WNBA Best Bets (Wednesday 9/25)
Josh Gross
There weren’t a ton of fantasy-relevant injuries in Week 4, but the ones that happened seemed more on the serious side. There are still two games on Monday night to be played, so hopefully those get through without any major injuries.
Rashee Rice, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Arguably the most important injury for fantasy was the injury to Rashee Rice, who likely suffered a torn ACL. Not only does that take him out of action, but it has ripple effects for the Kansas City offense as well. They are now without Rice, Marquise Brown and Isiah Pacheco. That’s a lot of weapons, and they are mostly down to Travis Kelce and rookie Xavier Worthy as the main pass-catching options. We can reasonably expect an uptick in their production, but the ship may have sailed for Patrick Mahomes to be an elite fantasy option this season. Even with Rice in the lineup, Mahomes was outside the top 10 in fantasy points and is now 14th. Justin Fields, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and even Derek Carr all have more fantasy points this year. It’s tough to say that gets better for Mahomes without Rice, even if the Chiefs can continue to win football games.
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts
There isn’t firm reporting on what sort of timeline Jonathan Taylor is looking at. His injury is the dreaded high-ankle sprain, which can be a bit difficult to come back from. The Colts are claiming that he’s alright, and even though his game was cut short on Sunday, Taylor still totaled 108 scrimmage yards and a score. Trey Sermon would be the next man up, even though his five carries on Sunday turned into just eight yards.
The other injury was to Anthony Richardson, who left the game in the second quarter with a hip pointer. Someone should probably tell the coaching staff that it’s not the best idea to watch your quarterback get hurt, sit out a couple of plays and then call a play with a quarterback run option on his first snap back in the lineup. Richardson was hurt on his consecutive plays, and then Joe Flacco came on in relief. Flacco threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns, and there is something to be said that Flacco is not much of a downgrade for the receiving options. He’s so much more of a traditional quarterback that Michael Pittman and Josh Downs may not suffer if Richardson misses any time.
Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers
While it looks like Christian Watson avoided a fractured ankle, the injury is still going to keep him out for a bit, and he may land on IR. It continues the poor string of luck for Watson in the past year or so, and he can now add this injury to the list of hamstring issues he’s had. The big factor coming out of that injury is Dontayvion Wicks, who ran a route on 80% of dropbacks, had a 24% target share and 35% of the air yards share. The game script certainly favored the pass for the Packers since they were down by at least two scores in a hurry, but Wicks is one of the top waiver adds for Week 5 and beyond.
Taysom Hill, TE, New Orleans Saints
It was a great first half for Taysom Hill on Sunday with two scores, but that was the only part of the game he played in. The abdomen injury kept him out of the second half for the Saints, which is a loss for this offense. If Hill misses time, it helps Alvin Kamara near the end zone, and it was interesting to see tight end Juwan Johnson run a route on nearly 70% of the dropbacks. That was roughly 20% above his season average, which is notable with how horrible the tight end position has been for fantasy.
