| | Sunday, October 10, 2021 | In a week with a bunch of notable injuries, none has the potential to dramatically shape the Fantasy landscape over the next few weeks as Saquon Barkley's. Barkley left Sunday's game against the Cowboys in the first quarter after suffering one of the worst-luck injuries you're likely to see -- at the end of a play, while looking in another direction, he ran into a Cowboys defender and stepped on his foot. Barkley hopped off the field and got checked on by trainers, during which time his ankle swelled up considerably, and he was ultimately carted back to the locker room. | At this point, we don't know the extent of the injury, though the good news is, it didn't look to be a high-ankle sprain, which tends to be a much trickier injury. However, even a more typical sprain could cost Barkley multiple weeks if it's more than just a low-grade sprain. And Barkley is the kind of back whose absence can make a big difference for Fantasy. | And we've got a lot of experience dealing with those kinds of situations of late. This is the third straight week we've had a must-start back go down, with Christian McCaffrey leaving Week 3 and David Montgomery in Week 4. Hopefully we'll know a lot more about the severity of Barkley's injury and a potential timetable before Tuesday night's first waiver run, but unless we get some surprisingly good news in the next 48 hours, it sure looks like Devontae Booker is going to be the top waiver-wire target for Week 6. | | I wrote about that in my early look at the waiver wire, and you can see the rest of the top targets a little lower down in this newsletter. Tomorrow morning, I'll have the biggest winners and losers from Sunday's action as well as Heath Cummings' breakdown of the top storylines coming out of this week. | But before we get to that, here are the injuries from Sunday you need to know about: | - Daniel Jones (concussion) -- Barkley wasn't the only player the Giants lost to injury. In fact, the injury-plagued Giants offense had two more starters leave early Sunday. Jones was forced out with a concussion after taking a big hit at the goal-line while trying to score. Jones will be evaluated and monitored over the next few days and will have to go through the league's concussion protocol step by step to be cleared to play. The good news is, we tend to get pretty regular updates on that front, though obviously Jones is at risk of missing Week 6 against the Rams. That could be a particularly ugly game for the Giants if Mike Glennon has to face that defense -- he threw a couple of interceptions, including a pick-six Sunday against the Cowboys.
- Kenny Golladay (knee) -- Golladay was the other Giants starter forced out due to injury Sunday, with Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton already sidelined by hamstring injuries -- and Kadarius Toney added insult to injury by being ejected for throwing a punch in the midst of a breakout game. We'll see if Golladay's injury will force him out for Week 6, but the Giants figure to continue to be very short-handed either way.
- Joe Burrow (throat) -- Burrow was able to play through to the end of the Bengals overtime loss Sunday, but was taken to the hospital after the game to be checked for a throat contusion. It's not clear how serious this issue is at this point, but it's certainly something to monitor heading into Week 6. Brandon Allen would start in the event of Burrow missing time and would represent a downgrade for the Bengals offense.
- JuJu Smith-Schuster (shoulder) -- Smith-Schuster was forced to leave Sunday's game in the first half and was ruled out almost immediately, a sign that this could be a pretty serious injury. The Steelers offense actually had their best game of the season passing the ball Sunday, with Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson combining for 202 yards and both of Ben Roethlisberger's touchdowns. If Smith-Schuster is sidelined, Johnson would remain a must-start player, while Claypool would be worth starting against the Seahawks as well in Week 6.
- Damien Harris (ribs/chest) --- Harris was in and out of Sunday's game at various points, with Rhamondre Stevenson getting a career-high 11 carries in the 25-22 win over the Texans. The extent of the injury is not yet known, and because it's the Patriots, we probably won't get many details until at least Wednesday, when the team has its first practice of the week. But Stevenson will be a big target on waivers this week unless we hear good news about Harris early on.
- Taysom Hill (concussion) -- Hill took a shot to the head on a target near the red zone and had to be carted off to the locker room. The good news, relatively speaking, is the Saints have their bye in Week 6, which is good timing because it gives Hill an extra week to get healthy. The Saints also lost wide receiver Deonte Harris to a hamstring injury after his 72-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
- Curtis Samuel (groin) -- Samuel just can't seem to get past this issue, and he was forced out of Sunday's game yet again. He's been dealing with it since May and was limited in practice this week after making his debut in Week 4. Samuel has a lot of upside in this offense, but it doesn't seem like he's taken enough time to get healthy, and I wouldn't be opposed to dropping him if you need the roster spot, sadly.
| | | | Here's who I'm looking at coming out of Sunday's action: | | Top targets: | - Devontae Booker, RB, NYG 10%
- Kadarius Toney, WR, NYG 19%
- Rondale Moore, WR, ARI 55%
- AJ Dillon, RB, GB 65%
- David Njoku, TE, CLE 5%
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