The Monday night combatants have released their injury reports, and the tight ends are the stars. There’s some marginal fantasy appeal at this position for both teams.
For the Seattle Seahawks, Zach Miller (ankle) is out, and that makes Luke Willson at least a marginal fantasy prospect. Willson is a lot faster than Miller, so he could hit a longer play or two. And as often as the Seahawks might score, Willson has a reasonable chance of catching a 5-yard touchdown flip.
Nothing else notable on the Seattle side. Backups Alvin Bailey and Tharold Simon are both out. Marshawn Lynch and Bruce Irvin at probable.
The report for Washington is more extensive, and tight ends also lead the way.
This isn’t a great team, of course, but Washington has a pair of talented pass-catching tight ends in Jordan Reed and Niles Paul, and Seattle’s defense got eaten up by tight end Antonio Gates back in Week 2. If one (and only one) of these guys is playing, he might be a decent option in a 12-team format. Both are questionable.
Reed has been out since injuring his hamstring in the first quarter of the first game. He was limited in practice on Thursday and Friday and sat out on Saturday. Jay Gruden says the team will run Reed through a workout on Sunday and make a decision on him at that time. Too much risk and not enough upside, in our opinion, to seriously consider Reed at this time.
Paul has passed the league’s required concussion tests and practiced fully on Friday and Saturday. So while they’re calling him questionable, it would probably be more realistic to say he’s probable. He should play, and he’ll probably be their starter (with Reed getting an additional week to get his hamstring back to 100 percent).
To us, it seems like Paul is going to be the starter, and considering how well he’s played (he’s caught 21 passes in four games) our projection would be something like 45-50 yards, with about a one-in-four chance of touchdown. That would make him about the 15th-best tight end on our board this week, in there with guys like Clay Harbor (our sleeper tight end of the week), Jason Witten and Owen Daniels.
The rest of Washington’s injury report isn’t as compelling. RG3 and CB Tracy Porter are both out. Left tackle Trent Williams (knee) is questionable, but it looks like he’ll play; he was limited in practice all week. G Shawn Lauvao (knee), LB Akeem Jordan (knee) and DL Kedric Golston (ankle) are all questionable.
DeSean Jackson (shoulder) and pass-rushing linebacker Brian Orakpo (finger) are both probable. Those guys are fine.
—Ian Allan