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FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

Christian Kirk expected to have surgery that may end his season

By Jared Smola | Updated on Tue, 05 Dec 2023, 5:06 PM EST
Christian Kirk Headshot

Multiple reports say Jaguars WR Christian Kirk is expected to need surgery for a core-muscle injury he suffered on the first play of Monday night's loss to the Bengals. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says "rehab for a core muscle issue is generally about eight weeks." The fantasy season, of course, has just four (in most leagues) or five weeks left. Kirk hasn't finalized the surgery plan yet and is still getting medical opinions. So you might want to wait for confirmation before dropping him. But plan on missing the Jacksonville wideout for the rest of the year. Zay Jones gets a boost in Kirk's absence, but he must also contend with QB Trevor Lawrence's injury and a challenging matchup with the Browns and Ravens the next two games. His Week 17 matchup with Carolina has also been bad for WR scoring this season. Week 16 at Tampa Bay looks good, at least. Jones currently sits just 52nd in our Week 14 PPR WR rankings. He's not likely to climb a lot higher even if Lawrence gets cleared. And he's not likely to climb beyond WR4 territory (if that high) in our Week 15 rankings. Keep all that in mind as you decide whether to go after Jones on the waiver wire this week. Rookie WR Parker Washington also came out of nowhere for a 6-61-1 receiving line against the Bengals after Kirk's injury. He might remain relevant for PPR leagues while Kirk is out, but we'd like to see at least one more game before trusting him in redraft lineups outside of deep leagues.

Jared Smola Author Image
Jared Smola, Lead Analyst
Jared has been with Draft Sharks since 2007. He’s now Lead Analyst, heading up the preseason and weekly projections that fuel your Draft War Room and My Team tools. He currently ranks 1st among 133 analysts in draft rankings accuracy.
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