News on Raheem Mostert, Joe Mixon, and Emari Demercado Impacting RB Rankings

It’s always a challenge to navigate through injuries in fantasy football. The RB position has several players dealing with issues. The time to set Week 9 lineups is near. What is the latest injury information on Raheem Mostert, Joe Mixon, and Emari Demercado?

Latest News and Injury Updates Impacting Fantasy

Raheem Mostert, RB, Miami Dolphins

Ahead of last week’s game, Raheem Mostert missed Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury before ultimately returning on Thursday and playing on Sunday. Fantasy managers are hoping this week’s routine will be the same.

Mostert was absent from the Dolphins’ first practice of the week on Wednesday with the same issue. Clearly, his ankle is still bothering him.

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The good news is Mostert was able to play through the injury last week and did not appear to aggravate it during the game. The Miami Herald’s Daniel Oyefusi is not at all surprised by Mostert’s absence. Most notably, he did not express any concern.

Wednesday practices are almost completely meaningless at this point in the season, especially for veterans like Mostert. When a guy like Mostert is dealing with anything at all, he’s probably just going to get the day off. This is likely more maintenance than anything else.

As long as Mostert is back practicing on Thursday, and I expect he will be, fantasy managers should have no concerns about his availability to play in the Germany game this Sunday morning.

Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Mixon has been quite healthy this season, playing in every game. Prior to Wednesday, I can’t remember the last time we even saw him on the injury report. Unfortunately, Mixon’s name popped up on Wednesday’s injury report with a chest issue.

The good news here is as easy as it would be for the Bengals to hold Mixon out, he was able to get in a limited session. That suggests this issue is incredibly minor. Head coach Zac Taylor didn’t even address it at his press conference.

There is no reason for concern here whatsoever. Mixon is at no risk of missing this Sunday’s game. Fantasy managers can deploy him as usual and expect no decrease in productivity as a result of this injury.

Emari Demercado, RB, Arizona Cardinals

Last week, we saw Keaontay Ingram see an increase in usage in the second half. Initially, I just thought it was a random coaching decision, much like when Ingram played ahead of Emari Demercado three weeks ago. As it turns out, Demercado was actually forced out of the game.

We found out Wednesday the reason for Demercado’s exit — a toe injury. The issue is clearly still a problem, as Demercado did not practice on Wednesday.

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The Cardinals also lost Damien Williams early in last week’s game. They are severely banged up at running back.

We don’t have any details on the severity of Demercado’s injury. However, it does not sound like it’s nothing. There is a very real chance he misses this week’s game.

At this point, fantasy managers should presume the Cardinals starter will be Ingram, with the backup being someone not currently on the roster.

Being that it’s already a brutal matchup against the Browns’ elite run defense, whoever starts at running back for the Cardinals won’t be a desirable fantasy option.

Fantasy managers planning to use Demercado this week should already start planning for an alternative. But it doesn’t stop there. James Conner is eligible to return from IR next week. The combination of Demercado not playing this week and Conner possibly back next week could spell the end of Demercado’s relevance as a fantasy asset.

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