On Tuesday morning, reports confirmed that Los Angeles Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp suffered a high ankle sprain in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10, meaning the likes of Allen Robinson, Van Jefferson and Ben Skowronek will have to step up in the absence of the All-Pro. Given the situation, let’s take a look at the potential fantasy football value for Robinson, Jefferson and Skowronek.
Fantasy Football Impact of Cooper Kupp‘s Injury
For the Rams, Robinson will now take over as the WR1, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a must-start in fantasy football. First and foremost, Robinson will need to have Matthew Stafford back under center to reach his ceiling of fantasy football worth.
With John Wolford filling in for Stafford — who’s been dealing with a concussion — Robinson had just four receptions for 44 yards in Week 10, and it was a familiar stat line for the former Bears receiver. Despite having lofty expectations since joining the Rams in the offseason, Robinson has just 29 receptions on 47 targets for 292 yards and two touchdowns, ranking as the 58th receiver in fantasy football.
“Yeah, like I mentioned, it’s just kind of been a struggle overall. There’s been a lot of different things. Being able to get receivers the ball is such a product of the offense as a whole. We’re at our best when everybody’s getting involved,” head coach Sean McVay said of getting Robinson more involved in the offense. “You look at the two games that we’ve been able to kind of stay on schedule, it’s been getting different guys involved. Obviously (WR) Cooper’s (Kupp) a huge part of it, but whether it be Allen or any of the other eligibles, those are things that we’re continuing to work towards. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We still have a lot of time, but we’ve got to be better for sure.”
The good news for Robinson’s fantasy football owners is that he’s on the field almost always. Even before the injury to Kupp, Robinson has been playing most offensive snaps, playing in over 85% of the team’s offensive snaps in every game this season.
If anything, Jefferson and Skowronek will be forced into more playing time with Kupp sidelined for (at least) the next four weeks. Jefferson has been dealing with his own injuries recently and has just three receptions in three games played this season. Skowronek has played in every game and has 26 receptions for 245 yards on the year.
It’s unclear how the Rams will distribute the football without a player like Kupp available, but it’s probably best to keep any receiver out of your starting lineup until the dynamic shakes itself out. At 3-6, the Rams could try to fill the void of Kupp with a free agent (Odell Beckham Jr./strong>?), but it’s much more likely this will end up being a year to throw away for the reigning Super Bowl champs.
Feel free to use our free Player Compare tool to put Rams receivers up against any other player you’re considering in DFS and see what our expert projections suggest.
