Week 5 Friday Injury Report: Big Opportunities for Wicks, Sermon and Tracy

Injury hotspots for Week 5 include the Saints' offensive line, the Giants' skill-position players, Cleveland's offensive line, the Packers' pass catchers, Houston's backfield and the Raiders' entire offense.

Below you'll find four different categories, with our lists including key offensive linemen and defensive players whose presences/absences might impact fantasy decisions. The bottom section — truly questionable — is sorted by kickoff times and can be used as a checklist/cheatsheet for Sunday morning and afternoon when inactives come out. First, let's see who's definitely in and who's definitely out...

Good to Go 💯

• QB Aaron Rodgers (knee)
• RB Austin Ekeler (concussion)
• RBs Travis Etienne & Tank Bigsby (shoulders)
• RB Raheem Mostert (chest)
• WR Diontae Johnson (ankle)
• WR Tank Dell (chest)
• WR Gabe Davis (shoulder)
• WR Wan'Dale Robinson (heel)
• TE Trey McBride (concussion)

Ruled Out/Doubtful 🚑 

• RB Jonathan Taylor (ankle)
• RB Joe Mixon (ankle)
• RB Devin Singletary (D - groin)
• RB Zamir White (groin)
• RBs Jaylen Warren (knee) & Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle)
• RB Tyler Badie (back)
• RB Nick Chubb (IR - ACL)
• WR Malik Nabers (concussion)
• WR Davante Adams (hamstring)
• WR Cooper Kupp (ankle)
• WRs Christian Watson (D - ankle) & Romeo Doubs (D - personal)
• WR Khalil Shakir (ankle) 
• WR Brandin Cooks (knee)
• WR Noah Brown (groin)
• TE Michael Mayer (personal)
• TE MyCole Pruitt (knee)
• TE T.J. Hockenson (IR - ACL)

Trey Sermon and Tyrone Tracy will fill in for Taylor and Singletary, respectively, with Tyler Goodson (Colts) and Eric Gray (Giants) also helping to fill the void. Goodson is an undersized back who has mostly been used in clear passing situations to this point in his career, providing a clear contrast to Sermon's skill set, whereas Tracy and Gray appear more interchangeable for the Giants.

The Steelers also need to make backfield adjustments, but it's unclear whether that will simply entail giving Najee Harris more playing time or if Aaron Shampklin and/or Jonathan Ward will also get involved. Shampklin took some snaps last week but touched the ball just once, and Harris ended up playing 92 percent of snaps after halftime (once Patterson was out of the game).

Last and perhaps least we have the Raiders, who reportedly were already thinking about benching Zamir White for Alexander Mattison (after White lost a fumble in the fourth quarter last week). White's groin injury ends the speculation, at least for now, although it's unclear if Mattison will be deployed as a workhorse or if he'll share a bunch of snaps with Ameer Abdullah and/or rookie Dylan Laube. There's at least some chance for a huge Mattison workload, considering Abdullah has long been a third-down specialist and Laube has yet to play a snap on offense. The other backfield options are return man Tyreik McAllister (questionable - shoulder) and practice-squadder Sincere McCormick 

At wide receiver and tight end, candidates for extra Week 5 playing time due to teammate injuries include Rams WRs Jordan Whittington and Tutu Atwell, Packers WRs Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton, Bills WRs Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Curtis Samuel, Commanders WRs Olamide Zaccheaus and Dyami Brown, Giants WR Darius Slayton and Raiders TE Harrison Bryant.

Of that group, the guys from the Rams-Packers games are by far the most interesting, having all demonstrated some ability to draw targets when on the field. Wicks is the main attraction, but Whittington, Atwell and Melton are solid deep-league plays as well, with Whittington especially attractive in PPR formats (while Atwell and Melton are less likely to catch a lot of passes but more likely to break a long one).

Key Defensive Players + Offensive Linemen

• LB C.J. Mosley (D - toe) + RT Morgan Moses (knee) 
• LBs Josey Jewell (hamstring) & Shaq Thompson (Achilles)
• DT Sheldon Rankins (hamstring)
• DT Ed Oliver (hamstring) + S Taylor Rapp (concussion)
• CB Kenny Moore (hip) + DE Kwity Paye (quad)
• S Jordan Poyer (shin)
• LB Jordan Hicks (elbow) + OT James Hudson (shoulder)
• DE Clelin Ferrell (knee)
• RT Thayer Munford (knee) + LB Luke Masterson (knee)
• CB Garrett Williams (groin)
• DT Byron Murphy (hamstring)
• EDGE Micah Parsons (ankle)
• OLB Alex Highsmith (groin)

Listed as Questionable - Should Play 👍

All of the fantasy-relevant players listed as questionable this week seemed to have at least some degree of doubt as to their availability as of Friday afternoon. That'll probably change by Saturday night or Sunday morning, but for now we should view all the 'questionables' as genuinely questionable.

Truly Questionable / Game-Time Decisions 🤔

Early Games

• QB Anthony Richardson (torso)
• RB Brian Robinson (knee)
• RB Dameon Pierce (hamstring) 
• RB Pierre Strong (hamstring)
• WR Robert Woods (foot)
• WR Odell Beckham (knee)
• WR DeAndre Carter (ribs)
• WRs K.J. Osborn (shoulder) & Kendrick Bourne (knee)
• TE Evan Engram (hamstring)
• TE David Njoku (ankle)

The wide receivers here don't really matter for fantasy, except maybe as IR/ bench stashes in deep leagues. Richardson and Robinson are the headliners, with the former a limited practice participant all week and the latter returning to a limited practice Friday. Indianapolis beat writers are reporting that Richardson didn't actually do much in practice, and the presence of quality backup Joe Flacco could make the Colts more inclined toward caution. A Flacco start would be a big boost to the receiving projections of WRs Michael Pittman and Josh Downs, especially with star running back Jonathan Taylor (ankle) also out of the picture this week.

Robinson reportedly showed well at Friday's practice but is still being viewed as a true game-time decision. An absence would necessitate a huge projections boost for Austin Ekeler, who is back from concussion protocol after missing Week 4. Jeremy McNichols scored a pair of TDs in Ekeler's absence and should also get some work if Robinson is out this Sunday.

The other RB of note here is Dameon Pierce, who hadn't practiced since Week 1 prior to his limited session Friday. That would seem to make him worse than 50/50 to play, which means we'll likely see another week of Cam Akers, Dare Ogunbowale and J.J. Taylor handling Houston's backfield snaps (Joe Mixon has already been ruled out). Akers was the clear lead two weeks ago before garbage time, but Ogunbowale and Taylor had larger roles in this past Sunday's win over Jacksonville, limiting Akers to 12 touches on less than 50 percent snap share.

At tight end, Engram and Njoku are both considered questionable to return from three-game absences. Either or both could be game-time decisions, and reduced workloads are possible in both cases, not to mention ongoing concerns about the quality of their teams' offenses.

Late-Afternoon Games

• TE Luke Musgrave (ankle)
• TE George Kittle (ribs) 
• K Matt Prater (knee)

Kittle is the main attraction here, having returned to practice Friday as a limited participant. The 49ers face the division-leading Seahawks on Thursday, but with another divisional game on tap this weekend I'm not sure if that will be a factor in Kittle's availability.

Primetime Games

• RBs Kareem Hunt (shoulder) & Clyde Edwards-Helaire (illness) - MNF
• TE Taysom Hill (ribs) - MNF

Hunt and Edwards-Helaire may both end up avoiding game designations, but we'll list them here for now. Hunt has been a limited practice participant, as has CEH, who spent the past four weeks on the non-football injury list and won't necessarily be activated even if he's healthy enough to play. The Kansas City backfield remains somewhat of a mystery, albeit with Hunt as the new favorite for carries and fantasy value after a solid showing last week.

Taysom Hill, meanwhile, won't be a recommended play this week even if he ends up active (which doesn't seem especially likely in any case). The Saints already lost starting center Erik McCoy (groin) to injured reserve and now have three more interior linemen missing practice as of Friday. Plus, this is already a tough spot for the New Orleans offense, heading to Arrowhead Stadium to face a relatively healthy Chiefs defense.

Key Defensive Players + O-Linemen

• CB Mike Hilton (knee) + LB Germaine Pratt (ankle)
• RT Tytus Howard (hamstring)
• LB Terrel Bernard (pectoral) + CB Taron Johnson (forearm)
• C Ryan Kelly (neck) + RT Braden Smith (knee)
• OLB Josh Hines-Allen (head) + LB Devin Lloyd (knee) + S Darnell Savage (quad)
• S Kyle Dugger (ankle) + OLB Anfernee Jennings (shoulder) + OT Vederian Lowe (knee)
• OTs Jack Conklin (knee) & Jedrick Wills (knee)
• G Nick Allegretti (ankle)
• DE Maxx Crosby (ankle) + LB Divine Deablo (oblique) + RG Dylan Parham (Achilles)
• RT Kelvin Beachum (hamstring)
• LB Fred Warner (ankle) + CB Isaac Yiadom (thigh)
• CB Jaire Alexander (groin) + LG Elgton Jenkins (knee)
• CBs Adoree' Jackson (calf) + Dru Phillips (calf)
• OLB Boye Mafe (knee) + S Julian Love (thigh)
• CBs Trevon Diggs (ankle) & Caelen Carson (shoulder)
• DT Larry Ogunjobi (groin)
• G Cesar Ruiz (knee) + C Shane Lemieux (ankle) + G/C Lucas Patrick (groin)
• LB Demario Davis (hamstring) + LB Willie Gay (hand/arm) + DE Payton Turner (knee)