THE INJURY
Odell Beckham Jr. was injured this past week with reports coming out this week of a torn ACL. This will unfortunately be the fourth time OBJ will miss at least four games in a season and it will be the third injury that ended his season early. With his birthday next week, the soon-to-be 28 years old will have his eyes set not on the first potential playoff spot for the Browns since 2002, but on the 2021 training camp. It’s a sad loss for a team that seemed to finally be taking that next step.
REDRAFT IMPACT
Odell was mostly disappointing through the first six games. He had one booming performance in Week 4 against Dallas (not surprising with that defense) putting up 38 points. Outside of that he had one other game over 12 fantasy points and was in WR3 territory. His absence will open up roughly eight targets per game in a run-heavy offense so I’m not personally running to the waiver wire to pick up Rashard Higgins or Donovan Peoples-Jones and immediately stick them in my lineup. However, Higgins has flashed in the past and he finished with six catches for 110 yards so he is certainly worth a speculative add. Donovan Peoples-Jones is a rookie with upside, but he shouldn’t see more playing time than Higgins.
DYNASTY IMPACT
Odell Beckham Jr. is a depreciating asset in the fantasy football world. He was being touted as a bounce-back player year after year but hasn’t been a WR1 in fantasy since 2016. He’s only been a WR2 once since then. At this point, it’d be very hard to find someone to trade for Beckham. He’s going to be turning 29 in 2021 and he’s produced one good season since 2016, plus he’s tied to a run-first offense. He’s a “hold” in dynasty and as soon as he’s healthy, he should be on the trade block.
One door shuts, but another one, or two or three, opens. Rashard Higgins might be on your waivers, which is huge in large roster leagues. Higgins has the upside to be a flex player moving forward. Finding someone on the waivers in dynasty leagues in a crazy season like this is like finding gold. I’m taking the chance on him and if I’m a contender, I’m holding.
He’s probably on a lot of taxi squads after falling to the fifth round of the NFL draft, but there’s a chance we will get to see the first glimpse of some serious playing time for Donovan Peoples-Jones. In a year where rookie wide receivers seem to be making a particularly big name for themselves, will we see another one break out? Most likely not, but he was WR15 in my pre-draft rankings, moving to WR17 after he fell to a team that had two big-time players ahead of him. Could be a good time to float out some offers involving multiple third-round picks or a late second to see if he can pop before year’s end.
This might be the best time to trade Jarvis Landry. He was having an extremely lackluster season and his targets didn’t change after Beckham left the game. I’m looking to move him for a second everywhere I can.
What do you think of the Odell Beckham Jr. injury? Hit me up @DFF_JoeMem on Twitter to let me know! And be sure to sign up for the DFF monthly subscription so you can have access to my Dynasty Rankings and be one step ahead of the competition!
