After New Orleans Saints RB Mark Ingram missed last week’s Thanksgiving game due to injury, is he set to play in Week 13? What is the latest on Ingram’s status heading into this game against the Cowboys, and what should fantasy football managers do if he is on the field this week?
Is Mark Ingram playing this week after being out through injury last week?
Ingram was on the injury report throughout Week 12 ahead of the Saints’ Thanksgiving game. He was a non-participant on Tuesday, but despite being limited on Monday and Wednesday, he was inactive for the game Thursday.
However, Ingram was able to return to practice in Week 13. Ingram was listed as a full participant all three days on the Saints’ injury report. Therefore, the RB carries no designation into the Saints’ Thursday Night Football game with the Cowboys. Barring a setback heading into pregame warmups, Ingram will be active in Week 13.
Ingram had stepped up in the absence of Alvin Kamara
The Saints traded for Ingram ahead of their Week 8 game against the Buccaneers. Ingram had a relatively small role through the first two games after his acquisition with 15 total rush attempts and 7 targets. When Kamara was ruled out heading into Week 10, Ingram took on a larger role as a result.
In Weeks 10 and 11 combined, he had 30 rush attempts and 15 targets. Ingram managed to be reasonably successful against the Titans and Eagles. In Week 10, he turned 14 carries and 7 targets into 108 total yards and a touchdown. In Week 11, he had 16 rush attempts and 8 targets for 113 yards.
The value of Ingram in place of Kamara was emphasized in his absence in Week 12. Tony Jones Jr. and Ty Montgomery combined for 22 rush attempts for just 41 yards, adding 31 receiving yards on 5 receptions from 7 targets. The 44 rushing yards were the Saints’ lowest output of the season.
However, with Kamara potentially returning in Week 13, Ingram’s ceiling is somewhat capped. What does this mean for Ingram’s fantasy managers in Week 13?
What should fantasy managers do in Week 13?
The decision on what to do with Ingram could very much depend on the status of Kamara. Early Sunday morning, Ian Rapoport reported that Kamara is expected to be out for Week 13. When Kamara was active, Ingram had just 5.8 fantasy points per game in standard formats through Weeks 8 and 9. Nonetheless, with Kamara absent, Ingram averaged 13.1 fantasy points per game in standard.
That is the difference between being outside the top 50 at the position and being an RB2 in standard formats. In half-PPR and PPR formats, Ingram’s potential role in the receiving game increases his ceiling a touch but still leaves him as an RB4 on average when Kamara is active.
The caveat is that we have no idea if Kamara is active or how much he’ll play. Kamara might be limited to just third-down work, and if we find that out, it increases the value of Ingram to around an RB3.
The other unknown in this is the impact that Taysom Hill as starting QB will have on the running backs. If we compare Ingram’s role to Latavius Murray’s last year, we can see the upside and downside for Ingram. Last season, with Hill at QB, Murray had 33.1 fantasy points in Weeks 11 and 12. However, in Weeks 13 and 14, that dropped to a total of 2.4 total fantasy points. Starting and trusting Ingram this week requires fantasy managers to sift through a lot of variables.