If you managed to advance to the fantasy football playoffs in your league, allow me to be among the first to congratulate you! However, if you are relying on Keenan Allen, Ja’Marr Chase, or Tyler Boyd in your fantasy lineup, then you may need to start formulating a backup plan.
Here is the latest injury update we have on some big-name fantasy WRs heading into Week 15.
Latest News and Injury Updates Impacting Fantasy
Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers
Editor’s Note: Keenan Allen has been ruled out of Thursday Night Football in Week 15.
To say the Los Angeles Chargers offense has caught a serious case of the injury bug this season would be a big understatement.
After losing starting WR Mike Williams for the year due to a knee injury back in Week 3, franchise QB Justin Herbert will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his broken index finger.
MORE: PFN’s Free NFL Playoff Predictor Tool
This means QB Easton Stick is slated to be the starting man under center when the Chargers take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday Night Football. To make matters worse for the Chargers, Stick may not have his top wide receiver in the lineup on TNF.
According to the Chargers injury report, Allen was listed a non-participant for practice on Monday and Tuesday while dealing with a heel injury.
Los Angeles is all but eliminated from playoff contention in the AFC this season, which makes it very possible that the veteran wideout may not need to push past an ailing heel injury with Herbert out of the lineup and the Chargers not reasonably competing for a playoff position.
Allen has been fantastic this season with 1,243 yards and seven scores on 108 receptions in 2023, which has him as the WR3 in PPR formats. His absence would leave a gaping hole in plenty of fantasy rosters.
If Allen is unable to take the field on Thursday night, Quentin Johnston, Jalen Guyton, and possibly Joshua Palmer — if he is ready to return from his knee injury now that he’s been activated off of injured reserve — would see an expanded role in Week 15.
If Allen does manage to suit up against the Raiders, then he likely falls to the low-end WR1/high-end WR2 range with the downgrade under center from Herbert to Stick.
Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals
Editor’s Note: Chase was upgraded to a limited participant on Wednesday. When he spoke with the media in the locker room, Chase seemed confident that he would play on Saturday.
The Cincinnati Bengals two game winning streak with QB Jake Browning under center has been one of the bigger surprises across the league over the last two weeks. His 275 passing yards and two scores helped the Bengals stay right in the thick of the AFC playoff picture and provides plenty of optimism for fantasy managers that this team can still produce offensively without Joe Burrow at quarterback.
Unfortunately for shareholders of Chase, the talented wideout only accounted for 29 of Browning’s 275 yards through the air on Sunday, which is definitely a cause for concern when Chase popped up on the team’s injury report on Tuesday.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor addressed injuries on the team during Tuesday’s news conference, saying, “Everything is positive so far.”
MORE: Fantasy News Tracker
According to the team’s injury report, Chase was listed as a non-participant for Tuesday’s walkthrough practice.
Despite the up-and-down season for the Bengals’ offense in 2023, Chase has already set a career high with 89 receptions this season and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the third time in his three-year career.
His 11 receptions for 149 yards and a score against the Jacksonville Jaguars two weeks ago proved he can still be an elite fantasy producer with Browning under center, but his fantasy floor has definitely dropped a bit without an MVP-caliber quarterback leading the way.
Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals
Editor’s Note: Boyd remained limited don Wednesday but does appear to be trending toward playing in Week 15.
Chase wasn’t the only Bengals wide receiver to appear on the injury report yesterday. Boyd popped up on Tuesday’s report and was listed as a limited participant while dealing with a foot/ankle injury.
As disappointing as Chase’s stat line was against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Boyd was actually worse. His two receptions for 23 yards and season low 52% snap share are both cause for major concern regarding his fantasy outlook moving forward.
This was the fifth time this season Boyd has finished with fewer than 30 yards receiving, which has been happening a lot recently with three of those five performances coming in the last four games.
Boyd has fallen into the WR4 range, but he gets a small boost in fantasy value in Week 15 against the Minnesota Vikings if Chase is unable to take the field.
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