Deshaun Watson injury: 5 fantasy football replacement options

Upon confirmation Deshaun Watson has suffered a torn ACL, here are five options to replace him on a fantasy football roster.

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson showed up on the injury report Thursday, getting in a limited practice with a “sore knee.” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the team feared Watson suffered a torn ACL, pending an MRI, and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network confirmed a torn ACL for the rookie signal-caller.

Watson was, of course, a revelation for the Texans offense. and fantasy football owners, with 16 touchdown passes over his last four games and more than 30 rushing yards in four of his six starts.

There’s no way to easily replace Watson, who was an early waiver wire pickup that paid off nicely for a stretch of weeks. But, the Texans and those shrewd fantasy owners are now left to do so.

5. Tom Savage, Houston Texans

Somehow, the Texans thought Savage deserved to be their Week 1 starter, but he didn’t even last a full game before Watson took over. Now, Savage will get the job back by default.

Of Savage’s 105 career pass attempts, 65 of them came over a two-game stretch last season when he stepped in for Brock Osweiler and started the following week. He went 41-for-65 combined (63.1 percent) with 436 total passing yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Savage will have solid talent around him, with a legit No. 1 wide receiver (DeAndre Hopkins) and good running back depth in particular. The schedule also looks favorable, with the Indianapolis Colts (Week 9, Week 17), the Arizona Cardinals (Week 11) and the San Francisco 49ers (Week 14) entering Week 9 in the bottom five of the league against quarterbacks (ESPN scoring).

Savage is only really an option in deep leagues (14 or 16 teams), but if you’re in a league like that and just lost Watson, you can do worse.

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