It’s never a good thing when you lose your first-round pick, but those who drafted Derrick Henry this year aren’t the only ones who had a rough week. Let’s take a trip around the league and take a look at some of the injuries that we are now dealing with that have an impact from a fantasy football perspective.

Quarterback

The big issue we need to closely monitor this week is the status of Kyler Murray. In this situation playing on Thursday is very beneficial as it gives Murray a few extra days to rest his ankle but we won’t have any clarity likely until Wednesday when Arizona returns to the practice field. With that being said, I would begin to make alternate plans, and I’m not sure I would view Colt McCoy as anything but a true fallback option. If Murray is indeed out, I wouldn’t do anything rash with the Arizona wide receivers, but I would give Chase Edmonds and James Conner a slight boost as I would expect the Cardinals to lean a little more on the run game. It is good news though that the early indication is that Murray wouldn’t miss time.

We have both clarity and question marks surrounding the New Orleans quarterback situation. Jameis Winston did in fact tear ACL so he is no out for the season. Last week, he was replaced by Trevor Siemian who turned in a solid performance as he completed 16 of 29 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. That would presumably put him in line to start again this week as a QB2, but Taysom Hill might be ready to make his return out of concussion protocol. Hill didn’t have much of a role as quarterback prior to the injury, but it remains to be seen how New Orleans will deploy him once he is healthy.

Things haven’t been easy for Sam Darnold as of late and now he can add a concussion to the list. Prior to exiting in the fourth quarter, Darnold hadn’t done much through the air with 13 completions for 129 yards but he did pick up 66 yards on the ground. PJ Walker replaced him under center and would get the start next week if Darnold isn’t out of the concussion protocol. Either way, there isn’t much to see from a fantasy perspective and I’m not sure how much Walker over Darnold changes things for Carolina offensively based on the incumbent’s recent performance.

From a performance perspective, it was ugly for Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland offense on Sunday with just 225 passing yards and no touchdowns. The good news though if you are in the position of using Mayfield is the fact that he made it through the game without any issues or re aggravating his non-throwing shoulder.

Running Back

We have a wide range of potential return times for Derrick Henry (six to 10 weeks) but what we do have clarity on is the glaring hole he will leave in your lineup. Jeremy McNichols stands next in line and he is the clear back to own, but replacing Henry will be a group effort and we also have to keep an eye on Adrian Peterson who was just brought into the organization.

Elijah Mitchell was busy yet again on Sunday with his third 100-yard game out of five as he carried the ball 18 times for 137 yards while scoring a touchdown. Mitchell is also back on the injury report with a rib injury, but it doesn’t appear to be anything major that should truly keep him from practice or taking the field on Sunday as it clearly didn’t limit him last week.

Game script, at least from a rushing perspective, wasn’t going to be James Robinson’s friend this week as Jacksonville lost big, but it wasn’t ideal to see him exit early on with a bruised heel. The good news though is that all tests came back favorable and we should be able to move forward with Robinson on Sunday against Buffalo. The bad thing is that game script, once again, won’t work in his favor but Robinson has shown the ability to catch passes out of the backfield as well. If Robinson’s injury lingers, then Carlos Hyde is the beneficiary.

Wide Receiver

Do we really need to care about Deebo Samuel’s calf injury? At this point, it doesn’t matter what he does in practice as he caught six passes for 171 yards on Sunday which included an 83-yard reception. It’s clear that Samuel is the top option in San Francisco’s offense and one of the better receivers overall this season.

After missing three games with hamstring injuries, this week it was the quad for Sterling Shepard who exited and didn’t return in the first quarter. We need to see how Shepard looks in practice this week, but I wouldn’t feel confident in his status for Sunday.

The quad was fine for T.Y. Hilton as he caught two passes for 16 yards last week, but then a concussion knocked him out of the game. Hilton has already been ruled out of Thursday’s game which means Michael Pittman and Zach Pascal get a nice boost, once again, in a favorable matchup against the Jets.

Tight End

The good news is that Rob Gronkowski is past his concussion, but he didn’t make it far in Week 8 as he deals with back spasms. These injuries can be tricky and it will be something to keep an eye on this week with O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate in reserve.

We never like to see injuries, but we do like clarity, and with Robert Tonyan out for the season with a torn ACL, Marcedes Lewis should be a little busier this week.