Fantasy Football Training Room: Will Stefon Diggs Return in Week 11?
All things considered, it has been a relatively quiet season on the injury front. Unfortunately, we can’t completely silence the injury bug, which claimed Cooper Kupp for the season in Week 10, with the second-year receiver suffering a torn ACL. The receiver position is where we focus our attention in the Week 11 Training Room. As always, we’ll give you the injury nuts and bolts, provided by 4for4’s Russell Manalastas, a physical therapist and strength coach based in New York, and the fantasy spin to go with them.
Stefon Diggs, WR, Vikings
Injury: Chest/Ribs
Injury take: Diggs has been dealing with a chest/rib injury that originally occurred in the Vikings loss to the Saints in Week 8. He missed the Vikings’ Week 9 win over the Lions, then had the bye to get himself ready for a huge showdown with the Bears in Chicago in Week 11. Chest injuries are usually about irritation and discomfort along the cartilage where the rib meets the sternum, and those injuries can take an quite awhile to heal. Diggs will have had three weeks without playing football before the Sunday night game in Chicago, but he’ll still need to practice in some fashion this week to give fantasy owners any confidence that he will play. This is one we’ll be watching all week.
Fantasy spin: If Diggs starts for the Vikings, he starts for his fantasy owners. This game got flexed to Sunday night, which could complicate matters if Diggs is a game-time decision. However, if we get any word that he’s a go for Sunday during the week, he should be started in 100% of leagues.
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Julian Edelman, WR, Patriots
Injury: Sprained ankle
Injury take: Edelman suffered an ankle injury and had to go to the locker room to get testing on during Sunday’s loss to the Titans. Early reporting indicates that Edelman avoided any major injury to his ankle, and the Patriots have a bye in Week 11, which should give him plenty of time to recover. We likely won’t hear anything concrete on Edelman until next week, but it doesn’t sound like his owners should be too concerned.
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Fantasy spin: You were going to be without Edelman no matter what this week, so if he had to get injured, the timing of this one couldn’t be better. Expect to have him at your disposal in Week 12.
Marvin Jones, WR, Lions
Injury: Bone bruise on knee
Injury take: Jones sustained the injury in the third quarter Detroit’s Week 10 loss to Chicago and did not return. The recovery timetable for a bone bruise is all about location. If the bruise is in an area where there is pressure on the knee when cutting, running or decelerating, then it’s likely an injury that forces the player to sit a game or two. If it’s in a less sensitive part of the knee, the player can typically return without missing any time. Pay close attention to Jones’ practice participation this week. If he’s back on the field by Friday, he’s likely ready to go for Sunday’s game with the Panthers.
Fantasy spin: Neither Jones nor Kenny Golladay have taken off in the way many fantasy owners expected after the Lions shipped Golden Tate to Philadelphia. The good news here is that the Panthers and Lions play in the early window on Sunday, so you won’t have to make any guesses at Jones’ status when setting your lineups.
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Joe Flacco, QB, Ravens
Injury: Strained hip
Injury take: Flacco injured his hip against the Steelers in Week 9, with word leaking out during the Ravens’ bye week that he was on crutches and could miss time. The crutches, however, could have been merely a precautionary measure that took some of the stress off the hip during a week in which the team didn’t have a game. Still, Flacco’s likely to be a game-time decision for the team’s Week 11 game with the Bengals, a matchup crucial to both team’s postseason hopes. for Week. If Flacco cannot go, Lamar Jackson will likely get the first start of his career.
Fantasy spin: That last line is what makes this one interesting. While Flacco is likely a better real-life quarterback than Jackson right now, the latter is a lot more intriguing in the fantasy world. The rookie out of Louisville is a run threat every time he has the ball in his hands, but that’s not all he can do, as he proved during his time in college. Should he start, he’d be an intriguing streaming candidate against a Cincinnati defense that has struggled mightily against the pass all season.
