Fantasy Football: Potential replacements for injured players on waiver wire

Replace Raheem Mostert/Tevin Coleman with: Jerick McKinnon, RB, 49ers

Confidence Meter: Medium
ESPN Rostered Percentage: 19.1

It was not a good day for San Francisco. Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas both went down with ACL tears and Jimmy Garoppolo could miss time with a high-ankle sprain. However, none of those players are too relevant for fantasy football purposes. Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman are the ones that could impact fantasy teams, as both could be sidelined for multiple weeks.

That leaves McKinnon as the primary ball-carrier for the 49ers. That’s a little concerning because McKinnon’s last regular-season snap came in 2017 when he was still with Minnesota; he missed the last two seasons with injuries. If he can stay healthy, McKinnon is in a prime fantasy situation. The 49ers are among one of the NFL’s best rushing teams. They were second in rushing attempts and rushing yards last season, though that tends to happen when you win a lot.

I don’t expect Kyle Shanahan to run the ball as often as he did last year but if Sunday was any indicator, McKinnon could be the guy to own in the 49ers’ backfield. Keep your eye on Jeff Wilson, too, in case McKinnon gets injured again.

Replace Courtland Sutton with: K.J. Hamler, WR, Broncos

Confidence Meter: Low
ESPN Rostered Percentage: 1.9

The blows kept on coming for the Broncos in their 26-21 loss to the Steelers. They lost their budding young quarterback and their budding young wide receiver, the latter of which may have been on the brink of stardom. With Sutton out, the real benefactor here could be rookie receiver Jerry Jeudy, who has looked impressive over the last two weeks — he’s averaged 9.9 PPR points. However, Jeudy is rostered in 74.2 percent of leagues, which is too rich to include on this list.

Instead, may I direct your attention to fellow rookie receiver K.J. Hamler. His NFL debut didn’t come until Week 2, and while it wasn’t overly impressive, Hamler looked good enough to suggest he could have a bigger role in Denver’s offense now that Sutton is sidelined.

Interestingly enough, Tim Patrick played 3 percent more snaps than Hamler did. Patrick could be an intriguing option in super deep leagues. But don’t be fooled; Hamler is the better player. There may be better options on the waiver-wire — like Russell Gage or Keelan Cole — but Hamler has real upside moving forward.