Kelvin Benjamin Fantasy: Chiefs WR to Fill in for Sammy Watkins?

Getty Buffalo Bills WR Kelvin Benjamin

The Kansas City Chiefs have hit a few obstacles on their way to the playoffs. We all know what happened to their backfield recently, but now they are having some setbacks with the wide receivers group as well. Fortunately for Kansas City’s offense, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce remain healthy. But outside of that, they have some issues. Hence the reason why the Chiefs decided to sign the newly released wide receiver, Kelvin Benjamin.

Earlier in the week, the Buffalo Bills cut the cord on the Benjamin experiment. They tried to stick it out with him for the rest of the season, but it was clear that things were just not working out between the two. So unexpectedly, the Bills released Benjamin, who eventually cleared waivers. As soon Benjamin became a free agent though, the Chiefs wasted no time bringing in the wideout for a workout. Once everything went well, Benjamin ended up signing.

What was the meaning of the signing? Just for talent and depth purposes? Well, yeah, that’s what we initially thought. But now it looks like there’s more to the acquisition of Benjamin as Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins is dealing with an injury that’s been bothering him all season long. In Thursday’s practice, Watkins re-injured his foot and had to go and get an MRI on it.

Does Watkins Injury Increase Benjamin’s Value?

After the results of the MRI came in on Friday, it has been reported that Watkins is expected to miss four-to-six weeks. Benjamin’s signing had a lot to do with Watkins injury-riddled past, but the Chiefs weren’t planning to be relying on Watkins replacement already this early on. Even with Watkins being limited in practice on Thursday, he still managed to get injured. The results aren’t back yet from Watkins MRI tests, but if we could guess, it can’t be all that great considering Watkins has had a lot of injury concerns in the past.

Benjamin just joined the team this week, so it’s unclear what his role will be immediately. For this week, it’s probably best to avoid attempting to play Benjamin. With fantasy playoffs most likely starting up, there’s really not much of a reward if you take a risk on Benjamin. However, in future weeks for Daily Fantasy, Benjamin may be worth a gamble. With the Chiefs, his fantasy value will most likely be higher considering the talent under center in a pass-happy offense loaded with weapons. For this week though, avoid Benjamin, regardless of the Watkins injury.