I try to ignore "minor" preseason injuries. The players who missed practice yesterday or exited early could fill a title-contending fantasy roster: Christian McCaffrey, J.K. Dobbins, DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle, and Michael Pittman. Most or all of them should be fine for now (though you know my views on CMC and Dobbins). But after a long offseason, it's a reminder of how quickly conditions can change.
And then there's Luther Burden, and to a lesser (though still important) extent, rookie teammate Zavion Thomas. Burden got hurt Saturday, and his Week 1 availability is up in the air. His WR22 ADP surely will drop, even if it's only a couple spots. Optimists might point to the likelihood that once he does return, he'll be fine.
But I think it's more complicated than that, especially if Thomas returns soon (he was allegedly present at practice yesterday). The rookie has been competing for the #3 WR job against low-upside 32-year-old Kalif Raymond and former undrafted free agent Jahdae Walker. Ever since Chicago drafted Thomas in the third round, I've believed that he's the key to whether Burden and Rome Odunze *both* have strong top-20 potential.
My thinking was that if Thomas won the #3 battle, he would have more fantasy appeal. It would signal that the team believes he's ready, and with a likely higher ceiling than Raymond and Walker, Thomas could get enough attention and production to keep Burden and/or Odunze outside the top 20. But if he lost the battle to Walker, Burden's and Odunze's prospects would improve. And if he lost it to Raymond, I would probably put both Burden and Odunze inside my top 20.
When Thomas got hurt yesterday, my first thought was whether (if the injury were serious) the Bears would be in the market for another wideout. But only three teams have less salary cap space. They probably can't/wouldn't bring back Keenan Allen unless he took a massive pay cut from last year's roughly $8.5 million salary, and that probably wouldn't happen. Instead they signed nearly 30-year-old Ray-Ray McCloud, who's playing on his seventh team in nine seasons.
The blazingly fast Thomas still isn't assured more than a special-teams role, and McCloud could put a dent in that, too. But if Burden isn't ready by Week 1, it would create an opening for Thomas. We know what Odunze can do. We don't yet know what the rookie can do. That chaos widens realistic ranges of outcomes and wreaks havoc on ADPs. If you want more reliable production from Odunze and a healthy Burden, then hope Raymond get a starting nod.
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