Make sure to tune into this week’s full takeaways episode of the Upper Hand Fantasy podcast! Faraz and Zach go over everything you need to know about the longest day of football in NFL history, from two breakout performers in Jacksonville to continued code red for Mark Andrews.

• Surprise: Nico Collins officially ‘week to week’ after originally being considered ‘day to day’ with hamstring injury

  • Well, at least the Texans are being up front about his status – even if it’s not the news we want to hear. Just hours after being originally designated as day to day with a hamstring injury he suffered scoring a long touchdown on Sunday, the Texans clarified that Collins is looking more like week to week, instead. That’s bad news for C.J. Stroud’s go-to guy and the NFL’s leading receiver through five weeks, especially considering that Texans RB Joe Mixon has been considered week to week by the team for over a month at this point since going down ahead of Week 2. Given the downgrade in his status this early in the week, it’s clear the Texans have doubts about Collins’ immediate availability heading into their Week 6 matchup with the Patriots. Should Collins miss any time, Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell would earn immediate upgrades, while second-year WR Xavier Hutchinson would be in line for an expanded role as the 1:1 replacement in the lineup for Houston. The expectation should be that Collins ultimately misses some time in the short term with the hamstring injury, but fantasy managers should be able to rest relatively peacefully with short-term IR apparently not on the radar at the time being.

• Eagles expected to have both WR A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith available for their Week 6 matchup vs the Browns

  • They’ll both be welcome additions to an Eagles passing offense that’s lacked teeth without them in the lineup. Brown will be making his first appearance back from a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 1, while Smith will be making his return from a concussion he picked up in Week 4. Without his top two pass catchers in the lineup, QB Jalen Hurts has failed to finish within the top-12 at the position in the Eagles’ last two games after finishing as a top-10 option in each of the first two games. Brown and Smith will both profile as top-15 plays in Week 6 against the Browns, while TE Dallas Goedert will likely be relegated to the back end of the TE1 ranks / high end of the TE2 ranks with the newfound target competition. Philly has some attractive fantasy matchups coming up in the next handful of weeks, including dates with the Giants and Jaguars in the next four games. Fantasy managers will want to monitor injury reports at a distance this week to ensure that status of both pass catchers, though the expectation should be that both are able to suit up this Sunday.

• Chiefs WR Rashee Rice needs LCL repair, likely to miss remainder of the regular season following diagnosis

  • Despite there being hope that Rice could return to the lineup at some point this year, the in depth test results revealed LCL damage that will require corrective surgery for the Chiefs’ star receiver. The news comes just over one week after Patrick Mahomes collided with Rice’s knee on one of the most ridiculous circus plays you’ll see in professional sport and officially snuffs out any hope for a miracle. The silver lining here is that with no major ligament damage revealed, Rice’s recovery should be significantly shorter than ~9 month timeline for ACL tears and similar injuries. That means Rice could potentially enter the 2025 season with a clean slate, which would be a welcome development considering that the initial fears were that Rice suffered an ACL tear. He’ll be no use to fantasy managers the rest of the way in redraft leagues, and can safely be dropped at this point in favor of other options on the waiver wire. As for his dynasty value, Rice’s stock should remain intact assuming he’s able to avoid hitting any snags in his recovery process the rest of the way this season and into the offseason. Rice was placed on short-term IR last week as the Chiefs awaited results from the tests on his knee.

Nico Collins pulls a hammy

• Nico hurt his hamstring on his 67-yard TD catch in the first quarter. There’s a decent chance he misses time. Stefon Diggs was the clear target leader with Collins out with a 23% target share, followed by Dalton Schultz at 17% and Tank Dell at 11%. Diggs will likely be upgraded to a borderline WR1 next week against the Patriots if Collins misses, with Tank being a borderline WR2, and Schultz moving back into the Top-10.

Josh Downs continues to earn targets

• After tying Michael Pittman for the team lead in targets since his return with a 32% target share, Downs leads the Colts with 12 targets, going 9 for 69, accounting for 27% target share. Michael Pittman finished with 18% target share, but was able to catch an early 4th-down TD to save his day. Downs target-earning ability is proven, but we now have to see if he can have a similar level of production with Anthony Richardson, and if he can, he’s an every-week WR2.

Tank Bigsby leads Jaguars backfield

• Bigsby outshines Etienne once again on the ground, taking his 13 carries for 101 yards and 2 TDs. While the broadcast mentioned that Etienne was still struggling with shoulder a bit, it’s going to be tough to keep Bigsby out of the game plan moving forward. This looks like a similar situation to the Bucs backfield, where we have to downgrade Etienne while upgrading Bigsby to a borderline starter.

Check out all 20 of Faraz’s takeaways in our latest YouTube video!

Rhamondre: No start, no problem

• Stevenson was benched for the first drive, but moved back into his normal role after that and got it done on a 33-yard TD. He actually had a higher percentage of the team’s rushing attempts than he’s had since Week 2, but it’s worth noting that he’s averaging only 50% of snaps over his last three games. It’s also worth noting how well Antonio Gibson is playing as a complement behind him, so there isn’t much incentive to run Stevenson into the ground.

Packers WRs disappoint

• In what was set up to be a great matchup for the Packers WRs, it was an extremely disappointing result. Jayden Reed didn’t completely disappoint with his 4 catches for 88 yards, but most of his production came on a 53 yard bomb early in the game. Dontayvion Wicks was a dud in the box score (2/20) after leading the team in targets (27% target share). He couldn’t get on the same page with Jordan Love on multiple plays (one that could’ve been a long TD), and his drops didn’t help either. Despite the bad result, Wicks should continue to be in lineups against the Cardinals next week.

Jalen Tolbert shines with opportunity

• With Brandin Cooks on IR, Tolbert can become a thing after his 10/7/87/1 line, and Dak going to him on 4th down for the game-winning TD with the game on the line says a lot. He’s running full-time. Tolbert has now finished in the Top-36 three times in five weeks, and should be picked up off the waiver wire. With bye weeks coming, he can be a solid flex fill-in.