Many fantasy managers might be looking at that little red “IR” tag next to the name of Titans WR A.J. Brown and wondering when he is eligible to return. With the fantasy football playoffs starting this week, let’s analyze the availability and expectations for Brown’s eventual return from injury.
A.J. Brown’s injury timeline
Brown was placed on the injured reserve with a chest injury on Saturday, November 27. The rules around when players are eligible to return from IR states that a player is eligible to return after three games — not three weeks.
Brown missed Week 12, the Titans were on bye in Week 13, and he was out of Week 14 as well.
With the bye week in the middle of his IR stint, this means that Brown won’t be able to be activated this week for the first round of the fantasy playoffs. The earliest Tennessee can activate him would be in Week 16 when they face the 49ers.
Brown has been reportedly “working hard” and is making progress. “So far, so good,” Titans wide receivers coach Rob Moore said about Brown. All signs point towards Brown making his return as soon as he’s eligible.
Brown has had an underwhelming season
When you drafted Brown as your WR1 back in the summer, you expected a lot more production out of the young wide receiver than he has posted this year.
Brown has only 3 receiving touchdowns on the year. Furthermore, he’s been borderline unstartable other than a three-week stretch of success.
Between Weeks 6-8, Brown had 25 receptions for 379 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns. Outside of those three weeks, Brown hasn’t topped 5 receptions or 49 receiving yards in any game this year.
What a massive letdown. Brown has taken a huge step backward in his third season. Along with his overall receptions, yards, and touchdowns being down, his yards per target have seen a drop from 10.1 last year to 7.9 this season. Additionally, his catch rate has dropped from 66% to 59% in 2021.
A.J. Brown fantasy expectations
If Brown returns for the final two weeks of the fantasy playoffs, he’ll match up with the 49ers and the Dolphins. Over the last four weeks, San Francisco has allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to WRs, making it an intriguing matchup for Brown.
You have to ride with him, don’t you? Unless you feel completely confident in the options you have ahead of Brown, rolling with him in the playoffs has to be considered. At this point, you can’t treat Brown as the WR1 that you drafted him to be, but he should likely find his way onto your roster as a WR2 or flex play. If Brown makes a return to top-tier form in the playoffs, he’d be a fantasy football hero.