It’s always a challenge to navigate through injuries in fantasy football, and the WR position is not immune from players getting hurt. As the time to set Week 5 lineups approaches, what is the latest injury information on Tee Higgins, Deebo Samuel, and Diontae Johnson?
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Injury Updates for Top Fantasy Football WRs
Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals
It was another disappointing effort by the Bengals in Week 4. They suffered their third loss of the season, getting blown out by the Tennessee Titans.
Adding injury to insult was Tee Higgins exiting early with a rib injury. After the game, Higgins confirmed he broke a rib.
Tee confirmed his rib is fractured. Said it's just one rib. Happened on the play along the sideline where he appeared to make a diving catch but the ball came out when he hit the ground. He said he landed on something, but not sure what.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) October 2, 2023
Outside of a stellar Week 2 performance where Higgins caught eight of 12 targets for 89 yards and two touchdowns, he’s been a complete nothing for fantasy managers. In his other three games combined, Higgins has a total of four catches for 40 yards.
We are certainly at a point at which this entire Bengals offense has to be called into question. Everyone has been a disappointment, with Joe Burrow and Higgins highest on the list.
Fantasy managers who spent a late second-round or early third-round pick on Higgins are likely considering benching him regardless of his injury status.
As of now, it’s too early to tell whether Higgins will play on Sunday. Rib fractures are something players have historically been able to play through, but it’s not easy. It mostly comes down to pain tolerance, along with possible breathing issues depending on the location of the fracture.
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Although Higgins declined to rule himself out for Week 5, fantasy managers certainly shouldn’t bank on him playing. Given the nature of rib injuries, it’s entirely possible Higgins is able to get in a couple of limited practices this week and still might not be able to go.
One of those practices won’t be on Wednesday, though, as Higgins is not practicing today.
There is absolutely no chance Higgins avoids an injury designation. At best, he’ll be listed as questionable. At worst, he’ll be ruled out entirely. Well, actually, the worst-case scenario for fantasy managers is him being listed as doubtful, as that guarantees he doesn’t play but also prevents fantasy managers from being able to place him on IR. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen.
Our PFN Consensus Rankings are currently operating as if Higgins won’t play. His absence would give a slight bump to Tyler Boyd, who would elevate to the WR2 role.
Normally, I’d be more bullish on Boyd as a replacement, but it’s not as if Higgins — the vastly more talented receiver — has been producing anyway.
The Bengals’ offense is currently broken. Burrow’s calf is a problem, but it cannot be blamed entirely for this team being last in scoring. If Boyd has any hope of being a viable WR3/Flex play in Week 5, the entire offense needs to improve.
The matchup against the Cardinals is not an imposing one, but neither were the Titans last week.
With bye weeks starting and injuries mounting, Boyd is going to be in play this week. What level of production fantasy managers get depends on how quickly the Bengals can turn things around, if at all.
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers
Back in Week 3, Deebo Samuel sustained a rib injury during the 49ers’ Thursday win over the Giants. The rib wound up being just fine. It was a knee injury that the team didn’t discover until after the game that limited Samuel at practice last week.
Samuel wasn’t able to practice at all until Friday, getting in only a limited session. He drew a questionable tag but ultimately played.
On the field, Samuel looked fine. He played the most snaps out of any 49ers wide receiver. Unfortunately, he went by his little-known alias against the Cardinals last week: Decoy Samuel.
Now, to be fair, Brock Purdy only attempted 21 passes because it was the Christian McCaffrey show. Samuel did run a route on all of them. The injury did not appear to be limiting his ability to be on the field, but clearly, it was an issue. Samuel did not see a single target for the first time in his career.
The good news is Samuel made it through the game. He looked no worse for wear. Fantasy managers should fully expect him to be listed on the injury report again. Hopefully, he’ll be able to practice earlier than Friday and even possibly get in a full session. That would go a long way toward inspiring confidence surrounding his performance in Week 5.
Update: Deebo Samuel got in a limited practice on Wednesday. That immediately puts him way ahead of where he was last week. He is clearly in a much better spot heading into this week. At this point, fantasy managers should expect him to be playing Sunday night, and to perform much better than last week’s dud.
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The 49ers have a huge NFC showdown against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. It would be a major surprise if Samuel wasn’t out there. With another week to recover, he should be much more involved (it can’t be less).
Currently the WR13 in our Week 5 rankings, fantasy managers rightfully aggravated about last week should not be afraid to deploy Samuel once again.
Diontae Johnson, Pittsburgh Steelers
We haven’t seen or really heard anything about Diontae Johnson since he strained his hamstring back in Week 1. The Steelers placed Johnson on IR, and that is where he has remained.
Week 5 is now upon us, and this is the last week Johnson is required to miss. He will be eligible to return to practice in Week 6, should the team choose to open his window. With the Steelers on bye next week, Johnson should be eyeing up a Week 7 return.
The Steelers are historically tight-lipped on injury updates. In situations like this, Johnson will just be out for a while, and one day, he’ll just show up at practice and be good to go. We’re certainly hoping that’s the case in Week 7.
Currently, the Steelers are quite short-staffed at pass catcher. TE Pat Freiermuth is also out this week with a hamstring strain of his own. That leaves George Pickens as the only real reliable target in this passing game.
With Kenny Pickett also uncertain, Pittsburgh desperately needs to get to their bye. Ideally, the week off will help them get healthy. Pickett has not yet been ruled out for this week, but if he is, the Steelers could be getting him, Johnson, and Freiermuth back in Week 7.