Last week was one of the most disastrous injury weeks in the history of fantasy football. It is refreshing to get some good news for a change.
On Wednesday, according to Tom Pelissero, the Los Angeles Chargers opened the 21-day window for WR Joshua Palmer to return from IR. Is there a chance fantasy managers get him back for Week 14?
Latest Injury Update on Joshua Palmer
We haven’t seen Palmer since he left the Chargers’ Week 8 victory over the Chicago Bears with a knee injury. Most surprisingly, we haven’t heard a single peep about the injury since the team placed him on injured reserve ahead of Week 9.
Palmer was eligible to be activated last week. But, again, we heard nothing. The most information we got over that span was that the Chargers hoped to get him back this season. Well, it looks like they will. In fact, barring a setback, they certainly will.
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In most situations, when teams open the 21-day window for a player to return, it means he’s ready to come back, but it’s not a guarantee.
We just saw the Bears designate Khalil Herbert to return from IR, only to hold him out for a week. Four weeks ago, the Vikings designated Justin Jefferson to return but didn’t activate him until the very end of the 21-day window. Palmer will practice with the team this week, but there’s no guarantee he plays.
Will Palmer Play This Week?
Palmer’s participation level at practice will be very telling. He will almost certainly draw a limited tag on Wednesday. If he’s able to upgrade to full on Thursday or Friday, that would be a very encouraging sign for his availability.
The good news for fantasy managers is there won’t be any ambiguity heading into Sunday. Even though teams often slap questionable tags on players returning from IR, they’re completely meaningless.
It’s a strange feature because the NFL requires teams to activate players from IR by 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. Therefore, fantasy managers will know by then if Palmer is playing. The team will not activate him unless they plan to play him.
We will update this article throughout the week with information on Palmer’s status.
What Does This Mean for Palmer’s Fantasy Ranking?
Currently, the PFN Consensus Rankings are operating as if Palmer will not return. But don’t take that as any sort of prediction. If the news on Palmer is trending positive, look for him to shoot up into the top 48, if not the top 36.
In his four full games before getting hurt, Palmer saw at least seven targets and cracked double-digit fantasy points in all of them. He would not only immediately be startable for fantasy managers, but his return would be a welcome sight for Justin Herbert.
It has been quite the struggle over the past five weeks with no reliable pass catcher outside of Keenan Allen. Herbert has been forced to try and rely on drop machines like Quentin Johnston and Donald Parham. These guys just can’t be playing more than a handful of snaps each game. Yet, they’ve been forced into more prominent roles due to injuries to the Chargers’ receiving corps.
Palmer is by no means a special player, but he’s far better than he gets credit for and consistently outplays his athleticism. It’s a bit ironic that Palmer often gets knocked for his athleticism given that the guy lining up opposite him has been outplaying his own athleticism deficiencies for a decade.
It’s exceedingly rare that good players being added to the roster benefit a wide receiver. But in Allen’s case, I legitimately think Palmer’s return would help him. It’s not as if Allen can possibly see more targets than he already does.
Palmer’s presence would at least force defenses to contend with another threat. Plus, his targets are coming from Johnston, Parham, and Gerald Everett — not Allen.
With three dud performances in his last five, a returning Palmer would go a long way toward helping Herbert post a top-six number in a challenging, but beatable matchup against the Denver Broncos this week.
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