The question of is Jaylen Waddle playing has been bubbling under the surface for fantasy football managers for a few weeks. With the Miami Dolphins WR dealing with a variety of injuries already this year, what is his status for Week 7 as he deals with a shoulder injury?
Let’s examine the latest updates for Waddle and what it all means for his fantasy value and those around him in Miami.
Is Jaylen Waddle Playing Tonight?
Things have been strangely quiet surrounding the status of Waddle for Week 7. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel addressed the injury on Wednesday, saying he expected Waddle to be limited in practice.
However, he also appeared optimistic about him playing Sunday night against the Steelers. There was then very little focus on Waddle when McDaniel went back in front of the media on Friday. That would most likely suggest we’ll see Waddle on the field in Week 7.
Additionally, we have heard very little since Waddle was listed as questionable on the Dolphins’ injury report. Even in the Saturday night and Sunday morning news updates from Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport, Waddle was weirdly absent. Again, this should probably be viewed as a positive, but it’s hard to know.
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What Should Fantasy Managers do with Waddle in Week 7?
The outputs from Waddle this year have been somewhat mixed. Things started off well through the first three weeks, with two 100-yard games and three touchdowns. However, with the Dolphins’ issues at QB due to injury, things have been more up and down in the past three weeks.
In Weeks 4 and 5 combined, Waddle had just 62 receiving yards from five receptions on nine targets. He bounced back nicely in Week 6 with 129 receiving yards on six receptions from 10 targets. Now with Tua Tagovailoa back under center, can we see Waddle get back to the consistency we saw in those first three weeks?
The matchup certainly appears favorable. The Steelers allow an average of 38.18 fantasy points per game to WRs this year. However, things are not that clear when you really dig deep.
Over the past four weeks, the Steelers have twice held opposing receivers under 25 fantasy points, including last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, in Week 5, Gabe Davis led the Bills’ receivers to a 71.9 fantasy-point return.
MORE: Steelers vs. Dolphins Prediction
The injury is a concern, but as long as Waddle is able to make catches, the impact should be minimal on a per-play basis. The biggest concern is that we lose him during the game due to a re-injury, as we saw with Tee Higgins on Sunday Night Football two weeks ago.
However, those things are tough to predict, especially when it’s more about a contact re-injury than anything else.
Matchup and talent-wise, there should not really be a question about Waddle’s value. He’s a clear WR1 in our Week 7 WR fantasy rankings and someone fantasy managers should be looking to start.
The only other consideration for fantasy managers is to be prepared in case Waddle does tweak his shoulder in pre-game or is a surprise inactive later. The problem is that there is no clear fantasy-relevant WR on the Dolphins’ roster you can turn to. The Steelers have some options, but Monday Night Football is not a great matchup for WRs either, as the Bears and Patriots face off.
The way to mitigate this concern is to put Waddle in your Flex spot. That way, if he is inactive, you have more options to turn to. It hopefully should not be a problem, but it’s always prudent to be prepared.