Fantasy Football: 5 Last Minute Martellus Bennett Replacements

Oct 11, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Tyvon Branch (27) breaks up a pass intended for Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett (83) in the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Chicago won the game 18-17. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

If you are like a lot of the fantasy football community—whether you are in a traditional league or on the daily fantasy sites—you are probably scrambling around looking for replacements for injuries suffered during practice this week. While there are a number of players to talk about on this list, one name stands out above all others—Chicago Bears tight end, Martellus Bennett.

Also on Spin Zone: Fantasy Football: Week 6 Fantasy Football RB Rankings

According to Raymond Summerlin of Rotoworld, “…Martellus Bennett suffered a quad injury at Thursday’s practice and was forced to sit out Friday’s session. He is also listed as questionable but again is unlikely to play.”

More from Fantasy Football

• 5 rookies to target for your Fantasy Football drafts In 2023
• Fantasy football mock draft: A high-risk, high-reward lineup in 2023
• Fantasy Football: Undervalued, sleeper RBs to target in drafts in 2023
• Which NFL rookies will have the most receiving yards in 2023?
• Fantasy Football: winners and losers from 2023 NFL Draft

Why is Bennett’s status such a big story right now for fantasy football players? It is simple, while names like Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, Tyler Eifert and Gary Barnidge dominate the headlines, it is Bennett who leads the entire group in targets (42) this season.

On the year (according to ESPN), Bennett has caught 28 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Depending on the scoring settings for your league, that could put him as high as No. 6 in your tight end rankings heading into this weekend’s matchups. But his value this weekend was much higher than that.

With the Bears heading to Detroit, Bennett had the opportunity to put up some big numbers against a pretty bad Lions team. In my PPR league with fractional scoring, his projection was sitting at 12.6 points for this week—but he had the opportunity to go off for much more than that. According to ESPN’s rankings with my league settings, Detroit’s defense is No. 25 against tight ends this season—giving up two points more than the league average per game, and allowing a touchdown to a tight end in all but one contest this season.

Not only does Bennett potentially missing Sunday’s game hurt you in your normal fantasy league, it is a killer on the daily fantasy sites like DraftKings as well.

If you are anything like me, you probably had this lineup circled as a time to finally “get it right” with your value pick at the position—as Bennett was listed for $4,800 this week. For comparison’s sake, Gronkowski is listed at $7,600 and Jimmy Graham is $5,400, and both have much more difficult fantasy matchups.

With all of this said, you are probably wondering right about now—what should I do? Well don’t worry, I have already picked out five players you should be trying to find a way to replace him with for this week.

Next: The Bills Have a Nightmare on Their Hands