Fantasy football drafters likely had to use a pretty high selection to land Cincinnati Bengals superstar quarterback Joe Burrow.
And now Burrow is hurt, out for a few months with a turf toe injury that he sustained in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now what?
In fantasy football leagues, there are likely a few options at your disposal. None of them will make a Burrow drafter happy, but you've got to make do.
MORE: These QBs might be available on your fantasy waiver wire to replace Joe Burrow
Should I drop Joe Burrow in fantasy?
The simple answer is that yes, if you have no other choice, dropping Burrow is probably an OK move. But you'll want to understand your league's Injured Reserve rules before going any further.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport suggested that Burrow likely won't return until mid-December. That's well into the fantasy football playoffs in most leagues, so there wouldn't be much time for Burrow to contribute to your team.
If your league has IR spots, Burrow should be eligible to be placed in one, assuming the Bengals put him on real-life IR (which they should, with the "eligible to return" designation).
For now, there's no reason to dump Burrow into the player pool immediately unless your league doesn't have IR spots, or unless for some reason Burrow's real-life injury designation ends up not making him eligible to go there in your fantasy league.
Even in leagues with no IR, don't rush to drop Burrow. Clearly, you'll need to pick up a replacement for him (unless you've already got a second quarterback). But he's one of the best QBs in the NFL, and if you can somehow ride it out with him on your bench, make the playoffs and then get him back, it could all be worth it in the end.
That's probably an unrealistic approach unless your league has lots of bench spots. The main point here is to explore all the options you have for keeping Burrow around first.
But if you have to drop him, odds are it won't negatively impact your season. He's going to be out too long, and that's already the major negative impact.
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