After the Week 12 games are finished, we begin the process of assessing our fantasy football teams in an effort to get ahead of our upcoming matchups, hoping that everyone escaped the week healthy. Unfortunately for Las Vegas Raiders RB Josh Jacobs, an ankle injury suffered last week now places uncertainty on if he is playing against the New York Jets. What is the latest news on Jacobs, and if he is out in Week 13, who can fantasy managers turn to for a last-second replacement in the final game to secure their spot in the playoffs?
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Josh Jacobs latest practice status
Update Saturday, December 5: Josh Jacobs was ruled out Friday, but a report Saturday from Adam Schefter indicated that the Raiders expect to have him back for Week 14.
Raiders RB Josh Jacobs suffered an ankle injury in Week 12
Unfortunately for the Las Vegas Raiders, as the saying goes, misery loves company, and suffering a terrible 43-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons wasn’t punishment enough as their prized running back was also injured in the loss.
Jacobs was injured on a late-third quarter lost fumble, grabbing his ankle as he crawled on the field. Before his injury, Jacobs managed to see limited action against the Falcons, producing only 27 rushing yards on seven carries along with three receptions for 17 receiving yards. He also fumbled once. Devontae Booker came on in his place and finished with five carries for six yards and a single reception that lost a yard.
Related | Fantasy RB Rankings Week 13: Sleepers, busts, and must starts
If there is some silver lining for the Silver and Balck, it’s that it appears Jacobs’ injury is not as severe as initially suspected. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Jacobs’ injury “looked worse than it is” after the team completed tests on his injured ankle. He also added that there is optimism in the organization that Josh Jacobs’ injury might not keep him from playing in Week 13. As of Monday, Jacobs is in a walking boot and should be considered questionable moving forward until more news comes out.
Prior to this injury, Josh Jacobs had managed to stay healthy this season after missing three games last season. In 11 games, he had totaled 782 rushing yards on 206 carries and nine rushing touchdowns while adding 27 receptions on 34 targets for 175 receiving yards.
If Josh Jacobs injury forces him out in Week 13, Devontae Booker is an interesting waiver add
At some point, waivers will run in fantasy football; it will just be whenever the Baltimore Ravens finally get to play their game, checks news, yes, Wednesday at 3:40 PM because a tree needs to be lit on national television at 8:00 PM.
When the waivers finally happen, Raiders Devontae Booker will be amongst the most added players for Week 13 if Josh Jacobs’ injury forces him to miss the upcoming game.
Booker has already been seeing more work as of late though Jacobs is by far the workhorse for the Raiders. The former Broncos running back is averaging 5.5 yards per carry in limited action this season for 326 yards and three touchdowns on 59 carries. Booker has also caught 11 of his 14 targets for an additional 64 yards.
Whoever is playing between Devontae Booker or Josh Jacobs has a great matchup in Week 13
If you play fantasy football, there is no better feeling than seeing one of your players slated to play the 32nd-ranked team in everyone’s power rankings, the 0-11 New York Jets.
The Jets’ defense is bad. This is not Earth-shattering news to anyone. The whole team is bad. They allow the 10th-most fantasy points to opposing running backs (24.68), and they have given up the third-most receptions to the position.
On a per-game basis, they give up 11.2 fantasy points through the air to the position. If Josh Jacobs is playing this week, he could be on a snap limit, but it all depends on his health as any other week, he would be a fantasy RB1. If he is out, Devontae Booker will slide in as a back-end RB2 that should get a boost in PPR formats. Either way, they will still find production in Week 13.
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Tommy Garrett is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can read more of his work here and follow him at @TommygarrettPFN on Twitter.