Diontae Johnson Injury Update Could Bolster JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool Fantasy Outlook

Diontae Johnson had quietly emerged as the Pittsburgh Steelers' lead WR through two games in the 2020 NFL season, but the hype train has been brought to a halt in Week 3.

Johnson has suffered a concussion, meaning he's out for Week 3 and, at best, will be questionable for Week 4. Look for JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool to see a nice boost in fantasy value while Johnson is on the shelf.

Through two games, Johnson was the runaway leader in targets in the Steelers offense. His 23 accounted for 31.9 percent of the team's total, while the second-highest total was just 14 (for JuJu Smith-Schuster). Johnson had also played north of 80 percent of the team's offensive snaps in each of the first two games.

Having that much volume freed up means Smith-Schuster's floor goes way up, as he's now the favorite to lead the offense in targets.

The rookie Claypool is a sneaky fantasy option behind JuJu, though. Claypool saw his role expand from Week 1 to Week 2 (from 2 to 3 targets and 30 percent to 37 percent snap share), and a thinned-out WR corps could leave him getting some additional run.

He'll likely be behind James Washington on the depth chart still, but Claypool's big-play ability and long-term upside make him a more interesting sleeper option.

Of course, a quick recovery and Week 4 return for Johnson would render all of this moot, so be sure to closely monitor his status this week.

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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.