and Kelce. We saw just how utilized Brown became after the injury, securing 10 receptions on 16 targets for 99 yards. I would expect Brown to see near double-digit targets every week while Worthy is out, making him a safe WR2.  

Kelce should be focused much more than he was on Friday, as he only saw 4 targets. I would expect those numbers to increase over the next couple of weeks, keeping Kelce as a top ten tight end starting this week against the Eagles.  

Tight End:

 Injury – Evan Engram, Denver Broncos (Q – Calf) 

Opportunity – Adam Trautman 

Engram suffered a calf injury in the fourth quarter of their win against the Titans. The severity is unknown. The hope is that it is not a strain, as that would take him out, at a minimum, of 2-3 games. If he misses time, Adam Trautman would assume the TE1 role for Denver. For fantasy? We can look elsewhere. For every tight end injury I mention below, unless you have a good option on your bench, your best bet will be searching the waiver wire for names like Brenton Strange or Juwan Johnson. Or possibly a quiet room to cry in. Whichever is easiest.  

Courtland Sutton and the rest of the wide receivers should expect to benefit most if Engram misses time.  

 Injury – Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders (Q – Knee) 

Opportunity – Michael Mayer 

I will try my best not to mention the gross snap percentages between the Raiders' tight ends in Week 1 and instead keep this as short and sweet as I can. Bowers left the game late after an awkward hit to his knee. He stated he was fine and ready to go back in, but it seems the team wanted to play it safe. Everyone seems to be questionable these days, but I would say Bowers is ‘Probable’ for their Monday night game against the Chargers. It was most likely a mild sprain, so expect limited practice, at the very least, later in the week. If Thursday comes around and he isn’t practicing in any capacity, that should worry fantasy managers. At that point, I would make room on my bench to hold Mayer in case Bowers is a late inactive on Monday night. If Bowers misses time, you can immediately upgrade Mayer to a low-end TE1, and he would be a very startable asset.  

 Injury – George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers (O – Hamstring) 

Opportunity – Luke Farrell, Jake Tonges, Ricky Pearsall, Christian McCaffrey 

Expectations were high for Kittle heading into this year, and he looked well on his way to deliver on said expectations. However, randomly in the middle of a drive, we saw Kittle on the sidelines with a hat on. The hat = no good. Kittle is expected to be sidelined 3-5 weeks with a hamstring injury and is now a candidate for IR. Luke Farrell and Jake Tonges played fairly even snaps, with Tonges earning three targets (on 30 snaps) to Farrell’s one (on 44 snaps). However, it’s hard to tell who will benefit from these two, if any, for fantasy. My expectation is that it will vary and be too volatile to even make a gamble on. The true beneficiaries of this injury are Pearsall and McCaffrey, who should now expect to be peppered with targets from here on out. Expect massive games from those two against the Saints in Week 2 and beyond. Oh, and maybe we can get these two in some bubble wrap?