It's being reported that Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson tore his ACL in the team's preseason outing against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon.
While the Packers indicated that they are waiting for a MRI on Monday, NFL Media's Ian Rapoport was clear in his report suggesting that initial indications are that Nelson did indeed suffer a torn ACL.
Not only is this potentially a major loss for the Packers, it's a game-changer in the fantasy football world.
The 30-year-old Nelson had an ADP in the early third round prior to the injury news. He was considered, at least in terms of his average draft position, as a middle-tier WR1 option.
Considering Nelson racked up the fourth-most targets (151) in the NFL last year, there is a huge void to fill here on the Packers offense. No. 2 on the team in terms of targets from a season ago was Randall Cobb at 127. Assuming Nelson is out for the season, this means that Davante Adams will take over as the team's No. 2 receiver behind Cobb. He will also become the Packers primary outside receiver with Cobb still manning the slot a majority of the time.
Adams, a second-round pick in last year's draft, put up 38 receptions for 446 yards and three touchdowns in 16 games last year.
The interesting dynamic here is that Adams played an average of just 15 less snaps per game than Nelson last year. Though, his snap-to-target ratio stood at 12.1 compared to 6.7 for Nelson. This tells us a story of a player in Adams who might not see a significant increase in snaps, but should find himself somewhat near Nelson's snap-to-target ratio from a season ago. Based on these metrics, Adams is looking at 120-plus targets in 2015. That makes him a clear WR2 option in standard 12-team leagues. With an ADP currently in the 11th round, it makes sense that Adams' stock will climb a great deal once Nelson's injury is confirmed by the team.
Another person to look at here, especially in deeper leagues, is Jeff Janis. The second-year player from Saginaw Valley State will likely be the first reserve reciever off the bench when the Packers run three-wide sets with Cobb in the slot. There's no real regular season sample size for Janis, but we do know that pretty much every receiver thrown on the field during Aaron Rodgers career has made an impact. In addition to this, it appears that Rodgers and Janis have built a pretty solid relationship. Not initially rosterable in standard 12-team leagues, Janis is someone to track early in the season.