Week 12 had an incredibly unique set of games, which unfortunately featured some surprise injuries to some key offensive stars. That means fantasy football GMs must stay on top of Week 13’s fantasy injury reports and updates to stay ahead of the curve in an effort to optimize their waiver wire claims. Heading into Week 13, the waiver wire will be especially crucial considering how important the players were that suffered injuries. For example, key offensive players Daniel Jones, Dalvin Cook, Phillip Lindsay, DJ Moore, and JuJu Smith-Schuster all have landed themselves on the injury report this week.
The fantasy Week 12 injury report will leave fantasy GMs scratching their heads when trying to set their lineups this weekend. Will they play, or do we have to scramble to try and find a few last-minute replacements?
[sv slug=mkftop]NFL Fantasy Injury Report and Updates Week 13: Is Daniel Jones playing in Week 13?
Update Sunday, December 6: Daniel Jones is inactive for the New York Giants Week 13 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.
With the score tied between the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals, Daniel Jones was forced to leave the game early after suffering a hamstring injury midway through New York’s first drive of the second half.
Jones finished the day 16-for-27 for 213 yards and extended his streak of games without a turnover to three, which is a huge sign of growth considering the rocky start his career has gotten off to. Veteran backup quarterback Colt McCoy took his place and helped the Giants squeak out a 19-17 victory.
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Fortunately for the G-Men, it sounds like they won’t have to turn to the journeyman from the University of Texas again, as the initial reports surrounding Jones’ hamstring injury have been positive.
According to head coach Joe Judge’s post-game press conference, the Giants training staff cleared Jones to return to the game, but the team decided to play it safe and wait to see what his MRI shows on Monday. Judge said he feels optimistic Jones will be able to play in next week’s matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, but they’ll have to “wait and see.”
Player Availability Updates: Which fantasy RBs are we watching this week?
Dalvin Cook
Update Sunday, December 6: Dalvin Cook is active for the Minnesota Vikings Week 13 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
With the Minnesota Vikings’ halftime lead over the Carolina Panthers going up in flames, Dalvin Cook landed himself on the fantasy injury report for Week 13 with a leg injury that looked terrifyingly severe at the moment. The injury forced Cook to release his grip on the ball, which was quickly returned by Jeremy Chinn for a Panthers score, giving Carolina a 21-10 lead. After the play, Cook was unable to walk off the field under his own power and seemingly couldn’t place any of his weight on the injured leg.
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Fortunately for Vikings fans, though, Dalvin Cook was spotted sprinting on the sideline just minutes later, and he would eventually make his return to the game. His return was massive for the Vikings and helped lead them to a remarkable 28-27 comeback victory to keep their playoff hopes alive, even if they are on life support.
“I feel good,” Dalvin Cook stated after the game. “It was a great win overall. We fought back and showed the resilience of the team. Showed the character of this team.”
Considering that he was able to return to the field for this game and that he was still feeling in good shape after the game, it would be fairly surprising if Cook had any obstacles preventing him from playing next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Cook wasn’t the only star to go down in this game, though, as Panthers’ star receiver DJ Moore suffered a lower leg injury late that he wouldn’t return for, but more on that later.
Phillip Lindsay
Update Sunday, December 6: Ian Rapoport reported that Lindsay is expected to be active in Week 13.
In Sunday’s blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, Phillip Lindsay was forced into an unnatural quarterback role and ended up suffering a knee injury that cut his day short and will land him on the fantasy injury report for Week 13.
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As far as the severity of the injury, there is very little we know so far, considering that at the point Lindsay suffered the injury, the game had been over for a while, and so Denver could have chosen to keep him out of the rest of the game as a precaution.
After the game, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio strengthened that position by saying he couldn’t update the media on Phillip Lindsay’s injury at that time because he was unsure as to severity himself.
“Phil tweaked his knee a little bit,” Fangio said. “That’s all I know at this point.”
However, we should get some injury updates for Week 13 on Monday. Sunday night, Mike Klis of the Broncos-affiliated 9News reported that Lindsay would be receiving an MRI on his knee, as well as a second opinion on Monday.