Fantasy Injury Updates: Latest news on Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Kadarius Toney, more impacting Week 8 start ’em, sit ’em decisions

Pass-catchers Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay, and T.Y. Hilton are all banged up, and their Week 8 availabilities are in question heading into the weekend. Tight end and wide receiver rankings will be affected from top to bottom with so many key guys dealing with ailments, so we have the latest injury updates on each ahead of your fantasy start ’em, sit ’em decisions.

For news on banged-up QBs Patrick Mahomes and Zach Wilson, click here; for updates on more injured QBs (Dak Prescott, Baker Mayfield, Tyrod Taylor), go here; for the latest on injured RBs Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs, click here; for more in ailing RBs Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb, and David Montgomery, go here. For all the latest fantasy news, follow us on Twitter @SN_Fantasy.

WEEK 8 WAIVER WIRE:  Top pickups | Buy-low, sell-high

Rob Gronkowski injury update

There’s not much new information on Gronk (ribs), except Bruce Arians said he “would hope” Gronkowski can play in Week 8 against New Orleans. We’ll have to watch this moving forward, but as always, he’s a must-start if he does take the field. If he’s out, O.J. Howard is the primary tight end in Tampa Bay, but you can’t really trust him as we saw in Week 7 after he accumulated just nine yards on one catch. Gronk’s absence probably benefits Mike Evans more than anyone, as the red-zone target competition is weaker.

We rank Gronk as our TE8 in standard and TE10 in PPR leagues. While the Bucs are one of the league’s top offenses, New Orleans is a top-10 unit against TEs, and it’s possible Gronkowski doesn’t play as many snaps.

WEEK 8 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Antonio Brown injury update

We don’t have the early practice reports for Tampa Bay yet, so it’s unclear whether Brown (ankle) is trending toward playing against New Orleans. He sat out last week, and the Buccaneers offense didn’t miss a beat. Tampa Bay has Super Bowl aspirations, so you can imagine they’ll be cautious with the veteran wide receiver. That said, we’ll just have to keep an eye out for status updates here.

As mentioned above, New Orleans looks to have one of the top defenses in the NFL, but their weakness has been against WRs thus far. They are in the bottom half of the league against fantasy WRs and have given up big games to Kenny Golladay and D.J. Moore as big plays to DK Metcalf and John Ross. That said, we rank AB as our WR12 in standard and WR13 in PPR leagues if he’s active. 

WEEK 8 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Kadarius Toney injury update

Toney (ankle) didn’t practice at all last week and was eventually ruled out against Carolina. We’ll have to monitor practice reports moving forward, as that will give us an indication as to if he has a shot to play. Toney, Sterling Shepard, and Kenny Golladay will all likely be “questionable” heading into Monday night, so it’s a tough situation to navigate. If one WR misses the game, the other two become very attractive against Kansas City. If two of them are out, the lone survivor feels like a must-start. Again, just keep your eyes out for updates.

It seems things are trending in the wrong direction, so we currently don’t have Toney in our Week 8 WR rankings. Darius Slayton figures to have value one way or another for the Giants, making him worth a pickup this week.

Sterling Shepard injury update

Shepard (hamstring) was back for Week 6 before missing Week 7. He practiced in a limited capacity all week but evidently suffered a setback. Again, he’s a guy we’re simply going to have to watch moving forward this week. See the Kadarius Toney injury update for how we should view the group of banged-up Giants’ WRs.

Shepard’s prospects seem a little more optimistic considering he at least practiced last week, and we have him as our WR24 in standard and WR23 in PPR leagues. Again, his ceiling is much higher if he has a few teammates missing, especially in PPR.

Kenny Golladay injury update

Golladay (knee) didn’t practice last week, but he’s expected to return to practice Wednesday. He would be a much riskier play than Shepard, but the upside should be there. We know Kansas City has struggled on offense, but they should score points in this game, so the Giants will have to find a way to keep up.

We don’t currently have Golladay in our rankings given his injury history, but if it seems like he’ll be able to go, he certainly has starting flex potential.

T.Y. Hilton injury update

Hilton (quad) was said to have about a 50/50 shot to play against the Niners, but he was eventually ruled out a few days before the game. However, the Colts are optimistic he will be able to play against Tennessee, and despite the Titans’ success against Kansas City, they still rank in the bottom five against fantasy WRs. Michael Pittman Jr. looks like the No. 1 WR in this offense, but there are plenty of targets to go around, and Hilton outproduced Pittman in their first game together in Week 6 this season.

If he suits up, we have Hilton as our WR34 in standard and WR36 in PPR leagues. Perhaps this Tennessee defense has turned the corner, but we’re not ready to draw that conclusion after Patrick Mahomes’ worst game of his career against them.