Fantasy Football Moves to Make When Covid-19 Affects Your Team

Let's be upfront about something, it's horrible when anyone tests positive for Covid-19 no matter what the case. It's very serious and no one is taking that lightly. This week was the first in the young NFL season when it's affected scheduling and the teams have to physically prepare for it and so do you with your fantasy lineup.

The game between the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers has been postponed. There is still a chance for them to reschedule it for Monday Night Football this week but as of now, it's not looking great with three players and five staff member testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday (September 29th). And then today, another player for Tennesse tested positive, which is when the NFL made the decision for the postponement.

So while NFL teams have to adjust, if you're in a fantasy football league, what do you do? I was faced with this very predicament as one of my star running backs is Titans Derrick Henry. Depending on your league, believe it or not, you have options out there right now.

I got lucky this week on the waiver wire and went after the guy who is emerging as the Miami Dolphins starting running back Myles Gaskin. While you may dismiss that since he plays for the Dolphins, he's getting the bulk of their carries and Miami didn't exactly look like pushovers on Thursday Night Football last week.

Another option at running back is Darrell Henderson, Jr. on the Los Angeles Rams. After having to play behind Todd Gurley during his rookie season, Henderson is now filling his role as the starter and has had two great games in his last two weeks. As a Rams fan myself, I advised a friend to pick him up in their league last week and he was a key ingredient to that guy's win for the week. The Rams have one of the top rushing offenses in the first three weeks of the league and Henderson is looking like the real deal.

Speaking of the Rams, if you happen to have Ryan Tannehill or Ben Roethlisberger and were caught off guard by all this, Jared Goff has had back-to-back great weeks and has put up numbers similar to those of the Goff of 2018 that led the Rams to an appearance in the Super Bowl. He's currently averaging 13.7 yards per pass completion which is tops in the NFL.

Also, don't look now but Nick Foles is back! He replaced the brutal play of Mitch Trubisky last week for the Chicago Bears and if you haven't seen any of what Foles has done as a starter in two of the last three years, then you haven't been paying attention. The former Super Bowl MVP has some tools to work with and brought the Bears back from a 16-point deficit for a victory after the benching of the helpless Trubisky. Foles could be a sleeper to go after.

In terms of wide receivers to go after, Justin Jefferson could be your guy. The rookie out of LSU put up similar numbers to what he did at LSU last year every game for the Minnesota Vikings with 7 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown. Is he their next Stefon Diggs? Time will tell, but he had more targets for the Vikings than Adam Thielen last week. That should tell you something about this rookie.

On the tight end side of things, Gronk is seeing a resurgence while his teammate O.J. Howard's stock may be falling. Rob Gronkowski played a hefty bulk of the offensive snaps last week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so Tom Brady may be looking more to target his old friend. At the same time Bruce Arians has lots of ways to adjust his offense and may use a two-tight end set to include Howard just as much, especially with the injury of wide receiver Chris Godwin this week. If one of those guys in available in your league, snag 'em.

As for defense and kickers, they're pretty much a dime a dozen. You're probably not doing very well in your fantasy league if you're failing at trying to snoop out the best matchup for either one of those, you're on your own.

Good luck to your teams! We wish a speedy and safe recovery to both players and staff testing positive for Covid-19. And we hope all teams continue to stay safe!