As you get ready to turn your lineups in today, here's a last minute look at various injuries that could impact your fantasy players today (mostly in a positive way due to matchup advantages):
Jaguars at Bengals: Jaguar starting WR D.J. Chark (back) took all of his normal first-team reps on Friday and does not have an injury status for the game, so he's ready to go.
For the Bengals, once again, they are light at defensive tackle.
Veteran Mike Daniels (elbow) got hurt in practice this week and went on IR and Geno Atkins (shoulder) is out and has yet to play this season. The Eagles ran well against the Bengals last week (see Miles Sanders), so Jaguars RB James Robinson is looking better than usual in this game. I have him in two leagues and I'm going up against him in another one.
It's also worth noting that Bengal starting CB Mackensie Alexander (ribs, hamstring-doubtful) is not expected to play. The Bengals play mostly nickel defensive each week, so Alexander's absence is a factor, which won't be lost on Jaguars OC Jay Gruden. The target for the Jaguars will be third-year CB Darius Phillips.
Vikings at Texans: If you want to know why the Vikings pass defense has been so bad, look no further than the injuries at cornerback.
Starter Mike Hughes (neck) is out again and 4th CB Kris Boyd, who played in 51% of the defensive snaps last week, is not expected to play.
The Vikings are expected to get rookie Cameron Danzler (rib) back this week. He's a tall defender, but is really lacking in speed, which is why he wasn't selected higher than the third round.
The Texans have the availability to spread the defense out, as they're deep at WR, so today's matchup looks to be quite favorable for QB Deshaun Watson and his pass targets at WR.
Cardinals at Panthers: The Cardinals are very banged up in the secondary coming into today's game.
Both starting safeties (Budda Baker-thumb surgery and Jalen Thompson-ankle-IR) and 3rd S Chris Banjo (hamstring) are out.
Veteran CB Dre Kirkpatrick (concussion-questionable), who played in over 60% of the defensive snaps last week, got hurt in practice this week and was not cleared to play as of Friday evening.
So this matchup is actually looking better than first thought for the Panthers passing game and their WRs.
Saints at Lions: The Saints defense has been underwhelming so far this season and now they're without three key starters today at the Lions.
Both starting CBs Janoris Jenkins (shoulder) and Marshon Lattimore (hamstring) and starting DE Marcus Davenport (elbow, toe) are out.
While the Saints do like to use 3 safeties quite a bit, they lack good depth on the outside at cornerback, so the Lions are getting a favorable matchup for their WRs considering who's left for the Saints.
You might recall veteran CB Patrick Robinson, who was a Super Bowl hero for the Eagles in 2017 as their slot CB. He has been only used on special teams this season, but likely will have to play on defense today along with 2017 UDFA CB Justin Hardee.
Anyway you look at it, the Lions have a major advantage here and WRs Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones couldn't ask for better matchups.
Golladay, BTW, took all of his normal reps in practice this week and is not listed on their injury report (hamstring).
Hopefully Lion OC Darrell Bevell will be aggressive here. The matchups won't get much better than this for their passing game this season.
Seahawks at Dolphins: The brutal Seahawks secondary is without starting SS Jamal Adams (groin), who will be missed in the middle of the field as well as in his role as a blitzer. They have an awful pass rush, which is one of the reasons why they traded for Adams.
The Seahawks will also be without CB Quinton Dunbar (knee) again, who is one of their top-3 players at the position.
The Dolphin passing game gets a huge break against a Seahawk secondary that has given up over 400 yards passing in two out of their first three games.
I can't recall a time in several years where the Seattle defense was this bad, particularly in the secondary, which is good news for journeyman QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphin passing game.
As for Seahawks RB Chris Carson (grade-1 MCL-questionable), he took most of the first-team reps in Friday's practice and is expected to be in the lineup today. Veteran RB Carlos Hyde (questionable-shoulder) was limited in all 3 practices.
Bills at Raiders: Good news for the Bill passing game as Raiders rookie/starting CB Damon Arnette (thumb, wrist) is out.
I got some questions on twitter about why the Raiders added veteran RB Theo Riddick to the active roster on Saturday.
As it was explained to me, keep in mind both starting WRs Henry Ruggs (hamstring, knee-doubtful) and Bryan Edwards (foot, ankle-out) will not be available, so they are down to just 4 WRs:
Veteran Nelson Agholor, who will start on the outside, slot WR Hunter Renfrow, Zay Jones, and Keelan Doss, who was added to the roster from the practice squad on Saturday, is all they have available at the position.
Riddick, if he does one thing well, is catch the ball and I'm told HC Jon Gruden always thought he had a unique skill set.
I would expect a heavy running game today from the Raiders and a lot of "12-personnel" against the Bills (2 TE, 2 WR).
Eagles at 49ers: Poor, Carson Wentz.
The Eagles, as of Saturday, only had 2 healthy WRs on their roster (Greg Ward and rookie John Hightower-illness-no injury status for the game), so the team added WR Deontay Burnett again to the active roster and rookie RB Adrian Killins.
Killins, who has outstanding short area quickness, may see time as a slot WR this evening with Ward likely playing more than usual on the outside.
Wentz's pass targets tonight are looking like: Ward, Hightower, TE Zach Ertz, RBs Miles Sanders and Boston Scott and possibly Killins.
WRs DeSean Jackson (hamstring strain), Alshon Jeffery (foot) are out and 2nd-year WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (calf-doubtful) got hurt during pre-game warm-ups last week and is not expected to play.
And if that wasn't bad enough for the team, the Eagles are down two out of their top-3 outside CBs (Avonte Maddox-ankle, Trevor Williams-rib) for this game.
I have to think 49er HC Kyle Shanahan will attack the Eagle secondary, knowing how bad they are at CB opposite Darius Slay. So if you're in a 2-QB league and are thinking of using Nick Mullens, the matchup is looking better than usual.
The Eagles do get a break, however, with so many key players missing from both sides of the ball for the 49ers.
Starting WR Deebo Samuel (foot) will play, but Shanahan said he won't play his usual amount of snaps.
The 49ers are without two starting DLs (DE Nick Bosa-ACL-IR, DT Solomon Thomas-ACL-IR), a key backup DE (Dee Ford-back-IR), starting OLB Dre Greenlaw (quadriceps-out), both starting CBs (Richard Sherman-calf-IR, Emmanuel Moseley-concussion), 4th CB Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) and nickel CB K'Waun Williams (hip) is questionable to play.
It's too bad that the Eagles are without so many key pass targets this week, as the matchup is very favorable due to the defensive injuries.
