With Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase lined up to be out 4-6 weeks, how can his fantasy football managers fill the roster void left by his absence?
Another bit of bad NFL injury news came on Thursday, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase could miss 4-6 weeks with a hip injury and is a candidate to be placed on IR.
After a slow stretch from Weeks 3-5, Chase had at least 130 yards with two touchdowns in both Week 6 and Week 7. He is a top-five fantasy wide receiver for the season entering Week 8, regardless of scoring format, so there’s no way to really replace him on a roster merely off the waiver wire.
Ideally, Chase managers have an IR spot to stash him on for as long as he’ll be out. A 4-6 week timeframe carries almost to or all the way to the end of the fantasy regular season. But regardless, IR spot or not, Chase’s fantasy managers will need reinforcement to try to survive his absence.
With that in mind, here are five fantasy football waiver wire fill-ins for Chase.
Note: Ownership rates as of Friday morning, Oct. 28.
Fantasy football waiver wire replacements for Ja’Marr Chase: 5. Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals
In Chase’s absence, Boyd becomes Cincinnati’s No. 2 wide receiver behind Tee Higgins. He had a big game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7, with eight catches for 155 yards and a touchdown, and over the last two games, he has 14 catches (on 15 targets) for 221 yards.
Boyd was available enough to be worth checking on right after the Chase news surfaced, and he has seen an ownership rate bump right away after the news. He should be rostered in 100 percent of leagues now, and he’s not there yet.
ESPN Ownership: 78.5%
Yahoo! Ownership: 85%
The Bengals run three-receiver sets at one of the highest rates in the league. So in very deep leagues, Mike Thomas might be a bit interesting while Chase is out and he’s available in nearly all leagues. As a residual of Chase’s absence, the availability of Bengals’ tight end Hayden Hurst is worth checking on too.