Damien Williams Injury Update Boosts Darwin Thompson and LeSean McCoy Fantasy Outlook for Week 14

The turmoil in the Kansas City Chiefs' backfield continues this week. Damien Williams looked like he could be in line for a return, but he was just ruled out for a Week 14 matchup with the New England Patriots. That leaves KC without Damien or Darrel Williams (who is now on IR).

Look for LeSean McCoy and Darwin Thompson's fantasy outlooks to get a nice boost this week with neither Williams in action.

Chiefs have ruled Damien Williams out for Sunday’s game. But not Frank Clark. At least not yet.
— Adam Teicher (@adamteicher) December 6, 2019

Damien had played a season-high 73 percent snap share in both Weeks 9 and 10, averaging 15.5 carries plus 3.5 targets across those two games, before he went down in Week 11. Darrell stepped up with 14 opportunities (11 carries plus three targets) after Damien went down, then had eight opportunities in just 17 snaps before he also got hurt in the next game.

That left the Chiefs with only McCoy and Thompson healthy in the backfield, and both played 23 snaps in Week 13. Thompson handled 11 carries while McCoy saw five carries and three targets.

it's worth noting that Week 13 was a blowout, though, and that all 11 of Thompson's carries came on the Chiefs' final garbage time drive. McCoy stands to handle the lead back role, though Thompson should still get some run spelling the vet.

With Damien Williams out, LeSean McCoy will be the Chiefs' top rushing option on Sunday.

McCoy's last two games against the Patriots:

12 carries, 13 yards
6 carries, 9 yards
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) December 6, 2019

Both guys' value gets a damper from a tough matchup against the Patriots this week as well. The Pats have the NFL's top-ranked defense in Football Outsiders' DVOA metrics, and they've held opposing RBs to the fewest fantasy points per game.

Even with Damien ruled out, our Week 14 PPR fantasy football rankings have McCoy at RB33 while Thompson does not crack the top 36 at the position.

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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.