We are a quarter of the way through the season so far and are now being faced with the NFL dealing with COVID cases. There continues to be a lot of fluidity and moving pieces when it comes to teams dealing with cases, and we as fantasy football players just need to adjust as best as possible, and be ready to shift at a moment's notice. Being more aware of your waiver wire, building and rounding out your bench could prove to be a big advantage as the season goes on. While we aren't going to directly cover players who are positive for COVID, we will put them in our on the mend section (added a bit later in the week) to give you an idea of what to expect moving forward. Updated 10/10/20

Julio Jones, WR Falcons

Injury: Strained Hamstring Re-aggravation

Timetable For Recovery: Out at least 2-3 weeks

Potential Replacement: Calvin Ridley, Russell Gage

Initial Thoughts: This was always the fear with a player like Julio who was trying to play through an injury. Julio left Monday's game against the Packers in the 2nd half and did not return. Re-aggravations usually have a tendency to take longer to fully recover than the initial injury, so be prepared to be without Julio for at least a few weeks to allow his hamstring to heal up.

Austin Ekeler, RB Chargers

Injury: Sprained Knee

Timetable For Recovery: Out at least 4 weeks

Potential Replacements: Joshua Kelley, Justin Jackson

Initial Thoughts: Ekeler suffered a hyperextended knee and ended up leaving the game with a sprained knee, and also a strained hamstring. A hyperextended knee puts excessive stress on the hamstring as to why the hamstring could've been more involved after doing a more physical examination. We'll get a better idea of how much time he might miss after he gets more testing to determine the severity of the issue.

Josh Allen, QB Bills

Injury: Shoulder Subluxation (Non-Throwing)

Timetable For Recovery: Full practice participant. Expected to play Week 5

Potential Replacement: Matt Barkley

Initial Thoughts: Allen fell with his arm stretched out in front of him and felt discomfort immediately. He exited the game and later returned to the game with a harness to help protect the shoulder. This indicates that there was some stability issue in the shoulder as falling on a stretched arm is pretty consistent with a shoulder subluxation. Normally the cartilage and tissues around the shoulder that provide stability is compromised, but the fact that it is his non-throwing shoulder shouldn't put him in danger of missing any time. The biggest thing that might limit the Bills from playing is their opponent, the Titans.

Nick Chubb, RB Browns

Injury: Sprained Knee

Timetable For Recovery: Expected to miss at least 6 weeks

Potential Replacement: Kareem Hunt, D'Ernest Johnson, Dontrell Hilliard

Initial Thoughts: Chubb had his leg rolled up on in the first quarter and did not return. The Browns state that Chubb will get an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the issue, but they are hopeful that it is not a season-ending injury. By the looks of it, the injury looks more like an MCL sprain than an ACL tear. It looks like Chubb will miss at least one game depending on how much discomfort he is in and the severity of the sprain. Kareem Hunt is dealing with a groin issue as well but he played well when Chubb went down on Sunday against the Cowboys.

Sam Darnold, QB Jets

Injury: Sprained AC Joint (Throwing Shoulder)

Timetable For Recovery: Week To Week, Ruled OUT for Week 5

Potential Replacement: Joe Flacco

Initial Thoughts: Darnold wanted to play in Week 5, but the Jets have no itention on letting that happen. Darnold injured his throwing shoulder last Thursday against the Broncos and even though he wants to play, he'd be at high risk of re-aggravation if he ended up playing. Look for Darnold to potentially be available for Week 6.

On The Mend

John Brown, WR Bills

Injury: Strained Calf

Timetable For Recovery: Limited Saturday, Questionable for Week 5

Potential Replacement: Gabriel Davis, Cole Beasley

Initial Thoughts: This is a tough one to gauge as it appeared that Brown tweaked his calf during practice and was limping noticeably right after the aggravation. The fact that he was limited on Friday is encouraging but I'm still pretty skeptical given calf injuries are challenging to quickly recover from. I would heir on the side of caution as the risk of a re-aggravation is what I'm most concerned about.

Michael Thomas, WR Saints

Injury: High Ankle Sprain

TImetable For Recovery: Questionable for MNF

Potential Replacement: Tre'Quan Smith, Emmanuel Sanders

Initial Thoughts: Thomas has practiced in limited capacity over the past two weeks. Even though he was practicing last week, the Saints ruled him out ahead of Week 4 and is now questionable for Week 5. The Saints have a bye in Week 6, so it's hard to determine how much of that is factoring in their decision. However, if Thomas is healthy enough and the Saints feel like he's not going to re-aggravate the injury, then he's more likely to play than sit. He'll test out the ankle in pre-game to see where he stands and how he feels.

AJ Brown, WR Titans

Injury: Knee Bone Bruise

Timetable For Recovery: Day To Day, Questionable for Tuesday but practiced in full Saturday

Potential Replacements: Adam Humphries, Corey Davis

Initial Thoughts: It's been a slow recovery since Brown got hurt at the start of the season, but it looks like he'll finally be able to make his return to the field this Tuesday against the Bills.

Le'Veon Bell, RB Jets

Injury: Strained Hamstring

Timetable For Recovery: Activated from IR, will play Week 5

Potential Replacements: Frank Gore, La'Mical Perine

Initial Thoughts: All indications are that Bell is over the hamstring issues he was dealing with at the beginning of the season.

Drew Lock, QB Broncos

Injury: Strained Shoulder

Timetable For Recovery: Day To Day, Individual Drills Wednesday

Potential Replacement: Jeff Driskel, Blake Bortles

Initial Thoughts: Lock did individual drills on the side during practice and looks to be making a push to be available for Week 5 if he is able to get through the rest of the week without issues.

Cam Akers, RB Rams

Injury: Rib Injury

Timetable For Recovery: Full practice Friday, expected to play Week 5

Potential Replacement: Darrell Henderson, Malcolm Brown

Initial Thoughts: Coach McVay stated that he was expecting Akers to be available for Week 5 and the full practice confirms that. Akers returning further complicates the Rams backfield as it'll be interesting to see who winds up getting the majority of the touches in Week 5 when the Rams play Washington. With Akers returning from an injury, it'll be interesting to see if they ease him back into the rotation or if they potentially ride the hot hand depending on who is performing well.

Phillip Lindsay, RB Broncos

Injury: Turf Toe

Timetable For Recovery: Day To Day, Full Practice Wednesday

Potential Replacement: Melvin Gordon, Royce Freeman

Initial Thoughts: After missing the past few weeks dealing with turf toe, it looks like Lindsay will make his return to the field in Week 5 against the Patriots. Lindsay could see some of his touches dialed back to help get him through the game unscathed, but his return will definitely be a boost to fantasy owners that invested in him.

Breshad Perriman, WR Jets

Injury: High Ankle Sprain

Timetable For Recovery: 1-2 Weeks, Doubtful for Week 5

Potential Replacement: Jamison Crowder, Chris Hogan

Initial Thoughts: Perriman does not look to be close to returning to the practice field as he continues to be limited by his ankle injury. I'd expect Perriman to be out for Week 5 and potentially Week 6 if he doesn't show any significant change in his status.

Alshon Jeffery, WR Eagles

Injury: Lisfranc Surgery

Timetable For Recovery: Week To Week, Limited Wednesday

Potential Replacement: Greg Ward, John Hightower, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside

Initial Thoughts: Jeffery returned to practice in limited fashion last week as he makes his way back from Lisfranc surgery. My guess is he'll need to show the medical staff that he can do all that's asked to do in order to be eligible to play Week 5. He's definitely trending in the right direction especially with the Eagles hurting at the skilled position. He'll need to practice in full at some point without setbacks to feel comfortable using him. Even if he does return, the Eagles may put him on a pitch count to reduce too much stress on the foot.

Raheem Mostert, RB 49ers

Injury: Sprained MCL

Timetable For Recovery: Day To Day, Questionable for Week 5

Potential Replacement: Jerick McKinnon, Jeff Wilson Jr.

Initial Thoughts: Mostert has been out with a sprained MCL since Week 2 and has been making his way back. Mostert's potential return scales back McKinnon's role in the rushing attack and it remains to be seen what happpens with Jeff Wilson Jr. It will be interesting to see how much the 49ers rely on Mostert as he makes his return after a multi-week absence, but he should be started if you have him on your roster.

Jimmy Garoppolo, QB 49ers

Injury: High Ankle Sprain

Timetable For Recovery: Expected to play Week 5

Potential Replacement: Nick Mullens, C.J. Beathard

Initial Thoughts: Garoppolo was cleared for limited practice this week and didn't suffer any setbacks leading up to this weekend. Garoppolo will return and is trending to have some of his skilled players back with him as well in Raheem Mostert and Deebo Samuel. Garoppolo faces the Dolphins in Week 5 so he should put up solid numbers as the offense starts to get more healthy.

Henry Ruggs, WR Raiders

Injury: Strained Hamstring

Timetable For Recovery: Day To Day, Limited Wednesday

Potential Replacement: Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards

Initial Thoughts: Ruggs returning to practice after missing 2 games with a hamstring injury. He should have a good chance to play Week 5 against the Chiefs.