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Chase Claypool Fantasy Outlook Rises Following Diontae Johnson Injury Update

By Jason Schandl

Chase Claypool's fantasy football outlook could be on the rise following Diontae Johnson's injury update.
Chase Claypool's fantasy football outlook could be on the rise following Diontae Johnson's injury update. / Joe Sargent/Getty Images
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Coming off an absurd 4-touchdown game in Week 5, Chase Claypool is one of the hottest names in fantasy football. He's still a speculative pickup, but his long-term upside is obvious.

The Steelers' injury report from Wednesday's practice is also good news for Claypool's fantasy football value in the short-term as well.

The JuJu Smith-Schuster absence isn't a big deal — he hasn't really suited up for Wednesday practices this season. Diontae Johnson missing practice matters much more.

Johnson's Week 5 injury is what helped Claypool put together that massive game. Johnson was only on the field for 6 snaps, and Claypool went on to lead the team in targets.

Johnson racked up 10 targets in Week 1 followed by 13 in Week 2 (the last full game he played), so when he's on the field we can expect him to be the WR1. When he's not, there could be plenty of volume available for Claypool.

Eric Ebron's absence is also noteworthy. As predominantly a receiving tight end, Ebron has tallied 18 targets over the last three games. The big-bodied Claypool could soak up some of Ebron's usage as well, but we don't know much about Ebron's status for Week 6 quite yet.

Despite last week's success, Claypool is probably best left on your bench if Johnson does play this week. If Johnson continues missing practice and isn't ready to play the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, however, Claypool's fantasy outlook would get a nice boost.

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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 his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.