Brandin Cooks Injury Update Improves Fantasy Outlooks for Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp & Josh Reynolds

Brandin Cooks went down with a concussion in the Los Angeles Rams' Week 8 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The Rams are on bye in Week 9, but given Cooks' history of concussion issues, he's far from a safe bet to return when the team is back in action in Week 10.

This is Cooks' second concussion of the 2019 NFL season, and after suffering one last year and another one in Super Bowl LII when he was still playing for the New England Patriots, he has now had four concussions in the last two years.

The high-powered Rams' offense has had no trouble sustaining three fantasy-relevant wide receivers over the last couple of seasons, and with Cook at risk of missing time, Josh Reynolds becomes a top waiver wire add for the week.

Josh Reynolds Fantasy

Reynolds stepped in and turned eight targets into three catches, 73 yards and one touchdown in relief of Cooks last week, and his 13.8-yard average depth of target in 2019 is nearly identical to Cooks' 14.0, making him the obvious choice to fill in as a deep threat.

Robert Woods (8.2-yard average depth of target) and Cooper Kupp (7.6-yard average depth of target) do more of their work underneath, but having Cooks vacate an average of 6.3 targets per game should still translate to a slight increase in volume for those two as well. It's likely not going to be enough to have a significant impact on their fantasy upside, but it does give their floors a marginal boost, particularly in PPR leagues.

This isn't a massive change for Kupp either, who is averaging the third-most PPR fantasy points per game of any wideout. Woods, however, becomes a safer starting fantasy option though, while Reynolds should be considered a must-add as a high-upside, boom-or-bust option until Cooks returns.

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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.