Fantasy managers who drafted J.K. Dobbins had to show patience with their running back after he was inactive in Weeks 1 and 2 as he worked his way back from a serious knee injury suffered at the beginning of last season.
Dobbins finally got on the field in Week 3, finishing with a pedestrian 23 rushing yards and no touchdowns. He bounced back, however, against the Bills in Week 4, scoring twice.
That being said, Dobbins missed practice on Wednesday with a chest injury, causing some concern for his availability for Week 5's matchup against the Bengals. Will Dobbins be active in Week 5 or will his chest injury prevent him from playing? Let's dive in and take a look.
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J.K. Dobbins Injury Updates for Fantasy Football
Update-Wednesday, October 5: Dobbins did not practice with a chest injury.
J.K. Dobbins Injury News
As mentioned above, Dobbins did not practice on Wednesday with a chest injury.
Ravens LT Ronnie Stanley (ankle) was a full participant again for the 4th straight practice. Patrick Mekari (ankle) was limited in his return.
RB J.K. Dobbins was out with a chest injury, which limited him last Wednesday. John Harbaugh called his absence expected. pic.twitter.com/QzanRIlqnB
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) October 5, 2022
The same injury caused Dobbins to miss practice last Wednesday ahead of Week 4's loss to the Bills. After sitting Wednesday, he ultimately wound up practicing in full on Thursday and Friday. He then went out and handled 17 touches against Buffalo, finishing with 63 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
The chest injury did not appear to limit Dobbins vs. the Bills as he played on 50% of the team's offensive snaps last week, up from 43.3% of the snaps in his season debut against the Patriots in Week 3.
Is J.K. Dobbins Injured or Playing in Week 5?
The initial outlook on Dobbins' Week 5 availability is encouraging as he missed last Wednesday's practice before practicing on Thursday and Friday and eventually playing on Sunday. It is possible that the Ravens are using the chest injury as an opportunity to limit his reps to ease him back into action following his knee injury in 2021.
Perhaps the extra caution exercised by Baltimore is paying dividends as his knee certainly seemed to be fine as he was executing this spin move against the Patriots two weeks ago.
J.K. Dobbins was hitting spin moves in his first meaningful game back in 20 months of a nasty injury…different pic.twitter.com/lGCmtBChp2
— Ramey (@HoodieRamey) September 26, 2022
Head coach John Harbaugh indicated to reporters that Dobbins' Wednesday absence was expected. The team also listed the reason for his absence as "chest/rest day" on the Wednesday injury report, which hints that his chest is not a serious issue.
Ravens injury report vs Bengals:
DID NOT PRACTICE
Rashod Bateman (foot)
Justice Hill (hamstring)
Justin Houston (groin)
Marcus Peters (rest day)
Calais Campbell (rest day)
JK Dobbins (chest/rest day)LIMITED
Patrick Mekari (ankle)FULL
Josh Bynes (hip)
Ronnie Stanley (ankle)— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) October 5, 2022
Fantasy gamers will want to continue checking back on Baltimore's injury reports from Thursday and Friday, but all signs point toward Dobbins taking the field in Week 5. If he follows the same pattern as he did last week and is able to get out there for the final two practices of the week, it should be safe to assume he will be starting against the Bengals on Sunday. That being said, be sure to check back as we will update his status here as more information becomes available.
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