The fantasy football week is getting ready to begin on Thursday and that means fantasy owners will be looking for which players to start and sit and at the WR position there are a number of wide receivers coming into the schedule banged up, including Vincent Jackson, Riley Cooper, Calvin Johnson and Roddy White and they are the players to watch.
The Buccaneers got their first win of the season on Monday night football against the Miami Dolphins and Jackson has been dealing with a knee injury over the past couple weeks and he was limited in practice on Wednesday, making him a player to watch before the game against the Falcons this weekend. Jackson has been one of the most consistent and productive receivers in fantasy this season and while he has been hobbled the past two weeks, he is appearing to get better, but he should be one to watch as the injury reports come out closer to Sunday.
Jackson has put up just five catches for under 40 yards the past two weeks after besting that in the game against the Panthers with five catches for 79 yards and now the Bucs are hoping that he can go on Sunday at full strength. Jackson has 46 catches for 662 yards this season with four touchdowns and he comes in after having four touchdowns in his past five games, although he has been out of action in the endzone for the past three. Prior to the past two games, Jackson went for over 100 in two of three matchups, including a 10 catch, 138 yard performance the last time the two teams played and that could bode well for Jackson against the Falcons if he is healthy. Jackson has 12 targets over the past two games after going for double digits, including 22 against the Falcons, over the previous three and with Mike Williams out, he will need to be on his game on Sunday.
Riley Cooper has been dealing with a knee injury, but he should be all good to go on Sunday against the Washington Redskins, as he participated in practice in full on Wednesday and should be in the lineup. Cooper has been playing very well since Nick Foles has come in at quarterback and over the past five games he has been up over 80 yards four times and he has 20 catches for over 460 yards and six scores during those games, making him the top target for Foles going forward and that could mean big numbers against a Redskins defense that is giving up way too many yards in the air, including five scores to WRs in the past three games.
Cooper has been over 100 yards in each of the past two weeks and has five scores in that span and he is coming off of a three catch, 102 yard game against the Packers and could be in line for more on Sunday. Cooper has played much better with Foles than Cooper, as he has averaged just two catches in the games with Vick starting and he has been much better with Foles under center, going for over 100 yards on average, including against the Raiders when he had three touchdowns and 139 yards in the game.
Calvin Johnson and Roddy White are two players to watch as well, as the Lions wideout missed practice on Thursday and on Wednesday. He was limited last week and while he likely will play, it's one to watch. White should play, but he also has been dealing with injuries and the report should be checked out over the weekend.