Staying ahead of ‘next man up’ curve will put you in position to seize fantasy football opportunity

We don’t mean to sound insensitive, but when approaching from a fantasy perspective, it is useful to acknowledge the difference between bad injury situations and “good” ones.

Wait, slow down, enhance your calm. We’re not calling any injuries “good.” We’re just trying to illustrate something here. So to be clear, no injuries are “good,” but there are situations that are easier to navigate from a fantasy perspective. Allow us to illustrate.

A “bad” situation is, say, Brian Robinson Jr. traded then Austin Ekeler is injured, and afterward the Commanders go with a three-headed backfield of Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols — who all prove equally unproductive options. That is “bad” from a fantasy perspective.

A “good” fantasy situation might be when Chuba Hubbard went down, it was clear Rico Dowdle would inherit his entire workload, and did so successfully. Same with D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, or Aaron Jones Sr. and Jordan Mason. What we presume would be the case with Christian McCaffrey and Robinson, or Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby.