Kansas City's two main pass catchers landed on the COVID list last week. The weekend has brought good news and bad news, with Tyreek Hill testing out yesterday and being cleared to play, but Travis Kelce being unable to get cleared. The star tight end will miss the game today.
With Hill in, the dart-throw appeal of Bryon Pringle, Mecole Hardman, Josh Gordon and Demarcus Robinson takes a hit. The odds of guessing right with those guys were pretty slim anyway, but maybe Pringle would hit, as he has on occasion in other games Hill missed. Now they're all fighting for chances behind Hill.
With Kelce out, you're looking at Noah Gray and Blake Bell. Gray might make sense on a roster with best-ball lineups, where you get him as a starter if he has a good game. Maybe he, or Bell, catches a touchdown at some point. But neither is going to be as big a part of the passing game.
Other news and notes:
- Jared Goff didn't clear the COVID protocols, so it will be Tim Boyle starting at quarterback for Detroit. Boyle couldn't be much worse than he was in his other start, throwing for 77 yards, but it's a negative for everything connected with Detroit's offense, most notably Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josh Reynolds. That was the expectation in the Friday update, so those guys are ranked about where they should be.
David Johnson isn't going to play for the Texans, preventing anyone from making the mistake of thinking Johnson can help fantasy teams this or any other week. It will be Rex Burkhead, Royce Freeman, and probably some other useless running back the team makes active to divide up a three-man committee in the league's worst running game.
Speaking of committees, the devil-may-care Carolina Panthers are apparently going to use at least Cam Newton and Sam Darnold, and maybe even P.J. Walker if the mood strikes them, at quarterback. If you're intentionally tanking your Week 16 matchup for some reason, definitely use a Panthers quarterback. Newton will probably run one in at some point, so there's that. DJ Moore is expected to play through his hamstring injury, but Moore looks like a very poor choice this week even if you leave out the health considerations.
Antonio Gibson (toe) is considered a gametime decision for Washington. Our low ranking of Gibson in the Friday Update made it clear we have little interest in pinning the week's fantasy hopes on Gibson limping around on Sunday night football at Dallas. Washington activated Wendell Smallwood yesterday, which could be a sign that they're not expecting to have Gibson, but they won't have J.D. McKissic, so Smallwood could have been brought up for that role. If Gibson is actually inactive, I'd be interested in Jaret Patterson, but you can only make that choice if you have other options playing Sunday night or Monday that look viable. Same game, Curtis Samuel (groin) is also a gametime decision. If you're considering rostering or using Samuel, in this or any other week, clearly we've failed you.
Tampa Bay won't have Breshad Perriman. The main wideouts should be Antonio Brown, Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson.
Jake Fromm starts for the Giants. Those in three-quarterback leagues should be careful to use Fromm rather than Mike Glennon today. More importantly, Kadarius Toney (oblique) has a good chance to play, according to Ian Rapoport. Toney has missed a lot of practice time and isn't even certain to be active, but if you're desperate, he's a possibility.
D'Andre Swift (shoulder) has been practicing on a limited basis. Some chance he plays and puts up good numbers. But I think it's more likely he's inactive, and my second guess would be that if he's active, he plays limited snaps. But the daring or desperate among you can consider Swift.
Damien Harris (hamstring) is reportedly "good to go" for the Patriots.
Good luck today!
--Andy Richardson