Who Should I Start? Darnell Washington or Luke Musgrave

Tuesday, December 30, 1:20 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington (forearm) had surgery on his broken forearm on Tuesday morning and will not play in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, according to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. Head coach Mike Tomlin said he has "some level of optimism for everyone else." The expectation was that Washington would not play after he broke his arm in the Week 17 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Not only will the 24-year-old not be available for the winner-take-all game this Sunday night against the Ravens, but Washington is unlikely to be able to return for the playoffs if the Steelers take care of business this weekend. It means that Pat Freiermuth will become a slightly more attractive TE streamer in fantasy, as will Jonnu Smith. Washington's third season in the NFL will finish with 31 catches for 364 yards and a touchdown in 16 games.

Thursday, December 25, 6:56 PM

Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave could see a further uptick in his workload for the Packers in Week 17 as Green Bay takes on Baltimore on Saturday at Lambeau Field. Musgrave saw his highest percentage of routes per dropback this season in Week 16, running a route on 84% of dropbacks. That was primarily due to John FitzPatrick (Achilles) leaving the game because of his injury, and Musgrave seeing that time on the field with Green Bay's TE3 Josh Whyle inactive. Musgrave should see the bulk of the snaps and routes for the tight end position in Week 17, but the murky quarterback situation with Jordan Love (shoulder/concussion) and Malik Willis (shoulder/illness), both questionable, makes it difficult to recommend Musgrave. Consider Musgrave a very risky play for fantasy managers in Week 17.