Fantasy Football Fall-Out: Ryan Mathews Out 4-6 Weeks
Navigating injuries is a big part of having success in fantasy football throughout the season, and preseason injuries helps create challenges on draft day. One such situation has already arrived with San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews suffering a broken clavicle in Thursday night’s preseason opener. The injury will require surgery, and he is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Mathews had plenty of positive buzz during the offseason, as Chargers head coach Norv Turner suggested the team was going to use him as a workhorse back despite some nagging injuries during his first two NFL seasons. That made him a top-1o running back, and even top-five in some circles, in a lot of fantasy rankings up to this point. His fantasy potential was even greater considering the dying breed that 250-300 carry running backs have become around the league.
So how should fantasy owners deal with this situation? Let’s take a look.
With Mathews out, the Chargers are likely to lean on some combination of Ronnie Brown, Curtis Brinkley and Jackie Battle, and fullback Le’Ron McClain may also be in the mix. Not exactly an exciting situation for fantasy owners, but Brown could have some early season value as he is likely to see more work than the others due to having a better overall body of work. It is possible the Chargers look to bring aboard another running back, perhaps Cedric Benson, at some point over what remains of the preseason.
A best-case scenario for Mathews would be returning to action Week 1, and it’s fair to expect his workload to be light over the first few weeks of the season if he returns that quickly. It’s actually a good thing his injury occurred early in the preseason, as he will not miss more than two or three regular season games under the current timetable. If he has any setbacks during his recovery that obviously would change things, but right now Mathews’ injury could present a buy-low opportunity since he is likely to fall down the draft boards of a lot of fantasy owners now.
All things considered with what we know right now, I think Mathews can still be considered a high-end RB2 in most league formats even with the potential he will not play all 16 games or could have a limited workload in the first few contests. Drafting him is definitely not for fantasy owners that don’t like to gamble, but if you’re able to secure another solid upper tier running back before considering Mathews there are definitely worse options out there with far more downside. For those in deeper leagues that want Mathews but also want to mitigate some of the risk could use a late-round pick, or a one dollar bid at auction, on Brown.
Recent Comments