Week 15 NFL injuries that matter for fantasy

Staying on top of injuries throughout the week, and especially on Sunday mornings, is one of the easiest ways to maintain an edge in fantasy football. Outside of, you know, just making sure you don’t have inactive players in your starting lineup, it’s important to understand how one injury can greatly impact the fantasy potential of other skill position players within a game.

Lucky for you, this weekly series is here to help. Rather than just frantically refreshing each team’s injury report, I’ll do the heavy lifting each Saturday night and update injuries and provide analysis once inactives are released and early game-time decisions finalized on Sunday mornings.

Early Inactives

Jermaine Gresham, TE, Arizona Cardinals (illness) – Out
John Brown, WR, Arizona Cardinals (toe) – Out
Adrian Peterson, RB, Arizona Cardinals (neck) – Out
Tevin Coleman, RB, Atlanta Falcons (concussion) – Out
Nate Peterman, QB, Buffalo Bills (concussion) – Out
Jordan Matthews, WR, Buffalo Bills (knee) – Out
Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals (concussion) – Out
Tom Savage, QB, Houston Texans (concussion) – Out
Braxton Miller, WR, Houston Texans (concussion) – Out
Allen Hurns, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars (ankle) – Out
Josh McCown, QB, New York Jets (hand) – Out
Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders (ankle) – Out
Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles (knee) – Out
Byron Marshall, RB, Washington Redskins (hamstring) – Out
Jordan Reed, TE, Washington Redskins (hamstring) – Out

Questionable

Mohamed Sanu, WR, Atlanta Falcons (knee) – Questionable (likely)
Mike Wallace, WR, Baltimore Ravens (ankle) – Questionable (likely)
Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Buffalo Bills (knee) – Questionable (likely)
David Njoku, TE, Cincinnati Bengals (foot) – Questionable (likely)
DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans (toe) – Questionable (likely)
Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars (quadriceps) – Game-time Decision
Damien Williams, RB, Miami Dolphins (shoulder) – Doubtful
Kyle Rudolph, TE, Minnesota Vikings (ankle) – Game-time Decision
Chris Hogan, WR, New England Patriots (shoulder) – Questionable (likely)
Ted Ginn, WR, New Orleans Saints (ribs) – Questionable (likely)
Roger Lewis, WR, New York Giants (ankle) – Game-time Decision
Matt Forte, RB, New York Jets (knee) – Game-time Decision
JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers (hamstring) – Questionable (likely)

Updates/Analysis

Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars – Inactive – Even without Fournette in the lineup, the Jaguars are expected to remain run-heavy as 10.5-point favorites against a Houston defense allowing 4.91 yards per carry (most) to opposing running backs over the past five weeks. In Weeks 7 and 9 without Fournette, T.J. Yeldon totaled 38 more total yards than Chris Ivory, but also did so on 16 fewer touches. Ivory saw 52 percent of the team’s snaps (to Yeldon’s 39 percent) and 86 percent of the team’s red zone carries. I have Ivory as a low-end RB2 and Yeldon as a high-end RB4.

Chris Hogan, WR, New England Patriots – Not Expected to Play – In games Hogan has missed, Brandin Cooks has seen his target market share jump from 17 percent to 23 percent. Pittsburgh has been getting gashed by opposing wideouts lately, but will also be getting top cornerback Joe Haden back. Rob Gronkowski should get a bump in projections as well, considering Hogan is Gronkowski’s main competition for near-end-zone work. Hogan averages 0.78 end zone targets per game to Gronkowski’s 1.0.

Ted Ginn, WR, New Orleans Saints – Inactive – Ginn is a surprise inactive this week, which could mean more targets for the likes of Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Willie Snead, and Brandon Coleman, but realistically, the Saints will probably go run-heavy as 16.5-point home favorites against a Bryce Petty-led Jets squad.

Kyle Rudolph, TE, Minnesota Vikings – Active – After being upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Saturday, it appears Rudolph is good to go for a Week 15 matchup against a banged-up Cincinnati defense. Rudolph is averaging 6.7 targets per game following Dalvin Cook's season-ending injury in Week 4. Rudolph is a mid-range to low-end TE1 this week.