Austin Hooper Injury Update Solidifies Fantasy Outlook Ahead of Week 14 Return vs Panthers

A knee injury has sidelined Austin Hooper since Week 10, but the Atlanta Falcons' top tight end looks to be firmly on track to return to action for a Week 14 matchup with the Carolina Panthers.

That gives his fantasy football outlook a nice boost just in time for most leagues' playoffs to start.

Through Week 10, Hooper was the top-scoring tight end in fantasy football, with 154.8 PPR points across nine games. To date that is still good for TE5, and his average of 17.2 PPR points per game put him well ahead of Travis Kelce (15.4) for the league lead.

Hooper has been a crucial part of the Falcons' offense when he plays, and through Week 10 he was second on the team (behind Julio Jones) with 67 targets, accounting for 18 percent of the offense's total.

There's always some risk starting a player who's returning from a multi-week absence, but Hooper's matchup against the Panthers helps boost his outlook as well. The Falcons are 3-point favorites in a game with a 47-point over/under on FanDuel Sportsbook, suggesting that their offense isn't going to have much trouble putting up points on Sunday.

Our Week 14 PPR fantasy football rankings do account for the risk that he could be somewhat limited as he returns from a knee injury, but he still checks in at TE9 for the week, making him a solid starting option.

Join FanDuel Sportsbook Today. New users get a risk-free bet up to $500. Join Now.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.