Fantasy Injury Update: Is Jeff Driskel playing on Thanksgiving?

Billy Heyen

Fantasy Injury Update: Is Jeff Driskel playing on Thanksgiving? image

Jeff Driskel injury updates might not seem relevant to fantasy football owners, but in DFS, his rushing ability makes him interesting. More important, his status could affect key WRs Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones Jr. That means that his hamstring injury does matter for Lions fans who don't want David Blough to start at quarterback along with those counting on Driskel to run around and pick up fantasy points. Driskel is officially "questionable" for the 12:30 p.m. ET Thanksgiving game against Chicuago. We'll have updates below up until kickoff.

The official active/inactive report should come out about 11 a.m. ET. For injury news on T.J. Hockenson, click here; for updates on Julio Jones, go here

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Is Jeff Driskel playing on Thanksgiving?

UPDATE 2: Driskel is officially active but not starting.

UPDATE 1: Stacy Dales and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Wednesday night that Driskel is not expected to play Thursday.

Driskel was listed as a limited participant in Detroit's final walk-through practice, and Lions head coach Matt Patricia said Tuesday that Driskel's hamstring is "pretty sore." Patricia wouldn't guarantee Driskel would be good to go for Thursday. 

A hamstring injury would seem to hinder Driskel's running ability even if he does play, potentially rendering him a less appealing DFS value on the Thanksgiving slate. Mitchell Trubisky is slightly cheaper and could turn out to be the better value there, while the Bears D/ST would get a boost if playing against David Blough.

Season-long owners are probably most concerned about Kenny Golladay, and while things haven't been super merry with Driskel, they'd likely be worse with Blough. If you consider Golladay a low-end WR2 right now, he's no better than a low-end WR3 with Blough. Golladay is enough of an individual playmaker and jump-ball winner that a QB switch may not matter, but you'd definitely rather see Driskel slinging it to Golladay than Blough. The same goes for Marvin Jones, who's been more than a big-play specialist this season. He's also a risky play in a difficult matchup against Chicago. 

Billy Heyen