Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins alarmed fantasy football managers last week by leaving their defeat to the Tennessee Titans early due to a cracked rib.
So, will Higgins play this week? If he doesn’t, who are the best options to play instead of Higgins this week?
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Is Tee Higgins Going To Play Week 5?
Higgins didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday due to his injury from Sunday. However, he did manage to log a limited practice on Friday.
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However, despite this practice being logged, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Saturday that “With WR Tee Higgins questionable with a cracked rib, the Bengals elevated WR Kwamie Lassiter II from the practice squad to the active roster for tomorrow.”
This roster move calls into question Higgins’ availability today. Therefore, with his official status as questionable, let’s look at potential alternatives.
Potential Fantasy Options if Tee Higgins Is Out Include Tank Dell, Marquise Brown, and Zay Flowers
Due to the roster move and the lack of practice, we do not currently have Higgins ranked in our Consensus Rankings. Therefore, let’s look at some alternatives for Higgins.
The first replacement option for fantasy managers is Tank Dell. Dell has been a solid option in a high-powered Houston Texans offense. Dell has an 18.5% target share and a 20.8% first-read share in this offense.
Despite coming into this week off the back of a one-catch performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dell does have some Flex appeal in his matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.
Our Consensus Rankings have Dell as the WR31 in our half-PPR rankings. While the Falcons are giving up the sixth-fewest points to fantasy wide receivers this season, given the Texans are averaging over 300 yards passing per game, Dell should have enough targets to maintain a solid Flex finish this week.
Someone who is slightly higher ranked in our Consensus Rankings is Marquise Brown, who is currently ranked as our WR25 in our half-PPR rankings.
Brown is coming into this week as the WR18 after recording three solid 13-point-plus performances in half-PPR scoring in the last three weeks. The Arizona Cardinals offense has not been as bad as predicted this season. Joshua Dobbs’ play is keeping Brown more than fantasy-relevant this season.
The Cardinals play the Cincinnati Bengals today, who have struggled on offense and are giving up 26.4 fantasy points per game to wide receivers this season.
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Brown, as the number one target for the Cardinals, has a 24.6% target share. He is expected to be a volume-based WR2 this week with the potential touchdown upside if the Cardinals cash in on extra possessions if the Bengals’ offensive struggles continue today.
The last option fantasy managers could consider as a replacement today is Zay Flowers. Flowers has been a revelation since being drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft this season.
Flowers has a great cornerback matchup this week. Flowers will line up against Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace today of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Peterson is giving up the fifth-most fantasy points per route run against him with 0.43 fantasy points per route run conceded, while Wallace is giving up 0.40 fantasy points per route run conceded against him.
Flowers is currently WR22 in our Consensus Rankings this week. He could easily outperform this if he takes a long one to the house. There is plenty of upside in Flowers’ matchup. For me, he represents the strongest option of the three highlighted here.
However, fantasy managers should feel comfortable starting all three options today.