Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season has barely begun. Yet, fantasy football managers are already having to navigate the always precarious injury landscape.
After practicing on Wednesday and Thursday, New England Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson was absent from Friday’s practice, resulting in the team listing him as questionable on the final injury report. Will he play today?
Latest News Surrounding Rhamondre Stevenson
On Friday afternoon, the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan reported, “No Rhamondre Stevenson at Patriots practice.” He added that “Stevenson’s absence is puzzling.”
We later found out that Stevenson’s absence was due to a stomach bug — not an actual injury. Obviously, other than him being excused for personal reasons, this is the least concerning result.
Nevertheless, Stevenson was still listed as questionable, making his game-day status less than certain.
Will Stevenson Play This Week?
On Friday afternoon, The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed reported that Stevenson was still expected to play. It was welcome news for fantasy managers, but nothing is 100% until the game starts.
I say the game starts because even when inactives are announced 90 minutes before kickoff, we know that’s not 100%. About once a year, fantasy managers are burned by a player being “fake active,” where he shouldn’t be playing, is made active, and just never sees a snap.
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While that’s not impossible for Stevenson, something like this has never occurred in Week 1 before. If Stevenson is active, fantasy managers should feel supremely confident he’ll be a full go.
Fortunately, Stevenson is expected to play today. As is tradition, guys like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport hit us with a bevy of overnight tweets on the likely status of questionable players. One of those tweets from Rapoport concerned Stevenson, where he said, “Patriots RB Rahmondre Stevenson, questionable with an illness, was in meetings yesterday and should play today, source said.”
What Does This Mean for Stevenson’s Fantasy Ranking?
Given Kyed’s track record of reliability, we never moved Stevenson in our PFN Consensus Rankings. He remains a volume-based high RB2 in a tough matchup. In the wake of Rap’s report, we are confident Stevenson plays.
Fantasy managers should leave Stevenson in lineups. Once inactives are announced this afternoon, and you see his name not among them, you can rest assured that Stevenson will play.