Fantasy fallout: Julian Edelman suspected to have torn his ACL

Julian Edelman went down in the first quarter of the Patriots’ preseason game versus the Lions with an apparent knee injury. He was cutting and his knee gave out, collapsing to the ground and was carted off the field. Sadly, it sounds like the worst has happened:

Let me first react as a Patriots fan. I F**KING HATE THE PRESEASON! God damnit!

I know I’m not the only one to express this anger towards these meaningless games. As my fiance was quick to point out, Jordy Nelson missed an entire year tearing his ACL in a meaningless preseason game as well. It’s awful. It’s the worst. I am not a fan. Does tearing your ACL in a game that matters somehow make it better? No, but still sucks to see your leading receiver go down with a season ending injury before any of the games even matter.

From a fantasy level, this is big. Like world shattering. Not because Edelman was a top 10 wide receiver—he’s excellent in PPR but his lack of touchdowns keeps him out of standard contention—but because this now opens up the Patriots offense to the power of Brandin Cooks. No longer will Cooks have to compete with Edelman for touches. Cooks is going to get them all. ALL. OF. THEM. For the record, that’s 153 targets that are now suddenly out of the Patriots offense. Cooks is currently going in the third round, but don’t be surprised if that quickly jumps into the high second round within the next 24 hours.

Also, a healthy Gronk is now worthy of a second round pick.

Also, keep eyes on Malcolm Mitchell, James White, Chris Hogan and maybe even some Dwayne Allen.

The team is still waiting on an MRI so there’s a very, very small chance that it isn’t as bad as expected but until now, Edelman is out with a torn ACL and Cooks is rocketing up draft boards.