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Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Zay Jones has been an unexpected value for fantasy managers who drafted him late last season and this season.
Last year, Jones caught 82 passes for 823 yards and five touchdowns. He had an encouraging start to this season, too, having scored touchdowns in two of his first three games. Unfortunately, he has had trouble staying on the field.
When is Zay Jones coming back to action? What is Zay Jones's fantasy football outlook when he returns? Let's dive in.
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Zay Jones Latest Injury Update - December 28
Jones (hamstring, knee) logged a limited practice on Wednesday, the first practice of the week. That's an encouraging sign for the six-year veteran's status in the Jags' upcoming game against the basement-dwelling Carolina Panthers.
Jones had to miss last week's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which the Jags lost 30-12.
Zay Jones Injury Update for Fantasy Football
Jaguars WR2 Christian Kirk (core) is going to miss the rest of the season. That means that Jones will step into the WR2 role if he is healthy.
While being the No. 2 wide receiver might set Jones up for more targets, it will also make the defense pay more attention to him. He will have to face a higher-caliber cornerback than he usually does. In fact, in several of the games Jones has played without Christian Kirk, he has fared worse than when Kirk does play. The sample size for him playing without Kirk is so small that the data is unreliable, but at least we can say there is no evidence suggesting he will for sure be better in this situation.
Zay Jones Fantasy Football Outlook
Although the Jaguars have been on a skid lately, their passing game is still producing. In the past three games, they have averaged 253.7 yards per game, which is higher than the 245.6 yards per game they are averaging for the season. Some of the production is indeed low-efficiency stat padding while trailing late. They are only averaging 6.0 yards per attempt in the past three games, the eighth-lowest in the league.
The Carolina Panthers are last place in the NFL with a 2-13 record, but their pass defense is not their weak point. In fact, they are only allowing 6.2 yards per attempt, the 11th-fewest, and 175.9 yards per game, the fourth-fewest. Opponents run the ball 49.9% of the time against the Panthers. As the Panthers are usually trailing, opponents try to run the ball to keep the clock running.
The Jaguars are 6.5-point favorites against the Panthers, so they could end up taking the lead and utilizing a run-heavy game script. Furthermore, Jones has not had many big games this season and is underperforming what he did last season. Except in deep leagues, Jones probably does not warrant a start this week.
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