The Amon Break: 2022 Week 4 Fantasy Football Injury Report

“The Amen Break” is probably the most popular drum beat in Western music. If you sat down right now behind a drum kit, you’d try to play it. You’d sound like Oscar the Grouch smashing trash cans, but you’d still try, at least. Meanwhile, “The Amon Break” is the respite from Amon-Ra St. Brown that you’ll feel acutely this week, akin to something like a bad hangover from off-brand tequila. Sure you had fun, but now that’s done and you’re ready to spend the next 8 hours watching HBO you’re “sharing” with your cousin who hasn’t paid rent in three months because his crypto account froze during the downturn. Sure, Kyle, we’ll see your OneCoin investments come to fruition in 2023. But for the rest of us? We’re just trying to get through the week with out Amon-Ra. 

Here’s the list of players who are OUT at the time of writing: 

Amon-Ra St. Brown / D’Andre Swift: While some people believe soccer is the “beautiful sport,” in reality it’s the other kind of football — the stuff we play in ‘Mericuh — that’s the true beautiful sport. We see blazes of glory and sudden falls from grace. For what is beauty if not fleeting. Or sleeping. Something like that. Both ARSB and DAS are dealing with ankle injuries, with Lions coach Dan Campbell going as far to say that Swift could miss a couple weeks…although he said that last week, so who am I to mess with math and timelines. What am I — a time engineer? The Lions have a weird array of backup receivers, like D.J. Chark (don’t add) and Josh Reynolds (sure, add him, live wild and free). If you’re in DFS land, give Quintez Cephus or Kalif Raymond a little bit of extra love. We could all use that extra love right now! If you’re a Swift manager, you can rush to add Jamaal Williams (82% rostered), who the Razzball Premium Tools absolutely loves this week. 

Tua Tagovailoa: OK, I don’t usually talk about the Thursday injuries in this article, but every three weeks I make an exception. Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the NFLPA was investigating Tua’s “back injury” that skipped past concussion protocols. Then, you probably saw Thursday’s game — Tua slammed to the ground, the ambulance, the fencing response, the weird post-game coach interviews. Gross. Tua seems to have a weird bit of Stockholm Syndrome about the whole thing, posting on social media on Friday about how he feels the love from the Dolphins organization, an organization that seems to have universal public detest and suspicion of how his injuries have been handled. If you were rostering Tua, you should probably find another QB this week — or even for the next 6 to 8 weeks. As weird as it sounds, Geno Smith is available everywhere, faces the Lions, and is coming off a QB6 performance in week 3. Best wishes for a turnaround, Tua. 

Christian McCaffrey: Missed some practices due to a thigh injury, but reports that he expects to play this weekend. Half the time, I’m laughing at fantasy football newbies who are worried about running backs being “questionable” before game time. There’s one exception to that rule: Christian McCaffrey. You can always try Chubba Hubbard as a replacement, but a better bet would be somebody like Darrell Henderson. The Panthers are a mess and the big alphabet sites are reporting that head coach Matt Rhule has already lost control of the locker room. Maybe Baker Mayfield wasn’t the QB of the future? Nah, couldn’t be. If CMC plays this Sunday, you’re starting him for sure in regular leagues, although DFS players might want to notch down that exposure in case he plays only half the game. 

David Montgomery: Every year, we know our Frankengomery is going to miss time; the question is when. I told you last week that you should stash Khalil Herbert everywhere, like you’re a kid hiding away a really smooth rock for skipping on the lake. Did I mention the lake was haunted and the stone was a magical key to another dimension? Sci-Fi is rostering Frankengomery. Fantasy is backing him up with Khalil Herbert. Start Herbert in all formats in week 4. 

Mac Jones: Yelped in pain to finish out the week 3 game and will miss Week 4. This means…kind of nothing for your fantasy team? Damien Harris might get some more play and improve on his RB18 standing on the year, which is kind of like fantasy basketball when you get those replacement players in for 36 minutes a game. You love the volume, just like Van Halen. Brian Hoyer — whose real name is Axel — suits up for the Patriots, and that means you’re being suspicious of every receiver not named DeVante Parker. 

Jameis Winston / Michael Thomas / Dalvin Cook: LONDON GAME. Yeesh. Can you imagine anything less fun than watching Andy Dalton and Alexander Mattison in London? Dalvin Cook looks like he’ll play this week after leaving last week’s game with a shoulder injury. Rumors have it that he’ll possibly wear a shoulder harness, which is mostly British fashion and partly injury protection. Risky managers can still add and start Alexander Mattison, but our founding father-esque backup RB is better suited as a contrarian DFS play. Meanwhile, Michael Thomas is already ruled out and Winston looks doubtful, which leaves the Red Rocket Andy Dalton in charge of throwing deep balls to Chris Olave. Yuck. The Over/Under on the Saints/Vikings game is a dismal 41, which is right at the bottom of the league odds and just edging out the New York Giants/Chicago Bears game. Avoid this game as much as possible. 

J.K. Dobbins: Didn’t get a ton of play last week, but keep in mind that he hadn’t touched the football field in over a year. He should get some more love this week and become more relevant in the next few weeks — the oddsmakers have him around 50 total yards at the time of writing with a not awful +170 for a touchdown. You’d take that in your FLEX every week and call it a championship.  

Gabriel Davis: Had a setback in practice and is questionable for Week 4. Honestly, I’ve always questioned Gabriel Davis. You wanna know how many times he finished as even a 12-teamer WR2 in 2021? 4 times. Is he a Thriller? Maybe he’s more like that other Michael Jackson song, “Bad.” Stay tuned to find out if I’m canceled for my takes.

Mike Evans / Chris Godwin: After Tom Brady made Russell Gage the new spokesperson for Target after all the receptions in week 3, it looks like Evans and Godwin will each take the field in Week 4. Sure, Brady’s been less effective as a fantasy QB in 2022, but there’s a fair amount of Touchdown Variance at play here. Brady’s on pace for over 4,000 passing yards and over 600 attempts with over 400 completions, and he’s barely had his top receivers playing at the same time. Oh, and Russell Gage is questionable for week 4 after running 97 miles in week 3, so we could still be waiting to assemble the TB Dream Team 2022 World Tour. If you’re a DFSer, I’d say the Bucs would be a good stack this week — you can get a Brady/Evans/Godwin stack for like $19000, leaving you plenty of salary room for the possible return of… 

Rondale Moore: Folx, we have a QUESTIONABLE. Hallelujah, we are upgraded to questionable! Also, A.J. Green is out and Marquise Brown is questionable too. You know what that means? Greg Dortch is a freaking thing. But also maybe Rondale Moore! Start Moore if he’s playing this week, and [peeks at Rudy’s rankings] maybe slide Dortch into the FLEX 2 spot as well. 

Whatever your timezone, be sure to set your lineups Saturday night to account for that early Sunday morning London Game. If you’re unsure about any Saints or Vikings players, just sit them — the oddsmakers think it’ll be a dud anyway. Best of luck in week 4, and I’ll see you on Monday morning!