Photo: USA Today Sports

The Way This Works...

Late-week injuries, suspensions, and unexpected coaching decisions with personnel can upend a fantasy lineup. 

We developed this feature to give you resources to help weather the potential loss of players and get ahead of free-agent bidding wars by getting an early shot at the future fantasy flavor of the week.

As the author of the most comprehensive scouting analysis of skill players since 2006, I'm one of those resources—especially for players at the bottom of depth charts, practice squad hopefuls, and even the occasional case of the guy training at home with dreams of that phone call from an NFL team.

Every week, I'll walk you through the shortlist of players who will get their shot to contribute as replacements for players falling victim to unexpected late-week events.

I won't be updating this piece over the weekend, but you'll get the goods on players worth consideration, and based on the past three years, this column offered a lot of quality short-term and long-term options — many of them as preemptive picks.

This is a partial list, but you get the point.

We'll examine three types of replacements:

• Players who get immediate playing time.
• Preemptive additions from your league's waiver wire.
• Options worth monitoring in case the established backup eventually misses time.

Many of these players are late-round picks and street-free agents. I'm not giving you obvious waiver candidates that will command a large percentage of your FAAB dollars. These are options you'll often find in your First-Come, First-Serve section during the latter part of the week prior to kickoff.

If you think street-free agents won't be factors, Ty'Son Williams from Week 1 last year is on Line 1 waiting for you to pick up. Craig Reynolds is on Line 2. Boston Scott is waiting patiently on Line 3. They each have a long list of players before them who would like to make an appointment to set you straight. James Robinson would like to tell you about his 2020 campaign. And Raheem Mostert has time on his hands if you need a deeper consultation.

The Week 1 Review

The Replacements doesn't officially begin until Week 2, but in late August I always post an article on waiver-wire candidates and how and when to act with them. I use a partial list of players from that article who are likely to commodities this week to start the running list of suggested options.

I'll update this throughout the season so you have a wealth of considerations beyond my weekly recommendations. 

• Jordan Mason: I mentioned in two different articles in the past 2-3 weeks that you should add Mason if you have Christian McCaffrey or if McCaffrey shows up on the injury report with a tag of questionable or worse. Now you know why.
• Allen Lazard: Fantasy analysts may minimize Lazard's rest-of-season value due to his age and the attention Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams should eventually command from Aaron Rodgers. However, Rodgers has the most rapport with Lazard, he performed well in camp behind the scenes, and Rodgers demands talent that can be on the same page. Also, do you trust Mike Williams to stay healthy? I don't. 
• Dawson Knox: Knox is an excellent athlete who can win jump-balls. He's a good blocker, and that's likely his role as long as Dalton Kincaid is healthy. But there have been multiple indications--including Week 1--that Knox will still have a legitimate role in the passing game. Look for Kincaid to get going, but Knox will be worth consideration in your lineups if weak at tight end--at least until he proves otherwise.
• Andrei Iosivas: An excellent athlete from Princeton, Iosivas knew next to nothing about running routes but sought out receiver coach Drew Lieberman during the offseason. His game has grown substantially during the offseason because, according to Lieberman, Iosivas had no bad habits to unlearn. With a week under his belt as a starter, look for Cincinnati's offense to look better in Week 2.