Sit Start Injury Report Friday Night Divisional 2021

Every fantasy manager knows that injuries can have a huge impact on a fantasy team's performance.

That makes properly navigating each week's injury report a must. To assist in this effort, this weekly article series will analyze the fantasy football impact of the Friday and Saturday injury reports.

The injured players are noted by player position and then their injury status. Out means the player has been ruled out of this week's contest. Doubtful means the player is very unlikely to start. Questionable indicates the player might start. Start likelihood is increased if a player has participated in practices that week, so practice participation levels are frequently noted in these posts.

Let's look at the Divisional injury report. The initial edition of this article is generated following the league's Friday injury report. It is then updated on Saturday night with any injury changes that have been posted since the Friday update.
 

Cincinnati at Tennessee

Cincinnati injuries

Questionable
WR Stanley Morgan

The Bengals received good news on the injury front this week when DE Trey Hendrickson was cleared from the concussion protocol, a move that indicates he will start this game. It should help Cincinnati's pass rush, as Hendrickson's 14 sacks easily led the Bengals in this category, but it really doesn't have a huge impact on Ryan Tannehill's value and doesn't do much to assist against Derrick Henry. The bigger issue for the Bengals on that front was losing DT Larry Ogunjobi to injury last week, as he was the club's best run stuffing interior lineman. His absence makes the path to 150 rushing yards for Henry much clearer.

Tennessee injuries

Questionable
DT Teair Tart
Tennessee got a huge upgrade on the injury front when Derrick Henry was activated from the injured reserve list. This indicates Henry will be in the Titans lineup for the first time in over two months. As noted above, the Bengals have some defensive line issues, so Henry has a very good chance of reaching his King Henry form in this matchup.

San Francisco at Green Bay

San Francisco injuries

Questionable

CB Ambry Thomas
DE Jordan Willis
Thomas played in all of the 49ers defensive snaps last week, but a knee injury held him to limited practices this week. Thomas has been a coverage liability for San Francisco since he started playing in Week 14, so look for Aaron Rodgers to target him for passes early and often if he does play. This could increase the upside for Davante Adams and may make Allen Lazard, who caught a touchdown in four of the Packers last five games, a very good upside play in fantasy.

San Francisco did receive a defensive boost when DE Nick Bosa was cleared from the concussion protocol. Elijah Mitchell, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Fred Warner were all not listed on the final injury report, so the 49ers will be at nearly full strength for this matchup.

Green Bay injuries

Doubtful
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling

Questionable
CB Jaire Alexander
T David Bakhtiari
Valdes-Scantling played in 65+ percent of the Packers offensive snaps from Weeks 10-17, so his likely absence will cause some adjustments. The net result is apt to be more targets for Allen Lazard, thus bumping up his already strong fantasy case (as noted above). It could also lead to some opportunities for Randall Cobb, who has been activated from injured reserve, so consider him a good longshot play in fantasy.

Alexander and Bakhtiari both are likely to contribute to their respective platoons in game, but they could each be on snap counts and thus aren't projected to have a notable impact on anyone's fantasy prospects in this contest. The return of LB Za'Darius Smith will challenge the 49ers pass protection, so consider Jimmy Garoppolo's fantasy prospects to be even more boom/bust than they usually are.

Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay

Los Angeles injuries

Out
S Taylor Rapp
T Andrew Whitworth

Doubtful
RB Buddy Howell
The loss of Whitworth could be huge, but Joseph Noteboom did a solid job replacing Whitworth last week. This means the projections for the Rams passing attack remain basically unchanged. Not having Rapp could have been another significant blow to the Rams, yet the Los Angeles secondary held up quite well last week with Eric Weddle coming out of retirement to help Nick Scott and Terrell Burgess man the deep area of the field, so this isn't the weakness that it could have otherwise been.

Tampa Bay injuries

Out
RB Ronald Jones
WR Breshad Perriman

Questionable
WR Cyril Grayson
C Ryan Jensen
CB Sean Murphy-Bunting
LB Jason Pierre-Paul
T Tristan Wirfs
Tampa Bay is easily the most injury-wracked team in this playoff round. Jones is out for this contest. Leonard Fournette didn't play last week because of concerns he wasn't quite yet back to 100 percent. Fournette did practice on Friday, but is yet to be activated from the injured reserve list. If Tampa Bay doesn't activate him on Saturday, Fournette will not play in this contest. That makes investing in any Buccaneers running a very risky proposition, so tread lightly when making that personnel decision.

Those aren't the only issues for Tampa Bay's run game, as they have two starting offensive linemen listed as questionable for this matchup. Wirfs' status is very much up in the air, as he did practice on Friday but only on a limited basis. He may be ruled out for this matchup on Saturday.

Perriman's absence may add some longshot upside value to Scotty Miller.

Buffalo at Kansas City

Buffalo injuries
The Bills are easily the healthiest team in this playoff round, as they had no players on their injury list. They also only had two players show up on the injury report during the week, those being Stefon Diggs, who did not practice on Friday due to the team resting a player, and Mario Addison, a defensive end who was limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday but put in a full practice on Friday.

Kansas City injuries

Questionable
CB Rashad Fenton
RB Darrel Williams
It's possible that Williams will be available for this contest, but the news that Clyde Edwards-Helaire practiced in full this week and will be available for this matchup makes the Williams news almost moot. Fenton did not practice all week and thus is highly likely to be out for this contest. It's a problem since Fenton was on the field for 60+ percent of the defensive snaps in nine games this season, but Buffalo's run-centric approach of late and the Chiefs secondary depth means this injury doesn't do much to impact fantasy value.