How to Handle Injured Players in Fantasy Football
by Brandon M. of RotoPicks.com
If you drafted Kansas City Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles in 2011, chances are your fantasy team tanked after Charles suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 2. One of the perks daily and weekly leagues is that injuries can no longer derail your fun for an entire season. However, although a Jamaal Charles-like injury can't wreck your year, careless attention to NFL injuries can prevent you from winning in weekly leagues. There are several types of injuries to note when selecting players:
Serious Injuries (Status: Injured Reserve, Out, Doubtful)
If a player is listed as Out (O) or on Injured Reserve (IR), he will not play that week and can also miss future weeks. Also be wary of players listed as Doubtful (D). While there is a slim chance that a Doubtful player can be upgraded to active, it rarely happens. Furthermore, even if a Doubtful player competes, don't expect him to play at 100%.
A weekly fantasy site may or may not remove a player from the selection list if he suffers an injury that will cause him to miss a game or several. Do your homework and always check official team injury reports to determine if a player will suit up.
Moderate to Mild Injuries (Status: Questionable, Probable)
Football is about toughness, and most players will man-up and play if they are listed as Questionable (Q) or Probable (P) during the week. That being said, Questionable players demand extra attention. Sometimes they may be scratched from the active roster less than an hour before game time. Other times, they may play but perform ineffectively due to their injury. Read up on a Questionable player's status to determine whether he is a safe start or not. And if you're in a league that closes at 1PM on Sunday, NEVER risk starting a Questionable player who has a 4 PM or Sunday/Monday Night start. Since lineups become permanent at 1PM, you'll be unable to swap out a 4 PM player if he is later listed as Out.
Probable players almost always play. They may be downgraded to Questionable or Out during the course of the week, but if a player is listed as Probable on Saturday, he's a sure thing. In fact, "Probable" is often just a formality for the injury report; coaches list players as Probable to avoid any heat from league officials.
Injury Prone Players and Recurring Injuries
Even if you make it a point to select completely healthy players, you may find yourself with an injured starter by the end of the day. Injuries can be impossible to predict, but some players are more likely to suffer injuries on any given week. For instance, while Eli Manning has been a paragon of health through the years, Michael Vick has made a career out of limping to the sidelines. If you want to play it safe, avoid fragile players, athletic QBs, and anyone with a history of frequent or nagging injuries.
Also keep in mind players' recent injuries. If a RB suffered a turf toe injury in Week 2, he may still be feeling the effects of it in Week 7, even if he's not listed on the injury report. This happened to Lions RB Jahvid Best in 2010. Best suffered a turf toe injury early in the season and never fully recovered. He struggled to break double-digit fantasy points for the rest of the season, despite being listed as healthy week after week. Remember that the injury report is meant to list injuries that may prevent a player from being active, not necessarily injuries that may prevent a player from being effective.
Players Returning from Injury
One of the biggest gambles in fantasy sports is starting a player who just recovered from an injury that kept him out of one or more games. Even if he is not listed on the injury report and his coaches say he submitted a solid week of practice, you can't bank on anything. Coaches will exaggerate an injured player's health to trick opponents, so be wary of getting tricked yourself.
Salary cap leagues usually offer these recovered players at a discount and Pick 'em leagues stick these players in lower tiers among inferior choices. So do you roll the dice on a player returning from injury? That's entirely up to you, but at least take some precautions. Study the nature of the injury (a RB returning from a shoulder injury may be fully effective while a QB returning from an injury to his throwing shoulder may disappoint) and the pace of his recovery (a player practicing fully on Wednesday is a better bet than a guy who's not listed as active till Sunday morning).
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