James Washington to miss time with shoulder injury

The Pittsburgh Steelers are losing players to injury left and right, and the latest makes life more difficult for whomever starts at quarterback. Wide receiver James Washington suffered a shoulder injury and will miss a few weeks, according to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport.

The Steelers are still figuring out whether Mason Rudolph (concussion) or rookie Devlin Hodges will start at quarterback in Week 6 against the Los Angeles Chargers. They will be without versatile backup running back Jaylen Samuels, and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back James Conner are both banged up. JuJu and Conner will play on Sunday, but it’s rough sledding for the Steelers.

If Washington does not play, Diontae Johnson moves into a more significant role while Donte Moncrief is likely back to being active. Johnson supplanted Moncrief on the depth chart and will likely start opposite JuJu on Sunday.

Fantasy football analysis, Steelers WRs James Washington, Diontae Johnson

Washington had three catches for 52 yards before departing with the injury. Johnson only had 27 yards, but caught five of eight targets. Johnson had two touchdowns over the previous two games and is developing into a favored target for the Steelers. He’ll see more targets, while Moncrief might actually find himself active again.

The big issue is whether or not Hodges or Rudolph starts. With Ben Roethlisberger out, there is some unpredictability as to which of the receivers will be targeted game in and game out. Johnson is worth an add, while his DFS value is still fairly limited until we see how the Steelers quarterback situation shakes out. Moncrief remains a non-entity for fantasy purposes.