The Titans designated AJ Brown (chest) to return from the injured reserve earlier this week, but his status is still up in the air for Thursday night’s week 16 soccer game against the 49ers. Its availability will have a huge impact on the Fantasy WR rankings and will make the decisions right from the start. It’s important to know the latest injury updates before your first lineup call of the week. It could also be beneficial to know which players could become fantasy relevant when he is not playing. We have everything below.
We will continue to update this article with news about Brown until the official active / inactive report is released on Thursday at around 6:50 p.m. ET. Follow us on Twitter for the latest fantasy updates @SN_Fantasy.
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Does AJ Brown play Thursday night?
TO UPDATE:Brown was activated from the IR-R list on Thursday afternoon, which suggests he will definitely play against San Francisco on Thursday night.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Brown will likely play the 49ers in Week 16, but we always aim to be prepared for a setback. Still technically on the IR-R list, Brown doesn’t have an official injury designation, but he considers him “questionable” in all respects.
WEEK 16 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Run back | Wide-angle receiver | Narrow end | D / ST | Kicker
When active, he will face the Niners defense, which gave the WRs the 11th most fantasy points in 15 weeks, so there is obviously a lot of intrigue around his status. Julio Jones (thigh) will appear to play but Brown could easily lead the team into the targets. Ultimately, his advantage is sky high, but we are sure that many fantasy owners will worry about disappointment or possible worsening of their injury.
WEEK 16 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Run back | Wide-angle receiver | Narrow end | D / ST | Kicker
If he’s out, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has some appeal as a week-long fill-in with the cheap matchup, but his cap is limited, especially if he is perceived as WR # 1 by the 49ers defense. He or Chester Rogers could be solid DFS games, but we’re not ready to say they’re anywhere near trustworthy in the semi-finals of the fantasy playoffs.
WEEK 16 FANTASY: Sleeper | Busts | Start them, put them
At the end of the day, Brown’s advantage at this point feels worth the dice roll. You can be careful, but you can’t be scared this deep in the playoffs. Imagination isn’t an exact science – and we’ve all seen bad fractures – but it could very well be in command of 10 targets, and we know it poses a threat that will end any reception. He has a 10 catch, 155 yard, one TD game on his 2021 résumé, so it’s not like he was terrible at his activity. That game came even without Jones in the line-up. Unless you’re ridiculously cluttered at WR, start Brown.
We classify Brown as the WR27 in the PPR and Standard Leagues, but again he’s at a very different level than most of the guys in this line-up.
