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It's Week 17, the fantasy football championships for most leagues. With so many injuries and COVID-19 situations to deal with, it's critical to stay on top of the latest fantasy football injury news and be in a position to start the right players.
Let's check in on the injuries for the Detroit Lions running backs and their Week 17 Sunday afternoon game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Is D'Andre Swift playing this week on Sunday against the Seahawks? Should I start Swift if he does play? Can I still start Jamaal Williams or Craig Reynolds? Below we take a quick look at the updated injury status for D'Andre Swift and attempt to answer these questions.
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Is D'Andre Swift Playing This Week Against the Seahawks?
After getting injured in Week 12 and missing the last four games with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder, D'Andre Swift has been activated off of the IR and is expected to play in Week 17 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Coach Dan Campbell had some good things to say on Friday, and some words of confidence regarding his stud running back:
Should I Start D'Andre Swift in Week 17 Against the Seahawks?
OK, so they say Swift is going to play, but should we trust that he'll get the work? The Lions are eliminated from playoff contention and have been feisty the last few weeks, even upsetting the Cardinals, so would they risk playing Swift in meaningless games? Those are valid questions, but everything we have heard from the Lions seems to suggest that they are planning to actually start Swift this weekend:
More than just starting Swift, head coach Dan Campbell has said they think Swift is still a young player who has room to grow and improve so they want to "cut him loose."
All of that appears to be a pretty clear indication that the Lions believe Swift is healthy and ready to carry a large workload for a team that will be without its quarterback, Jared Goff, for another week. So should you start Swift? Is the matchup any good? In a word: yes.
If you want something more recent, the Seahawks are 22nd in the NFL in fantasy points allowed to running backs over the last month. While they have only allowed 3.41 yards per carry over that span, they have also given up a league-worst 28 receptions to running backs for 213 yards, which is 30th in the NFL. If you've watched any D'Andre Swift games, you know how dangerous he is as a receiver. On the season, he has 56 catches for 429 yards in only 10 games. The only times he had fewer than three receptions in a game was when he got hurt, and two other games where he ran for 130 or more in each and didn't need his receiving work.
As such, Swift should be fired up as a low-end RB1 simply because he comes with more injury risk than he did earlier in the season when he was a locked-and-loaded RB1.
Lastly, with Swift back for this Sunday's game, Jamaal Williams will go back into a timeshare role and Craig Reynolds will likely be removed from the running back rotation altogether. As such, neither should be trusted to start in any fantasy format.
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