Prior to being sent to injured reserve (IR) after sustaining a knee injury against the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams RB Kyren Williams was a top-10 fantasy running back. When can fantasy football managers expect Williams to return to their fantasy lineups?
Latest Injury Update for Kyren Williams
According to a recent report from Stu Jackson, Rams head coach Sean McVay says he expects Williams to return once he returns from injured reserve.
When Can Williams Return?
The Rams’ decision to put Williams on IR a couple weeks ago certainly put fantasy managers in a pinch, guaranteeing he would miss a minimum of four games.
Williams is not eligible to return until the team’s Week 12 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals — who he posted a career-high 158 rushing yards and a score against back in Week 6. Unfortunately, Week 12 still feels like an eternity away for fantasy football managers.
The Rams’ bye week is this week, which pushes Williams’ return out an additional week. Assuming all goes well for him and there are no setbacks in his recovery, he should be a pretty good bet to return in Week 12.
Once we get there, the Rams will have a 21-day window to promote Williams to the active 53-man roster or simply rule him out for the remainder of the season.
Williams’ Fantasy Value
Williams’ 110 total touches for 561 yards and seven TDs have been nothing short of fantasy gold for managers who spent a late-round dart throw on him. He has fruitfully rewarded all who took him late or aggressively went after him on the waiver wire after Week 1.
However, his injury does have an impact on his fantasy value for the rest of the 2023 NFL season.
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To give you some more context about just how great Williams was to start the 2023 season, he is currently the RB4 in PPR formats — even with a missed game on his résumé.
Williams was one of the very few bell-cow backs through the first month of the season, dominating the touches out of the backfield after Cam Akers was traded to the Minnesota Vikings back in Week 2.
Fortunately, Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman have not made a very compelling case to threaten Williams’ feature role in this backfield while he’s been on IR. There’s a strong likelihood that Williams will step back into his leading role, which firmly puts him in the low-end RB1 conversation heading into the fantasy playoffs.
One other factor that could play a role in Williams’ fantasy value is the health of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who missed Week 10 with a right thumb injury. If Stafford misses more time in the coming weeks, Los Angeles’ offense could continue to struggle to produce scoring opportunities with Brett Rypien under center.
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