Injuries are a catch 22 in fantasy football, especially in draft season. If you don’t draft Michael Thomas, someone else will. However, if you do draft the New Orleans Saints’ WR1, your roster instantly becomes a more risky one. You can’t be thinking about that though. When I approach drafting injured players, I like to get advice from real world doctors. After all, they know they medical field far better than me, or any NFL Beat Reporter publishing the injury report.
That’s why I wanted to sit down with Dr. Kyle Trimble of Banged Up Bills (@bangedupbills on Twitter) on Trainwreck Fantasy Football. Our conversation (mostly his expertise) provided clarity and context into some of the muddiest injury situations in the NFL. I honestly had mixed feelings about releasing it because I genuinely don’t want anyone from my fantasy leagues utilizing his knowledge. The exact rounds in which we said we’d draft players aren’t what’s important. The sports science is. Take what Kyle said and decide for yourself how much you want to let it affect your draft strategy.
I have to leave some content podcast-exclusive, and while I absolutely loved his “Don’t Take Saquon Barkely Until The Late First Round” Take, that’s not the one I’m going to focus on here. Instead, I want to talk about Amari Cooper.
We’re all very different people. Some of us use ESPN, others use Yahoo Sports (ew). We have different draft strategies, aversions to risk, and overall, different ideas of what makes a good draft selection. But everyone should be worried about drafting Dak Prescott’s *former* WR1.
When Kyle came on The Crowd Assist Podcast last year, we gave him a list of players we wanted to talk about and he did his research. It was the same process this time around for Trainwreck Fantasy Football. The difference between this show, and every other time I talked with Kyle, is when I asked “What’s going on with Amari Cooper?”, Kyle responded something to the effect of “I really don’t know.”
When a medical professional can’t gather enough knowledge to give a definitive answer on a player, there’s something very wrong going on behind the scenes. Cooper is currently the WR16, going 47th overall (ADP according to FantasyPros). I expect him to drop back into the low-end WR2 range by the end of August. If your league isn’t drafting for a few more weeks, good. Hope you get to see him in the preseason before deciding whether or not to add him to your squad.
This is why we wait to draft, people. The closer you draft to the start of the NFL Regular Season, the more information you have. That’s why you should check out this podcast right now. In there, you’ll find more insight into why Cooper’s injury is so difficult to track, Carson Wentz, and which Philadelphia pass-catcher is the least risky draft choice.
If you enjoyed this article and the podcast, check out some of my other fantasy football content, like when I outlined the best RB handcuffs in fantasy football! And keep an eye out for Kyle in the regular season both on Trainwreck Fantasy Sports AND on our Bills Pregame Shows!
Thanks for reading. Go Bills.
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