JK Dobbins Injury Update Sends Gus Edwards' Fantasy Outlook Skyrocketing and Gives Justice Hill Sleeper Upside

Preseason NFL injuries are one of the sport's most unfortunate yearly traditions, and they can really shake up the landscape in fantasy football. We've already seen Cam Akers' injury lead to huge shakeups in the Los Angeles Rams backfield, and now it's the Baltimore Ravens' turn.

JK Dobbins went down with a leg injury in Saturday's preseason game against Washington and had to be carted off the field. This injury update is crushing for Dobbins, and it gives Gus Edwards' fantasy football outlook a huge boost as the Raven's likely lead back heading into the season.

Gus Edwards Fantasy

Since joining the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2018, Edwards has clearly been a player the coaching staff loves. He's tallied at least 130 carries in each of his three NFL seasons despite never being the team's lead back. It's not hard to see why, either, as he's averaged at least 5.0 yards per carry each season.

Even after drafting Dobbins in 2020, Baltimore gave Edwards a career-high 144 carries, which he turned into 723 yards and 6 touchdowns.

With Mark Ingram (72 carries) gone in free agency and Dobbins (134 carries) looking like he's probably facing an extended absence, there's not much competition for work in the Baltimore backfield. As a likely feature back, Edwards can now be drafted as a top-20 RB in fantasy football.

Justice Hill Fantasy Outlook Following JK Dobbins Injury

The other back who now has some sleeper potential is Justice Hill. He hasn't done much since being a fourth-round pick in 2019, but he did average 5.6 yards per carry while running for 30 touchdowns in college, and his 4.40 40-yard dash time shows some elite speed.

Edwards has never shown receiving chops (22 NFL targets in three seasons, while Hill has 20), so there could be some room for Hill to carve out a receiving role. He showed some potential for it in college as well, catching 31 passes in his sophomore season at Oklahoma State.

Hill is still a late-round gamble, but he's an interesting high-upside pick if you're not sold on Edwards' ability to handle (or Baltimore's willingness to give him) a true lead back role.

Update - 8/29 10:30 a.m. EST: Dobbins is now expected to miss the entire season with his knee injury.

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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.