ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (hip) will miss four to six weeks of action, barring a new prognosis as he seeks multiple opinions on how best to move forward. Stash Chase on your bench or IR spot.
If the Bengals opt to place him on the Reserve/Injured list, Chase will miss meetings with Cleveland, Carolina, Pittsburgh and Tennessee — robbing fantasy football gamers of matchups with three top-six opponents when using data from the last five weeks of play.
Cincinnati should send more work toward the two most obvious options in Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, but Mike Thomas and Hayden Hurst should garner upticks in action.
No one is going to step in to replace Chase outright. What makes this worst for fantasy owners is the timing of it all since waivers processed already in the vast majority of leagues, presumably picking clean the positional wealth. Therefore, any high-quality replacement is likely to come via trade or from within one’s roster personnel.
If you’re looking just to get by for a few weeks playing the matchups and need a warm body in a lineup, consider checking your waiver wire for the likes of Marvin Jones, Darius Slayton, Mack Hollins, Marquise Goodwin, Kalif Raymond, Sammy Watkins, the aforementioned Thomas, and Olamide Zaccheaus. It won’t be pretty, but that’s what we have to deal with given the dire circumstances.