Fantasy Index Weekly

January 20, 2023

Updated player projections

Divisional Round rankings after Friday injuries

The eight remaining teams have submitted their injury designations to the league ahead of this weekend’s eight divisional games. There doesn’t seem to be anything noteworthy or unexpected. Most of the offenses are at close to full strength.

A rundown on the eight teams appears below. Originally I had the game in chronological order, but the most notable updates are to the Bengals and Bills, so I moved the game to the top:

Weather should have some effect on the Bengals-Bills game. The forecast includes an 80 percent chance of snow, with temperatures in the low-to-mid 30s and winds around 7 mph. Conditions have been a lot worse at that stadium many times in recent years, but they look like they should raise the degree of difficulty for passing and kicking.

As expected, the Bengals have ruled out two offensive line starters: Alex Cappa and Jonah Williams. (They also won’t have right tackle La’el Collins, who’s on IR.) Those injuries make it reasonable to worry some about Joe Burrow’s pass protection. Cincinnati likely also won’t have backup cornerback Tre Flowers (hamstring), who’s doubtful.

The Bills look like they’re pretty much healthy. Isaiah McKenzie (hamstring) has been a full participant at practice all week and doesn’t have a designation. As outlined in our scouting report, however, we don’t consider McKenzie to be a viable third receiver at this time. Cole Beasley should also see some time in the slot, and Khalil Shakir had an impressive downfield catch last week. Buffalo calls a pair of defensive linemen questionable: Jordan Phillips (shoulder) and DaQuan Jones (calf).

Kansas City has ruled out Mecole Hardman (pelvis); he hasn’t practiced at all, making it look unlikely he would be available for the AFC Championship (if KC advances to that game). The team has designated Clyde Edwards-Helaire to return from IR, but that won’t happen this week. Conditions for this game could be a little sloppy, with the forecast including a 70 percent chance of rain, showing up in the afternoon. The expected high is 38 degrees, with winds of 5 mph.

The Jaguars are calling Trevor Lawrence (toe) and Brandon Scherff (abdomen) questionable, but there doesn’t seem to be any chance of those guys sitting out. Lawrence has been questionable for each of the last six games, and there’s been no apparent decline in his physical abilities. Scherff has been questionable for the last five games, and he’s similarly played in all of them. Center Luke Fortner (back) and kick returner Jamal Agnew (shoulder) are also both questionable. Agnew was questionable with the same injury last week and played. Fortner hasn’t had an injury designation this season but has been a limited participate in practice all week.

The Eagles have two notable offensive injuries, and both players will be available. Jalen Hurts (shoulder) isn’t even on the injury report. Right tackle Lane Johnson (groin) was a full participant at practice Thursday and also doesn’t have an injury designation. The Eagles have ruled out Avonte Maddox (toe), who hasn’t practiced at all. Weather won’t be an issue for this game, with the forecast calling for temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s, with 3 mph winds and a 5 percent chance of precipitation.

The Giants list only one player on their injury report. Linebacker Azeez Ojulari (quad) is questionable. He’s been a limited participant in practice all week, making it seem like he’ll play. He’s played in eight games this year, with six starts.

The 49ers look healthy. Only two players appear on their injury report, and neither is a guy anyone was counting on. Jimmy Garoppolo (foot) and Ambry Thomas (ankle) haven’t practiced at all. Thomas is a backup cornerback who’s been on the field for only 41 plays all year. Weather won’t be a factor for this game, with the forecast calling for temperatures in the mid-50s and winds around 11 mph.

Dallas has ruled out tackle Jason Peters (hip), who got hurt at Tampa Bay. He’s started the last two games. Otherwise, the Cowboys are healthy. Only one other player on their roster appears on the injury report: safety Jayron Kearse (knee), and he was a limited participant in practice all week. The Cowboys have added Tristan Vizcaino to their practice squad, but their plan is to have Brett Maher kick on Sunday (if they’re going to activate Vizcaino, it will need to happen by Saturday).

After tweaking the projections for the eight teams, our final division draft board is as follows (using standard scoring, and putting all of the players in one list, regardless of position).

PLAYER PROJECTIONS FOR DIVISIONAL ROUND
Rk	Pos	Tm	Player	Pass	Rec	Run	Yds	TDP	TD	F Pts
1	QB	KC	Patrick Mahomes	313	0	22	334	2.38	.35	29.42
2	QB	PHI	Jalen Hurts	225	0	61	287	1.42	.62	26.78
3	QB	BUF	Josh Allen	246	0	42	288	1.75	.44	26.14
4	QB	CIN	Joe Burrow	259	0	15	275	1.90	.23	23.47
5	QB	DAL	Dak Prescott	262	0	15	277	1.83	.16	22.91
6	QB	JAC	Trevor Lawrence	252	0	18	270	1.63	.25	22.44
7	QB	NYG	Daniel Jones	208	0	40	248	1.27	.34	21.55
8	QB	SF	Brock Purdy	226	0	7	232	1.56	.17	19.22
9	RB	SF	Christian McCaffrey	0	36	82	119	.00	.97	17.71
10	RB	PHI	Miles Sanders	0	5	84	89	.00	.70	13.05
11	TE	KC	Travis Kelce	1	83	0	84	.01	.64	12.23
12	RB	NYG	Saquon Barkley	0	21	64	85	.00	.60	12.11
13	RB	JAC	Travis Etienne	0	19	70	89	.00	.43	11.50
14	RB	KC	Isiah Pacheco	0	13	67	80	.00	.56	11.43
15	WR	CIN	JaMarr Chase	0	77	1	78	.00	.60	11.38
16	WR	BUF	Stefon Diggs	0	82	0	82	.00	.53	11.37
17	RB	CIN	Joe Mixon	0	25	52	77	.00	.56	11.13
18	WR	DAL	CeeDee Lamb	0	77	2	79	.00	.46	10.69
19	WR	PHI	A.J. Brown	0	74	0	74	.00	.52	10.49
20	RB	DAL	Tony Pollard	0	25	53	78	.00	.43	10.40
21	RB	KC	Jerick McKinnon	0	41	20	61	.00	.70	10.37
22	WR	JAC	Christian Kirk	0	66	1	67	.00	.41	9.18
23	WR	CIN	Tee Higgins	0	65	0	65	.00	.44	9.12
24	WR	SF	Deebo Samuel	0	42	20	62	.00	.48	9.09
25	WR	KC	JuJu Smith-Schuster	0	63	0	63	.00	.38	8.62
26	PK	PHI	Jake Elliott	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	8.30
27	WR	JAC	Zay Jones	0	59	1	59	.00	.39	8.27
28	PK	SF	Robbie Gould	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	8.20
29	WR	PHI	DeVonta Smith	0	60	0	60	.00	.35	8.14
30	TE	JAC	Evan Engram	0	56	0	57	.00	.39	7.99
31	RB	DAL	Ezekiel Elliott	0	8	44	52	.00	.47	7.98
32	RB	SF	Elijah Mitchell	0	7	50	57	.00	.35	7.83
33	TE	PHI	Dallas Goedert	0	58	0	58	.00	.32	7.73
34	PK	BUF	Tyler Bass	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	7.72
35	PK	KC	Harrison Butker	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	7.48
36	TE	SF	George Kittle	0	48	0	48	.00	.44	7.44
37	WR	KC	Kadarius Toney	1	44	6	51	.00	.39	7.44
38	WR	BUF	Gabe Davis	0	52	0	52	.00	.36	7.37
39	TE	DAL	Dalton Schultz	0	47	0	47	.00	.43	7.22
40	RB	BUF	Devin Singletary	0	10	42	52	.00	.33	7.21
41	WR	SF	Brandon Aiyuk	0	56	1	57	.00	.25	7.17
42	WR	NYG	Darius Slayton	0	57	0	57	.00	.23	7.05
43	RB	BUF	James Cook	0	12	38	50	.00	.32	6.93
44	D	PHI	Philadelphia	0	0	0	0	.00	.09	6.81
45	PK	CIN	Evan McPherson	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	6.80
46	WR	NYG	Richie James	0	48	1	49	.00	.29	6.70
47	PK	JAC	Riley Patterson	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	6.70
48	D	BUF	Buffalo	0	0	0	0	.00	.13	6.69
49	WR	NYG	Isaiah Hodgins	0	46	0	46	.00	.33	6.62
50	PK	NYG	Graham Gano	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	6.45
51	D	SF	San Francisco	0	0	0	0	.00	.15	6.38
52	PK	DAL	Brett Maher	0	0	0	0	.00	.00	6.25
53	D	DAL	Dallas	0	0	0	0	.00	.14	6.09
54	D	CIN	Cincinnati	0	0	0	0	.00	.13	6.08
55	TE	BUF	Dawson Knox	0	36	0	36	.00	.41	6.06
56	D	KC	Kansas City	0	0	0	0	.00	.12	5.98
57	WR	CIN	Tyler Boyd	1	39	0	40	.00	.31	5.81
58	WR	DAL	Michael Gallup	0	40	0	40	.00	.30	5.75
59	D	NYG	NY Giants	0	0	0	0	.00	.08	5.24
60	WR	DAL	T.Y. Hilton	0	34	0	34	.00	.26	5.00
61	D	JAC	Jacksonville	0	0	0	0	.00	.11	4.94
62	WR	KC	M. Valdes-Scantling	0	33	0	33	.00	.23	4.73
63	TE	CIN	Hayden Hurst	0	34	0	34	.00	.19	4.56
64	WR	JAC	Marvin Jones	0	31	0	31	.00	.24	4.49
65	TE	NYG	Daniel Bellinger	0	24	0	24	.00	.25	3.95
66	RB	CIN	Samaje Perine	0	10	14	24	.00	.21	3.67
67	RB	PHI	Kenneth Gainwell	0	8	16	24	.00	.15	3.27
68	WR	BUF	Isaiah McKenzie	0	17	3	21	.00	.15	2.96
69	WR	SF	Jauan Jennings	0	21	0	21	.00	.09	2.71
70	WR	DAL	Noah Brown	0	19	0	19	.00	.13	2.63
71	RB	PHI	Boston Scott	0	0	14	14	.00	.15	2.33
72	WR	JAC	Jamal Agnew	0	11	4	16	.00	.13	2.32
73	WR	PHI	Quez Watkins	0	15	0	15	.00	.13	2.26
74	RB	JAC	JaMycal Hasty	0	5	9	15	.00	.09	1.97
75	TE	KC	Noah Gray	0	14	0	14	.00	.07	1.83
76	WR	BUF	Khalil Shakir	0	12	0	12	.00	.08	1.73
77	WR	BUF	Cole Beasley	0	11	0	11	.00	.08	1.64
78	RB	SF	Kyle Juszczyk	0	7	2	9	.00	.12	1.59
79	WR	CIN	Trent Irwin	0	9	1	9	.00	.10	1.52
80	WR	KC	Justin Watson	0	11	0	11	.00	.07	1.51
81	TE	DAL	Jake Ferguson	0	11	0	11	.00	.06	1.44
82	RB	NYG	Matt Breida	0	4	7	11	.00	.05	1.42
83	RB	BUF	Nyheim Hines	0	6	1	7	.00	.07	1.13
84	WR	SF	Ray-Ray McCloud	0	5	2	6	.00	.04	.88
85	TE	KC	Blake Bell	0	7	0	7	.00	.02	.87
86	WR	PHI	Zach Pascal	0	7	0	7	.00	.03	.86
87	TE	SF	Tyler Kroft	0	5	0	5	.00	.03	.65
88	TE	NYG	Lawrence Cager	0	4	0	4	.00	.03	.60
89	WR	BUF	John Brown	0	5	0	5	.00	.02	.60
90	RB	KC	Michael Burton	0	2	1	3	.00	.05	.59
91	RB	SF	Jordan Mason	0	0	3	4	.00	.03	.54
92	TE	DAL	Peyton Hendershot	0	3	0	3	.00	.04	.53
93	TE	BUF	Quintin Morris	0	2	0	2	.00	.04	.50
94	TE	JAC	Dan Arnold	0	4	0	4	.00	.02	.48
95	WR	KC	Skyy Moore	0	3	0	3	.00	.02	.46
96	RB	NYG	Gary Brightwell	0	1	2	3	.00	.01	.40
97	WR	CIN	Trent Taylor	0	1	1	2	.00	.03	.37
98	TE	JAC	Chris Manhertz	0	3	0	3	.00	.02	.35
99	QB	PHI	Gardner Minshew	5	0	0	5	.03	.00	.35

—Ian Allan

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