Austin Hooper fantasy backers will need to wait at least another week until his return. ESPN Falcons beat writer Vaughn McClure reports that Hooper will miss this week’s game against Tampa Bay. Coach Dan Quinn does believe Hooper may try to run on Thursday and is trending up.
The Falcons don’t have an offensive minded tight end to replace Hooper, so Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage will get the biggest bumps in usage. Devonta Freeman didn’t practice on Wednesday either, so is trending negatively to suit up, but if he does end up playing, he would also see an uptick in targets.