Fantasy Football Injury Report: 14 Players Who Could Make or Break Your 2026 Draft (Ep. 2151)

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. The Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast is brought to you by Grainger. If you're an operations manager at a manufacturing plant, you're calling plays every day to keep production on schedule. It's why you count on Grainger's deep roster of products, from spare parts like bearings and motors, to safety equipment like insulated gloves, eye protection, and everything in between. It's this extensive on-hand inventory that helps you get the products you need same or next day, helping you stay in the game. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. All right, and welcome into the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. We're in the heart of draft season, and injuries are running rampant amongst the players that we're trying to hitch our wagons to. So we've got just what the doctor ordered, a sit-down with a Harvard-trained and Stanford-trained or the pedic sports surgeon. That's right, it's everything you need to know for the fantasy football podcast. From an injury perspective, with Dr. Deepak Chona, I'm your host, Seth Woolcock, alongside Scott Bigtime, Bogman, and gentlemen, we've got a CVS receipt-looking list of banged-up players to get to in this episode. Before we get there, though, Deepak, I gotta ask, the NFL coaches are kind of complaining quite a bit that maybe there's too much off-time in the off-season, which is maybe leading to an increase in preseason injuries. Is that just fodder, or is there maybe something to that? Yeah, really hard to know. I mean, there is a rapid, ramp up, but honestly, that's also on the coaches, right? You can manage it a little differently. So I don't know that you can really blame the off-time. Okay. Man of the players. How about that, Scott Bogman, saying, coaches, you gotta be doing your part as well. Can we ask Deepak, just to settle this once and for all, the electrical substation near the Niners. Now, I saw Pablo Torre blow this out of the water last week, but I just, for our audience, can you please tell everybody, that there's no magic to this electrical substation? It causes no-- Yeah, there's a lot of holes in the theory. I think there's some like cellular evidence, no human data, and the Niners and that substation have been kind of linked long before they were injury-prone. So I don't know that it really makes sense. Okay. All right. Well, Boggs, before we dive into, I need to ask you one thing, like, holistically here, obviously we don't want to invite injuries onto our roster during our draft. But there's always that line of demarcation, right, between buying the dip and backing yourself into a corner. So how do you go about that? Are you more inclined to draft players, even if they are banged up, if they're attached to elite offenses, or where's that line really for you? Well, I think, honestly, week one is the line, right? Like, if these guys are going to be ready for week one or supposed to be ready for week one or shortly thereafter, that is kind of what I look for. If week one is very murky, or probably out, my guys are going to get hurt. It's football, right? Like, the guys that you draft are probably going to get hurt. It's the most, you know, it's the most injury-prone sport in the world. So I feel like I don't want to invite extra injury before time. Like, if it's a dynasty league, that's something different. You know, you get them for the long haul and all of that stuff. But in, you know, for 2026 leagues, I'm trying to avoid guys that are questionable for week one. Okay, well, we'll put that to the test today because we got 14 players whose fantasy values are being affected by injuries currently. We'll walk through those and what range they're going in their drafts. We'll start with, of course, the early round, then go into the mid-round, and then talk about some sleepers down the line. And before we jump in, just want to first thank everyone for making time for us, either on the Fantasy Pros YouTube channel or the audio feed. We're so grateful for all the support, especially during draft season. Please do us a quick favor, smash that like button and make sure you subscribe to the channel if you're new. And also, don't forget, check out our award-winning tools over there. We got a whole slate of them for you. I was just in a draft earlier today with Boggs and helped me clean up pretty well over there. So, so feeling good and I appreciate the Fantasy Pros draft assistant for drafting alongside me throughout my busy day. So, gentlemen, let's jump right into the biggest injuries affecting these early rounds. And right at the top here, Pukun Dukua, wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. Right now, the real-time ADP of wide receiver one for overall. He has not been practicing with, hopefully I'm saying this right, a psoas injury deep box somewhere from what I can tell, you know, just being an average human being out here between a hip flexor and a sports hernia. Did I get that right? And if so, what does this mean for Pukun Dukua now and throughout the season? Yeah, you're pretty much spot on. I mean, it's, it's the hip flexor. So it's involved every time you run and jump. The idea though, is that he, he did come back to the sidelines. He was actually seen kind of doing some running against resistance. So that's pretty promising. It suggests probably in the next week or so he's back at practice. No reason to speed this up too much. These minor muscle strains, they carry about 5% re-injury risk in season per week missed of the preseason. So, you know, you're looking at about probably a 10% rate, which is not that high. I wouldn't really downgrade Puka. The only risk here is, you know, there's maybe talk of a suspension, but injury wise, not overly concerned here. And Boggs, with the rumors of that potential suspension looming, are you, are you knocking down Nuku in your rankings? If you're drafting right now today? No, I'm not like, I, I just, I don't think he gets suspended this year. First off, I don't think Jacobs does either. I think that was just kind of a, a warning shot. Like, you know, we still might suspend you. Don't screw around. You know, one of those things more, more shifty though, you know, it was a rather reliable source. Yeah. He's never been wrong. So that's right. But, you know, I, I also, this injury, like Deepak said, he's supposed to be back for week one. It seems, it seems like a little bit of an abundance of caution now. So obviously we've got to talk about the big guys when they have a, you know, a fingernail sprain, anything, but I don't think this is anything major, but I love that. You know, all of these sayings, I mean, Deepak's going to be asking you for clamps pretty soon. You're going to be an assistant. Hey, I try my best out here to work social media and the internet to my advantage. And speaking of the big guns who might just have a, and don't be going and shading anything. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, hangnail bogs. Those can really hurt, dude. Those can, those can really drive a wedge. My brother one time, it was just nasty. I remember in baseball, you know, you get some bat, he was a first baseman, you know, got trampled on a couple of times. So not the prettiest site for sure, but between a hangnail and like getting your hand stepped on though. Sure. Sure. I guess that's fair. Chris McCaffrey though, real time ADP RB four, six overall. He's been in and out of practice over the last few weeks, Deepak with general muscle tightness, but came out over the weekend and said that this was all kind of part of the plan, ramping him up and then back down and then hopefully back up again before week one. So are you buying into that plan? And if so, what's the injury outlook for CMC as a whole in 2026, man? Yeah, I heavily buy into that plan. I think this is the exact type of player, soft tissue history, age of 30 onwards that you really want to load manage load management. Doesn't just mean the in-game touches that we count. It really means the whole practice and, and workload that you put the body through. You don't need to practice CMC to know that he's going to be ready. So I fully am on board with this plan. I think it maximizes his chances of being good for the season. Now, if you look at CMC history, several soft tissue injuries, like I said, and then of course the age over 30, but in the three of the last four years, he's actually missed just one game. So, he does have a little bit more, maybe risk reputation than his actual sort of year by year would break down to. I think he's worth it. If you are willing to go like running back, running back, you're looking for one of those bills towards if he can slip a little bit with people trying to shy away from that risk. I think it's a high risk, high reward pick that might be a league winner. Boggs. I haven't been in the eight or the nine hole law. And that's where CMC is seemingly going in a lot of drafts right now. Of course, ADP, you know, for some of the more casual leagues going a little bit higher, where are you willing to click that button on Christian McCaffrey here and what Deepak had to say? And also, is there a handcuff that you would be drafting for San Fran? Or do you expect if he were to miss time at some point that it's kind of a hodgepodge running back by committee type of approach? Yeah, there's certain guys, you know, like B. John Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, CMC, Taylor, Cook, you know, that really the top, top guys, where, where there's no replacing them. If they get hurt, you're not replacing Christian McCaffrey with Jordan James or Galen Black or anybody else. It's here. McCormick had a good game, right? Like you're not replacing these guys with those guys. So I, I'm willing to take CMC mid to late first round. I understand, you know, the touches. Everyone's worried about that from last year and everything, but he survived the touches, right? It was amazing. And it blew me out of the water because I wanted nothing to do with CMC. I wanted nothing to do with them going into last year. So I'm kind of afraid to fade him again. But I think like Deepak said, if you're drafting Christian McCaffrey, you have to ultimately, he becomes a conditional player, right? You need to get another running back soon so that if he does go down, you're not completely bottoming out and losing. So you can't take McCaffrey and depend on him to be your bell cow the entire year, which makes him slip in drafts a lot. Okay. All right. Well, I like to hear that. And of course the big news of the week, the weekend and guys, I was at a one-year-old child's birthday party on Sunday. There was a swimming pool. There was a lot going on. My wife made a diving save at one of our. friends, kids trying to jump in the pool with his clothes on. And I audibly gasped when I saw this news and everyone thought like, you know, a kid was trying to jump in the pool again or something crazy was going down. No, it's just Ashton Gentry, who is the real-time ADP RB12, 18 overall, who went down with an injury Sunday in practice. The internet kind of took this one and really ran with it that it might be more serious than it was. Thankfully though, it's just a sprained ankle for the 2024 Heisman Trophy Award runner-up. And Deepak, I know it's early in the information gathering process for Gentry, but what more can you tell us about the varying degrees of ankle sprains and how they each could affect Gentry's outlook for the season? Yeah, you know, this one, Adam Schefter said, it's not nothing, which makes me think it may not just be a simple low ankle sprain. If it were a low ankle sprain, that'd be kind of get the best case scenario. Most cases would allow him back by week one with pretty minimal dip. Sometimes you would see a little bit of a more of a split back, with Washington probably get a few more touches, but usually not a major dip there. Now, if it's a high ankle sprain, very much depends on severity. The average is going to be three to five weeks and that puts week one a little bit in doubt. The other key with that though, is that most players, if it is a real high ankle sprain, will take about six weeks to ramp up their efficiency. So with that in mind, you know, a young player, a team that's probably not in win now mode, hard for me to imagine that they would just, just full send it on his volume, fresh off a big injury. So a little lukewarm here. Obviously we're playing with a lot of hypotheticals, but that's kind of the breakdown best and worst. If it is a high ankle sprain, Deepak, would you put money that he is not available to go week one? Yeah, I mean, it would be asking a lot. I think week one would probably be a miss. My guess would be like week two to three would be what the data would say is more likely. Okay, so Boggs hearing this from Deepak again, don't know the severity, if it is a high or low ankle sprain, but where would you be willing to take Gentee based on either one of those diagnosis? And he just went 22 overall in our fancy pro staff league, just as an example. So still kind of, you know, late second round is kind of where we're seeing it is a bit of a fall from where he was in an earlier second round pick previously. Is that about right for you? Even if he does miss some time early in the season? Yeah, I moved him down to RB 11 on my board. I had him at seven. So I moved him down, put him in a different, I had him 13 on my board. He's moved down to 24 at this point because, you know, if this is eye ankle sprain, I might move him a little bit further down than that. But right now we're kind of in between, not really knowing what the thing is. And like you said, yesterday it was, you know, Gentee went down with a non-contact injury and as all of his teammates were praying for him as they took him off the field, it sounded, you know, like we were writing the funeral for 2026 Ashton Gentee. But, you know, it's obviously not the problem. This is a guy that you can draft his handcuff and feel fairly confident in Mike Washington Jr. And Dylan Lobby's looked pretty good out there in preseason, I almost said spring training, in preseason as well. So, you know, I think they would probably combo if anything did happen in Gentee, but I think it'd be three quarters to Washington, one quarter to Lobby. So that's kind of how I see that going. So pretty much means if you are drafting Ashton Gentee in that second quarter, second round, which still where I have him again, like I'm at RB11. So very similarly to you Boggs, you got to get Mike Washington now, right? That is kind of the key handcuff that you need to make sure you are prioritizing in drafts. Guys, we're going to get to some more picks as well. But before we do, I did want to remind you about the Fancy Pros real-time ADP this time of year. Drafts happen all the time. And as we're talking about them today, so can injuries. So stay ahead of your league with real-time ADP. And unlike traditional ADP, it quickly detects shifts where players are being selected. So you can see where they're being drafted now, not yesterday. So stay ahead of the curve, get the most up-to-date ADP on draft day at fancypros.com slash real ADP. Guys, one more here at the top of the program with some big name players going in the first, second, or third round. Malik Neighbors, wide receiver for the New York Giants, real-time ADP of wide receiver 11, 27 overall. He did shed the no contact jersey today for the first time in training camp. So congratulations. Congrats to Malik Neighbors. Head coach John Harbaugh also came out over the weekend and said it's, quote, reasonable to assume that he could be trending towards a week one game barring a setback. So Deepak, obviously a lot has changed since the last time we spoke. You and Boggs both kind of all the way out on Malik Neighbors. Are you back in here? And what do you think the overall outlook looks for him after seeing all the positive reports out of camp? Yeah, I mean, I think it's pretty promising. Now it would be, really a shocker or it would require a setback for him to not be playing week one. Now the things to keep in mind here, usually you would see about a four-week ramp up in volume. That means snap count plus targets. So with him, the first few weeks, maybe a little bit up and down. The other aspect of it is that he projects with sort of plugging in his athleticism, his pre-injury production, et cetera, to somewhere around 80% of his efficiency initially. So, you know, you're not looking probably week one or two at that same guy you're used to seeing. But with that being said, as he ramps up week six, he's projects at 90% of his efficiency if he's sort of not having any setbacks. So with that in mind, you know, round three price tag, if you can get him there, I think you should consider yourself lucky and hit that every time. Round two, a little bit more of a decision point. I think very reasonable to take that bet there, but a little bit more risky than some of the other guys. You've come a long way, Deepak, because I remember just back in July, this was too steep of a price, but great to hear the positive reports out of camp for Malik Neighbors. Boggs, have you come around to the LSU Tiger at all? And albeit the cost is rising somewhat with the positive news out of camp, though. I mean, I'm, you know, more willing to draft him. I haven't really moved him up my board that much. I did get him to 14. So still not a wide receiver one for me. So you're still below consensus pretty much then, yeah? Firmly in the third round. So I'll probably let somebody else draft Neighbors this season. It's not just Neighbors, too. It's, you know, obviously Jackson Dart is renting at the Blue Tent. So, you know, there are issues with the Giants beyond Malik Neighbors, and he's just not really a risk I want to take this season. Fair enough. Yeah, I think I still have him at, what, wide receiver seven right now, top 24 pick, like 18 overall. So I'm in, but I've kind of been there the whole time, honestly. I'm willing to make the bet just because of, you know, kind of what Deepak laid out there. The athleticism, the explosiveness with this player, it's something I'm willing to bet on at the end of second rounds that maybe it could win me some leagues. So that's where I'm going right there. Let's go to the middle round injuries that could create value here, gentlemen. Jeremiah Love running back for the Arizona Cardinals, rookie sensation, third overall pick, of course, in the NFL draft. Currently going real-time ADP of RB1531 overall. He suffered a high ankle sprain roughly eight days ago to this point, but the team is hopeful. He will be back ready for week one. Deepak, is the Cardinals' hope something that we as fantasy managers and analysts should be banking on? And do you see a similar long-term effect to Ashton Gentry and what he's dealing with out there in Vegas? Yeah, so, you know, the initial reports were that week one is in question. And if that's the case, it suggested kind of a moderate severity type injury. So you usually would see that about six-week dip in production. Also keeping in mind, Cardinals not exactly, a win-now type team that makes sense to run a rookie running back into the ground. The overall outlook, though, is maybe a little better if you look at some of the quotes from just today. Coach basically said he's through the first phase of the recovery, which usually means like swelling is down and things are progressing. So that implies actually a little lower severity injury than what was initially implied by this report. So, you know, we're looking into one quote, and I would kind of exercise a little, caution with that. I still don't know that I'm necessarily pulling the trigger at current ADP, but I think it's very reasonable to do so. And it's kind of a high risk, high reward type of play. Okay. Boggs, I was previously willing to draft Jeremiah Love in the second round. I'm now more comfortable in the late third. I just got him in that draft we were talking about earlier, 38 overall. Is that appropriate pricing for you? And how much does this move the needle on Tyler Algier for you in your rankings? I haven't moved Algier up that much. I do think, you know, I know they waived Benson today as we're recording this. I do think it'll be Algier and Connor in a like straight split type of deal. If Love is not available to go the first few weeks, I'm just not going to be drafting Jeremiah Love. I love him. I want to want to draft him. I'm super excited to see him in the NFL, but it's the questionableness of this injury, right? And how long is this going to linger for him? And number two is, they have strong backups. And number three is, if anything happens to him this season, why would you risk putting him out there again? Right? Like if there's any type of setback. You're talking logic here, Boggs. The same team that just threw him out for 14 touches in his first preseason game. Listen, this is probably dumb that I'm going to assume they've learned something here. Right? Like, but I just, I've learned something and it's not to trust the Cardinals. So I'm going to pass on Jeremiah Love. I understand that. He'll be 19, so he's 15 right now. Yeah. yeah okay it's at the end of the tier i'm willing to move him back up if we get real real progression and he looks good and we can see some video of it but it's just i don't know it's it's like what are the levels of high ankle sprains deepak are there different levels to high ankle sprains yeah i mean they basically grade them on severity but truthfully like it's it's just how severe is it you know so it's it's kind of like if it's very high severity then you're usually looking at about six weeks out uh the average in the nfl is closer to four so with that though the ramp up period is very significant and the re-injury risk period during that that period if it is truly on the like moderate to severe end of the spectrum is up to even like 20 so a re-injury is often worse than the initial and and that's kind of part of the concern in addition to that production hit initially you bought a sofa you didn't have to assemble a suit someone measured just for you you bought a sofa you 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it again and maybe one more time because even the nicest room can feel unfamiliar at night that's why she's birdie created birdie box with she's birdie you can bring peace of mind with you birdie box is a portable travel door alarm for hotels dorms airbnbs and anywhere you stay away from home just attach it to the door frame switch it on and if someone opens the door birdie box blasts a loud siren and flashing alarm to alert you and everyone nearby because the best part of travel isn't worrying it's sleeping soundly birdie box from she's birdie locking in peace of mind wherever you stay for safer more confident travel visit she's birdie.com that's s-h-e-s-b-i-r-d-i-e.com i totally get the concern bogs and like i understand why you'd be out i feel like i have a little more risk tolerance than you in the second and third round it seems like um but i will say like i like the idea of going to get jeremiah love at adp because if he does get healthy at some point this season it is you know rb1 type of upside and then if you can come back around and grab tyler algiers you're running back three or four just in case something does happen like i'm also of the mindset that i think they paid out here enough money and you know why i love jim connor and everything he's done for the great city of pittsburgh out here former erie mcdowell guy i i don't think he's going to get as much of the work and i i think algier could at least be like fringe rb2 if there were no love for a week so i'm comfortable using a third round pick and you know a a 10th 11th round pick to secure that cardinals backfield entirely maybe that's not the move because they're not a a totally you know high projected point total type of team but i'm willing to do it but i think it's like depak said it just comes back to that risk tolerance for you i think we're like a year away from the cardinals being pretty good on offense we get a real quarterback in there patch the old line a little bit get these guys healthy that offense is dangerous and scary it might be your man arch you never know we'll see what happens out there i feel like them and the falcons kind of i don't want to end up with the rush cardinals also in this range guys we got a mecca bucca out of tampa bay real-time adp of wide receiver 20 45 overall that has come down a little bit and it's been roughly 10 days since we got the reports of his sprained toe todd bowles has been pretty up in the air whether the former buckeye will be back for week one so what does the data tell you on when we should see a bucca and what his production might be out there on the field from an injury standpoint depak yeah so the initial reports from uh rick stroud i believe on on the 14th they came out and said that this is he's seen a specialist which usually means he's had an mri at that point and the he had a toe sprain but it's stable uh i think the semantics this probably is a turf toe that's the most likely one that you usually see uh but with that being said there's a as we talked about with high ankle whole whole range of severity and the fact that they're calling it a sprain but stable suggests it's on the milder side very likely in that case that you would see him playing week one without any deficit or with a very mild deficit uh the comments from bowls a couple days later came out saying too early to say if he's going to be there for week one kind of vague didn't really give us any concrete information there todd bowls for you yeah yeah yeah and if you go back to what he said about bucky irving several months ago he said i don't know when he's going to come back maybe the summer maybe the fall he was there day one of training camp just like the data said so i i don't think i really trust that the coach comments here are that meaningful i think you know when when a player is said to have seen a specialist and then there's no like real update aside from this vague commentary after that i think we might just be reading in too much to that commentary yeah coach speak index a great resource out there for you i don't know where todd bowls trustworthiness is when it comes to players injuries but just you know reading between the tea leaves and thinking back to some of the comments a year ago on all the receivers and running back situations they were dealing with down there in tampa bay i don't think it's super high bogs experts drafters alike they've really cold on abuka because this injury currently ecr wide receiver 2140 overall so pretty in line with adp are you still taking a swing on him in the early fourth or um are you willing to get you know uninvested with him at that price tag no no i this is one that i do still like abuka because i todd bowls is just he doesn't care about giving out information of the injuries just like depak said he was like yeah bucky's gonna be back in the summer or the winter or whenever when the groundhog shows up right like he just he i think he just like he waves his hand at the media just like yeah he'll be back when he gets back why don't you let us deal with it you know i think that's kind of his thing because why would you say day to day or week to week i don't know like that's just such a it's so strange i i don't understand what todd bowls is doing there so i like like depak said i'm assuming this is minor i'm assuming he's going to be there for week one to be fine and i just don't really trust this nonsense from todd bowls because it's exactly what he said about bucky and then we thought bucky was going to be eased in when he came back from his injury last season nope right 17 touches or whatever it was the first week so i think abuka is gonna be fine i think he'll be there for week one and this is a little bit of an abundance of caution yeah it'd stink forever trade for rashad white late in the season like i did last year and thought maybe they want to give bucky a ton of work but they did depak this is certainly not a medical related question but you're a big brain type of guy and i know you have a scientific background probably to do a million science credits in college do you believe in the powers of punxsutawney phil and predicting the end of winter here in pennsylvania are you on board with that i'm gonna pass on that one and what about what about a rainbow is there a pot of gold oh the people of punxsutawney will be waiting for your response there depak uh luther burden another big injury here at the wide receiver position real-time adp of wide receiver 24 55 overall so it's been about two weeks now since the mizzou product strained his groin was shut down for the remainder of the preseason doc fancy managers are certainly still drafting birding like he's gonna be out there for week one do you think that will be the case yeah i think most likely it would now after about a week from announcing the injury or maybe a week and a half he was back on the field doing some jogging and light work so uh the comments from adunze this week also kind of suggest he luther burden's on track and he's going to be back on track to be there for week one we are always playing that re-injury risk with these soft tissue strains and again that's somewhere around five percent per preseason week miss so you'd think it the average groin strain is about a two to three week absence if you let's say air that towards a three-week side 15 is not nothing but it's also not enough to really prevent me if i'm one of those guys who thinks that he's the next amon rod then yeah i think it's still taken boggs are you buying the dip and conversely here does it make you more interested in someone like colston loveland or roma dunze i haven't i haven't really bought the dip i did lower him in my rankings a couple weeks ago i probably need to bring him back up i had him about i think 22 i lowered him down to like 28 okay 28 or 30 somewhere in that range because the groin it's luther burden really and luther burden was hurt at missouri too and deepak i wanted to ask you is there anything to that like guys that had something almost every single year is do you lower that for maybe i don't know what it is it's just it seems like sometimes some of these guys have soft tissue injuries continuously well we saw with christian watson right yeah and it felt like as soon as he there was a specialist that he went to please take it away well i was just going to say you know with christian watson what they found is an underlying biomechanical asymmetry and his strength from the two sides and sometimes what happens is you rehab an injury you think you're like pretty much back to normal but if you haven't been really tested with like strength motion analysis whatever uh then you might have some underlying asymmetries and that in itself is a risk factor for re-injuring. So I think that could be part of it. You look at a guy like Jordan Tyson, for example, and maybe just never really built all that muscle back up after he had the like series of injuries to the one side. So, you know, to your point, are some players injury prone in the short term? Maybe yes. But is it correctable, especially when they're young? Also probably yes. Okay. Great information there. Tyler Warren, another huge injury here, gentlemen, a real time ADP tight end for 48 overall. So it really hasn't affected his cost. The Colts, they don't seem to be overly concerned about Warren's long-term outlook as well. After suffering this groin injury last week, do you feel pretty similarly Deepak? And what does this tell you about the grade of that strain? Yeah, well, they're, they're calling this a one week expectation of him being out, which would imply about a 5% risk long-term, which is pretty minimal. I wouldn't really downgrade him at all. Based on this, the one thing that, you know, for me, looking at him versus Colston Loveland, I might use that as a tiebreaker, but otherwise wouldn't really look drastically different. Awesome. Boggs, you know, I'm all the way still in, right? I always will be hashtag. We are baby, but he could have the question. Yeah, I haven't, I have not moved Tyler Warren at all. Even with Keenan Allen signing, that doesn't change anything for you. Nope. That hurts Josh downs more than anything. So no. Okay. All right. Um, we're going to get some more injuries here, but a real quick reminder that you can get ready for your fancy draft with fantasy fest on Wednesday, August 26th at 3 PM. Eastern time, join the fancy pros crew and some special guests along the way for draft strategy, rankings, tears, sleepers, bus league winners, a mock draft, a giveaway, and so much more. It's a four hour live draft prep followed by a Twitch after party. Don't miss out on fancy fest this year on the fancy pros YouTube channel. Staying with us. With the Indianapolis Colts here, gentlemen, as we get into some injuries that could really change the depth charts for players down the fans, football draft board, Alec Pierce, real-time ADP of wide receiver, 41, a hundred overall. This is one is just crazy. Deep talk, because he still is not practicing since signing that massive extension in free agency due to what seems like a left ankle injury. That's been ailing him really since partway through 2024 or 2025. Excuse me. So what are the chances this lingers into the season that maybe we don't see Alec Pierce right away? Yeah. You know, it's a little bit of a strange story because they gave him the contract knowing about the injury he's played through the injury before, and then they tried to treat it non-operatively initially knowing that if it gets pushed, it may linger into the season a little bit. And honestly, I think that's probably where we stand now. Cause even if he comes back in the next week, you usually would need a three to four week ramp up in really participating in, in practice. So I would have some real, real hesitation about banking on Alec Pierce. Now, if he falls far enough, like towards the end of the season or mid season, the data would be very favorable. Most ankle surgeries by about six months, you're pretty much back. So with that being said, it's, uh, it's one of those that, you know, you're kind of taking a long shot with very limited information. Okay. Boggs. I'm at the point, especially with the Keenan Allen signing, like I'm just kind of out on Alec Pierce at cost. There's other players that I think I can get earlier production to see what they're doing. I think they are going to be this season. Um, so I'm just out. What about you? Or are you taking a shot on him? And the ADP is slid. Like we were looking in best balls earlier this season. He was up there in like wide receiver, 30, 32 territory. So he, so he has come down, but I still don't know based on what Deepak tells me, if I want to get invested. Yeah. I'm at 34. I moved him down to 42. And I think, you know, it's just specifically in PPR leagues where, you know, he's not getting a lot of catches anyway. I just, I think I'm out. So I think I've moved him low enough to where I probably won't be taking him. Uh, the more IR spots I have, the more willing I would be to take a guy like Alan Pierce, but I don't think he's going to be there week one. I think that's part of the reason why they signed Keenan Allen. So I just, uh, yeah, I'm with you, Seth. I'm, I'm out when they worked out a ton of different receivers in addition to Keenan Allen too. And the thing with Alec Pierce is if you thought he was maybe going to expand that route tree and take on a different role, you would think he would have wanted to be there all off season. Not, not a one, but you know what I mean? Like he would have need to be there all off season to really do that. Like I still see him kind of playing that field stretcher type of role and, and seeing, you know, maybe Keenan Allen slot into more of this role that we've seen Michael Pittman jr. Having over the last couple of seasons. So yeah, a hundred percent there with you guys. Unfortunate news. I want to talk about maybe some of the biggest risers and followers on the draft board though, here out of Charlotte, Jonathan Brooks, Chuba Hubbard, real time ADPs, or Brooks in particular right now, RB 2978 overall, and then Chuba Hubbard 88 overall RB 33 Hubbard suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the preseason. Deepak. This caused him and Jay Brooks is price tags really flip. I think everyone wanted to put him above Chuba Hubbard anyways. And this kind of really just gave us that, that line in the sand to do it. So what are you hearing about Chuba Hubbard's availability for week one and how effective do you think he will be? And like same with Jonathan Brooks, because this is a guy coming on, off to ACL tears. We haven't seen him on an NFL field and, you know, day near two seasons. So what's just your overall takeaway for this messy backfield in Carolina? Yeah. So my takeaway is I'm heavily in on Jonathan Brooks. Oh, not really in on Chuba Hubbard. The reasoning here is that the young, very explosive elite talent player is the one that tends to make it back. Even despite the second ACL. Secondly, that second ACL was now over 18 months. And that's kind of the threshold where you usually see the delay in production hit. So he's, he's had basically plenty of time and he's came in super elite. So his odds of making it back to close to where he was supposed to be are pretty good. And then now you add in this Chuba Hubbard injury, they called it a legit hamstring, which implies it's on the upper end of severity. They did say he probably will be back week one, although it's not really a guarantee. So that tells me, you know, it's somewhere around that like four week type injury. Usually with that level of hamstring, you would see some ramp up. And the reason is that re-injury risk is really the concern. And that can be as high as about 20%. So I, I would say with all of those factors now pushing the workload a little bit more towards Brooks, I would probably go that way. And where he's going in the draft, it seems like a relatively good, good value. Yeah. Boggs. We heard today out of Charlotte, actually, that this will still be a very much running back by committee, but basically, based on that, based on Deepak's analysis, though, are you comfortable drafting Brooks over Hubbard? Are you 10 toes down? We just saw our boy Fitzy today in that draft, uh, go zero RB and, uh, laid all in line out there for, uh, your, your former, uh, Texas Longhorn here. Yeah. I've, I'm at the point where Brooks has, uh, past Chuba Hubbard in my rankings. And I was obviously not anywhere close to that a month ago. The reason I'm there is because it's two, two fold. Brooks has looked great in camp, right? Like, like he's looked really good. Uh, wasn't very efficient in the preseason game. The first one, but he scored a touchdown, look good. And Chuba Hubbard was ruined last season by an early season injury that dogged him all year long. I felt like that's why he had no explosive runs. That's why Rico Dowd will look so much better than him behind that good offensive line. So I, my feeling going into the season was, well, Chuba should be back, right? Like we, we counted him out in 2024 and he went nuts, right? He got the extension. They made him a team captain. They love him in Carolina. So I know they like Chuba, right? But he was hurt all year last year. And now we're going into the season with him hurt again. I mean, I took him because he just fell and fell and fell in that insiders draft that we did. But yeah, I don't want to get involved too much with a guy, uh, going into the season that's older with a hamstring injury and a young guy next to him that is trying to prove his worth. Now, ultimately I think both these guys are, are placed by a draft pick next year or a signing next year, but I don't want anything to do with, uh, with Chuba right now. And really, I don't like this backfield. So if I can help it, I I'll avoid it. But in that 16, man, uh, Chuba just fell and fell and fell. So I had to take Chuba. Oh man. Running backs were just going off the board. I was getting sniped at. Yeah. I almost had Quinn shot. Judkins followed me in the fourth. I was just, uh, I was jumping. I was about doing backflips and then I almost jumped off my deck afterwards. So, uh, yeah. And, uh, a great note, a great note from Erickson too. He posted on X earlier today, Dave Canales, RB one fancy finishes over the last three seasons. Found this a really cool nugget. Rashad white, RB seven, Chuba Hubbard, RB 15, Rico Dowdle, RB 17. So whoever does get the first look and first crack at things here in Charlotte, it looks like it's going to be, uh, potentially a strong running back to finish. At least Deepak. Uh, we got to go to the rookie streets here for the next one. Jordan Tyson, wide receiver for the new Orleans saints, real time ADP. Now of wide receiver, 50, 131 overall. That is plenty. And he really has been one of the biggest followers over the last few weeks because we're expecting to potentially be without Jordan Tyson here for two months with a nagging injury resurfacing. You touched on it at the top of the show that giving that he's been dealing with this really since partway through last season, maybe there's some insufficient balance there. Do you think that saints like slow play this because it is a lingering, you know, potentially like nagging thing he's got to deal with his entire career. Uh, how do you think they handle this? And, When do you expect to see Tyson. a back on the field and you know a b just up to similar to full strength i guess yeah so they said expect him to be out for about two months and and so one of those months is essentially till week one and then one of those months probably into the season now if he comes back around let's say week six which would be approximately my estimation for him uh even at that point you usually see a slow ramp up as you said so about four weeks to get his volume up now he also rookies who miss a fair amount of training camp don't tend to start strong so you may see some limitations there although the talent there is i think undeniable now the question about like long term in season he's still going to have a pretty high re-injury risk pretty much the whole way through the long term answer here is probably something like what christian watson did go get checked go get the uh basically strength uh asymmetry identified, or if there's any sort of like mechanical correction to be made, correct it during the off season and then come back. I don't think that in itself, like the hamstring itself at this age is going to be something that holds him back for the rest of his career. Long-term though, his data does predict a little bit shorter of a prime and a more injury related games missed over time. That's due to the multiligament knee history that he had in college. So there's, there was already some risks there for dynasty owners, but for redraft, you know, I think it's, it's a hard sell for me to, unless I have a lot of IR spots to hold a guy for six weeks. But, uh, with that in mind, you know, I think towards the end of the season, if he stays healthy, he could be a strong player. Boggs. We just saw one of the famous pros goats founder. I believe it was Tom who grabbed Jordan Tyson late in our draft right there. Are you willing to take that shot on Tyson or does it really come down to what deep box? Having those IR slots. Yeah, I'm not messing with Jordan Tyson at all this year. This has been the story of his career. Even in college, like Deepak said, he had the knee injury. He had, uh, the injury in the playoff didn't play in that game. That was when campus got a boo went nuts against my longhorns, right? Uh, the next season last year was in and out of the lineup with the hamstring issue. He missed camp with the hamstring, like mini camp with the hamstring thing. Uh, didn't do a lot of workouts with a hamstring. And now we're in, to camp and he is now going to miss two months with a hamstring. So I think this is a reset year for Jordan Tyson, right? Like, uh, you know, like Deepak said, go get evaluated, do everything you need, hopefully to, to get back like Christian Watson has Christian Watson. So I haven't played more than 11 games in a season, right? So I think that we just, I want to see Tyson do something first before I spend a pick on him at any level, right? Like in rookie drafts, this is why I like to wait to do. Um, you know, obviously this, not this late, but I, I just, I'm not messing with Tyson this year for the longterm. Fine. It's a good time to go buy him while he's down specifically when he's on the IR early in the season. If someone's playing really well in a dynasty league and you can give them a piece that they could use to get back Tyson for the upside, that is where I'm interested in investing in Jordan Tyson. But for this season, I am completely out. Yeah. Just kind of been a bummer for rookie class really. Right. Too, man. Like kind of just looking around, I mean, Mackay lemon's been banged up and I just feel like, you know, a lot of the, you know, quote unquote breakout preseason stars from this class have been these kinds of dart throw widers. He was, you really still can't trust outside of a 15th, 16th round. Awesome. Jack Strand, UDFA has been amazing. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, yeah. So, so it's just been, it's been tough. Caleb Douglas, right. Caleb Douglas, Jacoby lane, like these fringe players that, you know, we weren't necessarily, that excited about, you know, pre-flop and we'll see what they turn out long time term, but now there you go. All right. Uh, Deepak speaking of last picks here, tank Dell has been someone that I've consistently been shooting my shot on real time ADP wide receiver, 71, two Oh seven overall. Of course, this comes after Jane Higgins, unfortunately tears his ACL going into second season. And then Keishon booty, uh, gets traded for earlier today as well. So Deepak, what do dynasty managers need to know about Higgins? Long-term when can we expect him back potentially in 2027? And what do you think tank Dell's production is like? Does it ever get back to his pre-injury level before, uh, you know, suffering that just gruesome leg injury back in 2024? Yeah. A lot of big questions. I've been thinking about a lot as a Texans fan. So close to home. No, it's okay. We're here for it. Uh, so Jaden Higgins data, very promising. So he is super athletic. He's young. The timeline now, he'll be basically a year out of course, when training camp is coming around. So he should be far, far into his clearance at that point. Uh, so I would expect a strong bounce back from Jaden Higgins. If you're rebuilding, that's a dynasty by low. And I don't, I wouldn't think twice about it. Uh, with regard to tank Dell, uh, data, less promising, this is among the most sort of gruesome and extreme injuries you can have. Uh, although it's been a while, it usually takes a whole year once players come back to ramp up. And so the data would be favorable for him to have a strong 20, 27, uh, 20, 26, more likely a Rocky up and down type of season. And, you know, they, they also didn't immediately have him participating fully in the workouts and in camp. So, uh, it makes me think they'll probably limit his volume, his snap count to some degree and probably show some spurts, but I don't really bank on tank Dell. He may be ADP cause that's pretty low, but, uh, in terms of like really being able to use it. Use him for a meaningful, reliable starter, probably more so next year. Yeah. Bogs specifically this signing of Keishon booty kind of tells me that Dell maybe in the Texans eyes also not ready to go because I know a lot of people think tank Dell smaller player. He played a lot on the outside as a rookie, right? So I was expecting him to maybe, you know, take this flank or position over. It seems like that's going to be booty slot when he comes in. I'm now booty over tank Dell. I was taking my shot on Dell. I just got out of that draft where I just took booty late in the draft. So are you more booty over Dell at this standpoint without Jane Higgins in the fold? Yeah, probably. I, but it's, I, the answer is probably neither. Honestly, I think Dalton booty action. Come on, dude. Everybody does. But, uh, I, uh, I, I just, I think that like Jalen Knoll is the best wide receiver of the three. I feel like, like tank Dell fully healthy is the best wide out. I'll say that, right? I don't think he's ever going to be fully healthy again. No, right? Like Jalen Knoll, I think is the long, long-term answer for the spot. Wouldn't really, it's Jaden Higgins, but I think Schultz in the, in like in the front of the season, it's going to be Schultz. He's been there the longest. He's reliable. So you just try to notice him. Right. I, and I think booty and, and Dell are going to kind of flip flop on drives and stuff like that. It's going to be booty getting used to the system, Dell getting used to playing a lot of snaps. Right. And then when does Noel come back? Is that soon? Is that later in the year? What is his role going to be when he does get to, to fully healthy? I mean, honestly, right now you're third man in receptions might be David Montgomery, right? So I wouldn't be shocked by that. So, Oh, Woody Mars, come on. Woody Marks was great. And I really, dude, he looks so good in the preseason so far that run last night was, or two nights ago, whatever it was, was incredible. Really looking forward to what Woody Marks has this year, but Montgomery is a three down back. So still a three. I'm missing Monty right now. I'm going for Woody Marks on a discount. I'm sorry about it. I just want a little more explosive. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not driving Monty where he's going, but that's a personal thing there. Um, guys, let's get out of here on a little urgent care action of rapid fire. If you would. And I got to say like someone being in rural Pennsylvania, urgent care, one of the best inventions ever. So, uh, bogs go ahead and, uh, you know, set up Deepak here, the couple of rapid fire players that you want to hit on the way out of the door. Yeah. We'll go lightning round here. Tucker craft in the pitch count early. Like, are we worried about that for his production? I think he's still tight in five or six. Is that where he should be going? Yeah, I think, I think that's right about where he should be going. He's, uh, the data says that he should start strong efficiently in those sort of limited snaps. And by the time he gets to week four to six, usually ramped up all the way. What about Brees hall with that groin strain? I mean, everything points to him being okay for week one. Is that how you feel too? Yeah. Aaron Glenn came out today and said that he's going to be back probably well before week one, probably in about a week. So you think about this as a mild kind of groin strain shouldn't impact him much by week one. How about Monon guy? Monon guy seems like he might miss a little time here. Yeah. They hyperextended. He had a pretty bad sounding injury mechanism. I couldn't see a video, but, uh, the hyperextension usually it's to a bone bruise. These can take four to six weeks. So, uh, they called him week to week. I would say week one is in doubt in my eyes. How about Scataboo? Right? Like nothing really happened to him outside of not landing a really bad, badly planned backflip, but they also signed Najee. Uh, you know, D bro. And I talked about that on the tailgate. I think Najee social media has been burying Scataboo too, just because of that, that one video that came out. So we definitely need some reprieve on that. Yeah. Yeah. Like they signed Harris. I mean, a lot of that could have been because Tyrone Tracy whiffed that block and got Jackson dark killed. I mean, you just need somebody standing behind him. I mean, if you're going to start him, uh, which is why they traded him. But, uh, what are your thoughts on Scataboo? Yeah. So first off Najee Harris, fresh off in Achilles data is not favorable for his explosion to be back. With that in mind, Kim Scadaboo, the data says usually takes 12 months to ramp players all the way back up. So that'd be about late October for him. With that being said, my suspicion is that if he keeps that short yardage role, that's a little bit more protected because it's more of a one cut and go rather than a shifty type of move. So I think Kim Scadaboo, I'm not in necessarily, but I'm not jumping away. How about Charbonnet? There's been some love for Charbonnet getting back early. I think we laughed at that basically in the last show and said that I did not. I just for the record, I've been on Charbonnet the whole off. The young man here with us is sunshines and rainbows over here. But, you know, the veterans of glass half full. Yeah, I'm definitely glass half empty. I think it's closer to Halloween between Halloween and Thanksgiving for Charbonnet to come back. And when he does come back, I think he's going to be something that's going to be a little bit more of a shifty type of move. Limited as well. Is that your thought as well? Yeah, I mean, that's that's very consistent with the data. If you come back before nine months, the re-injury rates are higher. And so most players just don't do that. Nine months for him would be November 20th approximately. So you're looking around, as you said, Thanksgiving time. If he comes back, the earlier he comes back, the more limitation you see in their strength. So with that in mind, you know, they have a backfield they just invested in. So I'm out on Charbonnet unless you're in a deep IR spot and just use him for the very end, because I think he will be good in like December. And we'll see. What about Laporta with the back thing like that? Laporta, I think this is a guy that you've been kind of out on, correct? Yeah, well, in and out, I would say Laporta when he came back from the back surgery, the short term answer on that is pretty favorable. Usually doesn't cause a dip the next year. However, now he's dealing with this kind of undisclosed hip and we don't have a real diagnosis. So they're saying week one is possible, but might be in doubt. So with that in mind, you know, you have to think that this is on the more serious side. So with Laporta, I'm not really in. I like truthfully tight end Tucker Craft, and then I'm going for Dalton Kincaid towards the end. So that's yeah, Dalton Kincaid, I think he's being slept on. He had a 24-24 PCL. Then last year it got re-aggravated. He was in and out of the lineup. I think it heavily impacted his stats. I think there's no way it couldn't have. But he never had surgery to fix it completely, right? Are you still kind of playing with that? Correct. Correct. And the ones that don't have surgery typically don't really cause production dips. So my suspicion here is that Dalton Kincaid is my late tight end answer. So for that reason, I'm out on Sam Laporta. Interesting. Okay. That's all I got. Those are all the guys. Awesome. Well, fair enough there. And on the way out here, guys, if you want a chance to win a win, there's a guy who's healthy right now. Signed Chicago Bears jersey. This is your shot. All you have to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pros YouTube channel right now. Drop a comment below on any of our videos and that's it. We will be announcing a winner right here on the program. So make sure you ring the bell so you can be alerted when we have new shows up and to claim your prize if you are that lucky winner. Guys, great stuff here. That is going to do it for us on this episode of the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. Let us know down in the comments below if you're in or out on these players. Make sure you're giving Deepak a follow on socials at SportsMedAnalytics. And also don't forget to subscribe right here. If you're new, download the Fantasy Pros My Playbook app while you're at it as well. Get all the advice, all the help you need for when you're on the clock for Dr. Deepak Chona and Scott Big Time Bogman. I'm Seth Wolcock. Thanks for watching. Take care, y'all. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at FantasyPros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash Fantasy Pros. It's the difference between trying to talk to your friends over the music at a bar and having dinner where you can actually hear each other between getting food delivered and cooking something you know she's going to love. It's the difference between a rough nicotine pouch and on plus nicotine pouches with Nico Silk Mesh. 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