The Matthew Stafford injury situation seemingly came out of nowhere for fantasy football managers. The Los Angeles Rams QB was placed into the concussion protocol Tuesday after he was evaluated by the medical team heading into Week 10.
What are the latest updates regarding Stafford’s status, when might we get an update on his Week 10 availability, and what are the fantasy implications of this situation?
What Is the Latest Injury Update for Matthew Stafford in Week 10?
Stafford was absent from practice on both Wednesday and Thursday. However, he was able to return to the field in a limited fashion, wearing the red non-contact jersey. That return to practice would indicate that Stafford has cleared some hurdles in the concussion protocol.
With Stafford listed as questionable heading into the weekend, he will now need to clear further hurdles if he is to be active for Sunday. The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue laid out the path we need to see Stafford take this weekend. Before he can be cleared, Stafford would need to have a full football workload.
Rodrigue added that while the Rams usually have a walkthrough Saturday, they could give Stafford the full workload required by utilizing their practice-squad players. However, Saturday’s session is a closed one for the Rams, so unless Los Angeles either rules out or clears Stafford after that, we may not know until Sunday.
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If Stafford is unable to get that full football workload on Saturday, we could yet see him ruled out as early as that. If he remains questionable into Sunday, that would suggest he has cleared further hurdles and managed to get that full football workload during Saturday’s session. However, there may still be hurdles to clear Sunday, which could make this a game-time decision.
That is where things really start to get tricky for fantasy managers. The Rams’ game against the Arizona Cardinals is one of just three late-afternoon games. Therefore, we may not find out if Stafford is out until after the 1 p.m. ET window begins. That means if you are relying on Stafford, or a player dependent on his presence this week, you may have to make tough decisions without a full picture.
Fantasy Implications of Stafford’s Status on Cooper Kupp, Tyler Higbee, and More
Historically, players returning from concussions do not tend to have a performance impact. Therefore, if Stafford is on the field, we should expect him to be his usual self. If you are considering Stafford in your lineups or in Best Ball drafts on Underdog Fantasy, then he should produce at a similar level we have seen for the majority of the season.
If he was dealing with an undiagnosed concussion last week, that may help to explain the 48.2% completion rate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Stafford has struggled to produce this year compared to last season.
In 2021, he averaged 287.4 passing yards per game, which is down to 241 per game in 2022. The biggest drop-off has been in passing touchdowns.
After averaging 2.43 touchdowns per game last season, Stafford has just eight through the first eight games. That drop of 1.43 touchdowns per game equates to a loss of an average of 5.72 fantasy points per game. Combined with the drop of 46 passing yards, that is around 6.5 fantasy points lost per game.
That also has a knock-on effect on the Rams’ skill-position players. For them, a drop in 1.43 touchdowns and 46 receiving yards means the group loses 13.2 fantasy points per game on average. We’ve seen that impact across the board to some extent.
Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee are down between one to two fantasy points per game. However, we are seeing a bigger impact on the Rams not having a second fantasy-relevant WR this year.
Therefore, to some extent, we are initially concerned about the potential fantasy drop-off for Kupp and Higbee. But we don’t have much data to fall back on. Backup QB John Wolford has only started two games in his career, and he was pulled from the second after throwing just six passes.
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Intriguingly, his other full start came against the Cardinals back in 2020. In that game, Wolford completed 22 of 38 passes for 231 yards with zero touchdowns. The switch from Stafford to Wolford is undoubtedly likely to have an effect. While you wouldn’t seriously consider benching Kupp, it makes the other pass-catching options close to impossible to trust.
The biggest loss there is perhaps Higbee, who would be a tough start in this matchup. The Rams’ tight end has struggled in recent weeks. He’s seen only eight targets in those three games, resulting in just three receptions for 22 yards. Therefore, even if Stafford plays, it might be tough to trust him, let alone if it is Wolford under center.
We may see the Rams push more work onto the running game this week if Stafford is out. However, that work will likely be split between Darrell Henderson Jr., Cam Akers, and Kyren Williams, who is expecting to be activated from the IR. Therefore, it’s tough to say definitively that any of the Rams’ backs would benefit from Wolford being under center.