The NFL preseason is over and the regular season is less than two weeks away, which means it’s time for fantasy football drafts. Many NFL fans are cramming ahead of their drafts, which means checking in on the various injuries around the league. What’s the latest on Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee, and should you draft him?
The Latest on Tyler Higbee’s Health
Higbee suffered the same injury as Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson, and they will both begin the 2024 season on the PUP list. This means Higbee will miss at least the first four games of the season.
While reports around Hockenson have been optimistic, the same can’t be said for the news on Higbee. While he’s eligible to return from the PUP list in Week 5, the Rams don’t expect him to be ready by then, as The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue reported.
Higbee’s timetable to return is unclear at this point, but it sounds like he’ll be sidelined for a significant chunk of the season.
Tyler Higbee’s Fantasy Outlook
Given his injury and the fact that the Rams aren’t expecting him back anytime soon, you shouldn’t draft Higbee in 2024.
MORE: PFN’s Consensus 2024 Fantasy Football Rankings
Even if he does manage to come back late in the season, there’s no guarantee that he’ll look like himself — and he was already a fringe starter before this injury.
Los Angeles gave former Seattle Seahawks TE Colby Parkinson a three-year, $22.5 million free agent deal, even though he’s never topped 400 receiving yards in a season. Davis Allen, an athletic freak whom the Rams added in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, might also be in the TE mix.