The fantasy football semifinals are taking place this weekend. If you are one of the lucky ones still playing, congratulations and good luck. If you were planning on having Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III in your lineup this week, you might really need it.
Walker is yet to practice this week with an ankle injury, per Gregg Bell of The News Tribune. After missing Week 14 with that same injury, Walker returned to play mostly a full complement of snaps against the San Francisco 49ers last week. He played pretty well against the best defense in the league, garnering 11.9 PPR fantasy points. There was no setback reported, making his inability to practice interesting.
Another interesting tidbit is that he is suddenly listed with both a back and ankle issue on the Seahawks website. It brings into question whether Walker is dealing with something new.
With so much riding on the line for fantasy owners this weekend, Kenneth Walker's status is crucial. It is expected that he will be given a questionable tag later on Thursday when Seattle released their final injury report. The fact that this is a short week with the NFL moving most of the games to Saturday to avoid Christmas, does not help his chances of suiting up.
If Walker misses this game, DeeJay Dallas was upgraded to limited in practice Wednesday. He would likely share work with Travis Homer in the Seahawks backfield.
Thankfully, the Seahawks Chiefs game kicks off at 1pm ET. So, fantasy managers should know before the day starts whether he will be active. But even if Walker is active for the game, it is possible he is on a snap count against a very strong rush defense. The Chiefs rank 5th in the NFL allowing just over 105 rush yards per game.
The weather is likely to be a factor as well. Kickoff calls for wind chills below zero degrees.
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