Fantasy managers were blind-sided Sunday morning with news Calvin Ridley was not playing.
They had to scramble to fill his spot in the lineup with little time and a bare cupboard of attractive options at the tail end of the fantasy transaction window — all worthy waiver options being picked clean by then.
Yet, it isn’t just Week 8 that is a trouble spot. We don’t know when Ridley will return — announcing on Twitter he is going “to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing.”
Though we want and wish for Ridley a fast and speedy recovery with whatever issues he is dealing with, our sympathies don’t fill fantasy roster spots. So like heartless, soulless fantasy ghouls, we forge on, trying to find fantasy replacements in his absence.
The first hurdle is, we don’t know how long he will be out, which makes it harder to gauge how much to spend in free-agent auctions or waiver priority. We don’t want to dump a huge chunk of our FAAB budget to fill his spot, then have to bench that addition if Ridley returns soon. So make sure, if you are bidding high, you are doing so for a player you still have a starting spot for after Ridley returns.
From the Falcons’ roster, the wide receiver who stands to benefit most is likely Tajae Sharpe. Outside of Sharpe, who had five receptions for 58 yards Sunday, the only other Falcons WR who caught a pass was Olamide Zaccheaus, with exactly one.
Russell Gage, who returned in Week 7 from an ankle injury, was invisible (zero targets) Sunday, despite getting 68 percent of offensive snaps. He won’t get shut out every week, but don’t expect a large influx of production.
Available on waivers, you might find Dallas’ Michael Gallup, out since a Week 1 calf injury. But the best you can expect from him is to absorb Cedric Wilson’s production, and even that is no guarantee.
Brandon Aiyuk had his best game of the season Sunday — a modest 4-for-45 on seven targets. But his ceiling is limited as long as Deebo Samuel is healthy, and a potential QB change to Trey Lance somewhere down the line will hurt his potential as well.
Other potential targets in the vicinity of 50 percent available: Hunter Renfrow, Marquez Callaway, Christian Kirk, A.J. Green, Randall Cobb and Tim Patrick.