How Will NFL Injuries Impact Your 2011 Fantasy Football Draft Strategy?

Groin injuries, much like hamstring injuries, can turn into nagging problems if a player tries to push through them. If you have an injury spot on your roster, Moore is a solid choice to stash there until he is healthy. Once healthy, Moore will be a solid option on your roster given the explosive nature of the Saints offense.

The fantasy football impact of any sort of extended Manning absence is sizable. If you drafted Manning you hopefully added did not wait too late to add a backup quarterback. If you did wait, you may find yourselves rolling the dice. If you have not yet drafted, Manning is going to be downgraded across the board. Over the next three days it will be interesting to see what kind of average draft position Manning is at. Teams with injury spots or extra bench spots can stash him for a bit, but even still, if Manning could miss multiple weeks, that could be enough to drop him several rounds.

To be perfectly honest, much like the Las Vegas sports books will be taking the Colts off the board for various wagers, the safest bet might just be taking them off your draft board. Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark will likely get their numbers, but even though you aren’t drafting Kerry Collins, are you prepared to base some of your higher draft picks on Collins coming through? It may only be a few weeks, but a few weeks is all it takes to fall completely out of the playoff chase in your fantasy league. Consider yourself warned.

Massaquoi is entering his third season in the NFL, which is often viewed as a breakout season for wide receivers. After a monster eight reception, 148-yard performance his rookie season, he was a hot waiver wire pickup. However, he was fairly quiet the rest of the season, grabbing three touchdowns and featuring one strong performance of five reception, 115 yards and a touchdown.

Massaquoi got some pub his second season but didn’t quite live up to the expectations. He had a few solid games later in the season, but other than bye-week fill-ins he was likely on benches for the most part. Which leads us to season number three.

What does that mean for fantasy football? The 49ers wide receiver corps received an infusion of talent when the team agreed to terms with free agent Braylon Edwards. He provides a big body opposite Crabtree that can help stretch out the field. Crabtree will likely be used for a lot of underneath routes and quick slants where the 49ers can get the ball in his hands and let him roll up the YAC. If healthy his after the catch ability could be a fantasy boon if you want to roll the dice a little later.

Crabtree is not yet a number one fantasy receiver and might not even be worth a second spot quite yet. However, he could provide excellent depth as your flex receiver or a bye-week fill-in while he gets his legs back under him. He’s a gamble right now, but his upside is tremendous.

After the game, Welker told Patriots beat writer Karen Guergian that he was OK in spite of the injury. We likely won’t hear much of anything from Bill Belichick on the subject, so we’ll just have to stick with what Welker said. We’ll keep an eye on him in the coming days of practice, although it wouldn’t surprise me to see him sit out the next few days and the final preseason game.