Coming off a three-touchdown game, Tennessee Titans WR DeAndre Hopkins gave fantasy football managers a scare when he was listed on the Titans’ injury report all week. Thursday Night Football games can often see players limited in practice as they recover from Sunday.
Let’s take a look at the latest injury update for Hopkins, whether he is in danger of missing Week 9, and the fantasy implications.
Latest Injury Update on DeAndre Hopkins
Hopkins is dealing with a toe injury which saw him listed as an estimated limited participant through the first two days of Week 9 before being downgraded to a non-participant on Wednesday. The reason the participation status was estimated to start the week was that the Titans only held walkthrough practices on Monday and Tuesday as they prepared for the short week.
The potential key as to why Hopkins and a couple of other Titans’ players have been listed as limited early this week was perhaps divulged by Hopkins in the locker room before practice. “Recover, recover, recover. A game like this, whoever can recover the best will have a good possibility of going out and being their best. Just recover man,” Hopkins told reporters.
Hopkins didn’t address the toe injury directly, but it did not seem like he was really concerned about the situation on Tuesday. However, being downgraded to out on Wednesday was a major red flag.
Will Hopkins Play This Week?
The red warning light for Hopkins is now blinking rapidly in terms of his potential availability to play on Thursday. When we reach this stage of the season, most players are dealing with something, and the short recovery time for Thursday Night Football is always likely to increase the count on the injury report a little.
On a normal week, players have Monday and Tuesday to recover before the first injury report is released Wednesday. On a short week, players have to be reported on just 24 hours after they played a game. So the seriousness of listings that early in the week is always tough to gauge. The hope was that this was nothing major for Hopkins, and on Wednesday, we would see him back at practice in a full capacity.
Unfortunately, we saw a downgrade in his status on Wednesday. That is a major concern with just over 24 hours to go before game time. It still feels close to 50-50 but fantasy managers should start making preparations just in case.
Fantasy Implications If Hopkins Is Out
If Hopkins ends up being ruled out this week, then it’ll be intriguing to see who benefits. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine caught a nice touchdown throw from Will Levis in Week 8. Westbrook-Ikhine is third on the team in targets this season with 25. He has been reasonably productive, with 17 receptions for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
The player to look at as potentially stepping up in Hopkins’ spot would be second-year WR Treylon Burks. Prior to Hopkins’ arrival, Burks was viewed as the No. 1 in this offense. So far this season, he has played just four games, seeing 15 targets with six receptions for 99 yards. He should see an expanded role if Hopkins is out, but can he make the most of it?
MORE: Fantasy Football IR Week 9 Injury Report
The benefit of this game being on Thursday is that fantasy managers can look elsewhere for fantasy help in the event of players being ruled out. If this was a Monday Night Football game, the alert level would be higher. However, fantasy managers will have the full slate of Week 9 games to choose from if they do need a replacement for Hopkins.
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