Fantasy football fallout of Zach Wilson’s injury

Jets-type things tend to happen to … you guessed it … the Jets. 

The latest blast of misery surrounding Gang Green was second-year QB Zach Wilson suffering a bone bruise and meniscus tear in his right knee in Friday’s exhibition opener against the Eagles. 

There is always fantasy fallout, but in this case, at least it is minimal. First, Wilson is only expected to miss 2-4 weeks and potentially could be ready by Week 1. We’re not counting on that, but it won’t change our fantasy outlook much, at least not for Wilson overall, at least not yet — pending a more detailed outlook following his procedure Tuesday. 

But Wilson wasn’t high on our radar to begin with. We do expect some improvement this season, and we have some hope he could break out this year, even if we think a huge season is unlikely. When picking a QB as deep in the draft as Wilson goes — near the end if picked at all — some potential for a breakout is better than most. 

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Where the fantasy effects likely will be felt the most is in the collateral damage. Though we don’t have Wilson rated to be a big fantasy difference-maker himself, we do like his outlook better than Joe Flacco or Mike White under center. We think the offense as a whole will be less productive if Wilson misses any time, and still slightly so even if he returns quickly — given the missed practice time and possible rust. 

So receiver Elijah Moore gets a bit of a downgrade, as does fellow wideout Garrett Wilson. We’re slightly less interested in a deep flier on new Jets tight ends C.J. Uzomah or Tyler Conklin. 

However, we do think it could be a moderate boost for running backs Breece Hall and Michael Carter. Without Wilson, we would anticipate gameplans that lean more heavily on the run. Also, neither Flacco nor White are threats to vulture goal-line touchdowns to the degree Wilson is. 

So you don’t have to overlook Jets receivers, assuming Wilson’s timetable remains the same. We would bump Hunter Renfrow, Allen Lazard, Kenny Golladay and Gabriel Davis ahead of Moore, but still take him ahead of Chris Olave, D.J. Chark or Chase Claypool. Garrett’s upside takes a tiny ding, but his position remains virtually unchanged — behind Sammy Watkins and those listed above but still ahead of Russell Gage (who could leapfrog this entire tier if deemed fully recovered from a hamstring injury by the start of the season). 

We’re not moving either of the running backs in our ratings, but we’ll be a bit more enthusiastic about picking them. So no reason to panic or make drastic changes to your draft strategy.