As many of you probably read, yesterday NFL owners unanimously approved a plan to expand the playoffs to 16 teams if COVID wreaks major havoc on the regular-season schedule. Of course, it's an understatement to say this is a situation to monitor; it seems not a day goes by when one or more impact fantasy players are placed on the COVID list, and we all have to wait and see if they're cleared to play.
But the contingency plan needs to be considered in every fantasy league. The NFL is not guaranteeing a 16-game season, and they're not even guaranteeing each team will play the same number of games. So there are scenarios where Week 16 (Championship Week for most of us) might not feature a handful of teams sidelined because of COVID. If some of those sidelined teams are mathematically eliminated from the postseason, as I understand it, it's possible the league won't make up those games.
So slight fantasy edges have to be given to players on playoff-bound teams. While it might not come to this, the fact that the NFL has a plan in place means they're prepared to implement it if necessary.
The AFC currently has nine teams 5-3 or better, and of those, the Dolphins and Browns might be in the weakest positions. In the other conference, the NFC East probably would field only one team regardless, and the other seven above-.500 teams would control their own destiny. That said, I like Minnesota making a run with four upcoming winnable games (Chicago, Dallas, Carolina, Jacksonville). The Bears and Rams are probably the most vulnerable above-.500 NFC teams.
Again, this all remains speculation. But what is fantasy football if not a series of speculations? We're weighing probabilities each step of the way, and there are few greater impacts than canceled games.
Elsewhere, Christian McCaffrey is officially day-to-day with a shoulder injury suffered at the end of Sunday's contest. You don't need me to tell you Mike Davis remains a top-5 RB handcuff. But it bears repeating (for the fifth or sixth time) that the Panthers need CMC more next year than this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if they shut him down at some point.
When Frank Gore entered the league in 2005, he played alongside fellow rookie Alex Smith. After the Jets' Week 10 bye, as Smith continues his miraculous return, Gore is expected to take a backseat to rookie Lamical Perine. For fantasy purposes, two Jet RBs competing for touches is painful to watch. So let's hope Perine can carve out an RB3 role.