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Injury-Fueled Fantasy Football Shakeup Ahead of Week 16
Fantasy football rankings have been shaken up over the last few days by a wave of injuries and late-season role shifts, especially heading into Week 16 of the NFL season.
According to Fantasy Six Pack, the biggest earthquake is Patrick Mahomes tearing his ACL, ending his 2025 season and likely cutting into the start of 2026 as well. That instantly drops him out of all redraft relevance and cools early 2026 draft value, while forcing fantasy managers to downgrade every Chiefs skill player with Gardner Minshew now expected to start the rest of the way. FantasyPros and FantasyPoints both highlight this as a major downgrade for the entire Kansas City passing game.
Fantasy Six Pack and FantasyPoints both report Davante Adams is dealing with a hamstring injury that looked “not good,” with Sean McVay acknowledging concern. That has pushed Adams down Week 16 rankings and bumped up Rams secondary options as spot plays. Rome Odunze aggravated his foot injury in warmups and is expected to miss at least another week, which pushes him out of starting lineups and elevates Luther Burden’s usage in Chicago, as noted by Fantasy Six Pack and FantasyPoints.
At running back, FantasyPros reports that Broncos back RJ Harvey suffered a torn ACL, knocking him out for the season and erasing what had been a late breakout. That injury forces a committee behind him and eliminates Harvey from playoff fantasy lineups. Fantasy Six Pack adds that Javonte Williams scared managers with a shoulder issue, but early signs suggest he may be able to keep playing; still, Malik Davis becomes a late-week stash in case Williams is limited.
FantasyPros also notes Texans rookie Woody Marks left with an ankle issue but said he could have returned, so rankings have nudged him slightly down but not into panic territory. In Arizona, Zonovan “Bam” Knight was carted off with an ankle injury, which NFL.com’s injury coverage and FantasyPoints say should create a committee with Michael Carter and Emari Demercado; both remain low-end flex options rather than clear league-winners.
Pro Football Network’s Week 16 Fantasy Injury Tracker points to key names whose statuses are affecting start-sit calls: Josh Jacobs, Drake London, and Tee Higgins are all under close watch, with their practice participation driving late-week ranking adjustments. NFL.com’s official Week 16 injury report reinforces that many stars are playing through minor issues, but the big ranking movers are the players in danger of sitting entirely.
On the positive side, ESPN’s Week 16 guide notes that Jacoby Brissett has been “matchup proof,” finishing as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in all nine of his starts with over 21 fantasy points per game, pushing him into strong QB1 streaming territory for listeners who just lost Mahomes. NFL.com’s fantasy sleepers column also highlights several high-upside wideouts for playoff lineups, and team outlets like Seahawks.com are boosting players in strong matchups, nudging them up weekly rankings even if season-long value stays stable.
Overall, the last few days have pushed Mahomes, Adams, Odunze, Harvey, and Knight down or out of rankings, raised concern but not panic around Javonte Williams and Woody Marks, and elevated replacement quarterbacks like Brissett plus committee backs and secondary receivers as desperation playoff options.
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Published on 2 weeks, 4 days ago