It was not a great week for fantasy football owners as we had a world of injury drama leading up to Week 2, followed by a number of injuries to players with significant fantasy implications. Eight players with an average draft position in the top-50 have either missed time or are now set to miss time. Let’s get you up to speed on the current injury situations of these respective players. As teams hold their media availabilities at separate times throughout the day, we try to get this piece out at the conclusion of Monday night games now to get the most up to date information we can find.

Will Miss Time

Chiefs Running Back Isaiah Pacheco – Fractured Fibula – IR Designated to Return – Minimum 4 Weeks

Pacheco suffered the injury during Sunday’s win over the Bengals. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed this morning that it was in fact a fractured fibula for the third year back and that the Chiefs will likely place him on short term injured reserve. It has later been updated that Pacheco will miss 6-8 weeks. The alternative options are very tricky here. With Clyde Edwards Helaire out at least two more games on the Non Football Illness list, the Chiefs backfield situation is extremely foggy at the moment. Samaje Perine is listed as the backup to Pacheco, but it was rookie Carson Steele who got seven touches to Perine’s one even with losing a fumble. It’s now being reported that the Chiefs are bringing in Kareem Hunt for a workout. This usually leads to a signing so he may be the right pickup here when push comes to shove.

49ers Running Back Christian McCaffrey – Achilles Tendinitis – IR Designated to Return – Minimum 4 Weeks

After McCaffrey was a shocking deactivation in last Monday night’s opener against the Jets, more drama ensued as his situation began to worsen. By the middle of the week, Head Coach Kyle Shanahan said that the 49ers were considering putting him on short term injured reserve and finally on Saturday, the 49ers proceeded with the move. McCaffrey will miss at least the next 3 games but Rapoport also noted he will likely need closer to 6 weeks to really heal up, as well as the 49ers have one of their two Thursday games coming up within that time frame so they may not push him quite yet. Obviously by now Jordan Mason is long gone off waiver wires, so the next best thing may be to stash Isaac Guerendo, the rookie 4th round pick as a handcuff in case of injury to Mason. The more feasible option here would be to zag and look at Kansas City’s running back situation by snagging either Carson Steele or Samaje Perine, maybe even a stash of Clyde Edwards-Helaire or Kareem Hunt if he signs.

Rams Wide Receiver Cooper Kupp – Ankle – extended period of time, short term IR candidate

The 2021 receiving triple crown winner left Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals after injuring his ankle and did not return to the game. He had his ankle rolled on while being tackled. He left the stadium in a walking boot and it’s been announced that he will miss an extended period of time while being a candidate for short term IR. DeMarcus Robinson now becomes the defacto WR1 for the Rams but he was a popular waiver wire add last week. Tyler Johnson would be a good waiver add as he will be WR2. He is rostered in only 11% of Yahoo leagues and 12.9% of ESPN leagues. It also might be time for Blake Corum to really be deployed and could be a sneaky good FLEX play during weeks without both Kupp and Nacua.

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