Julio Jones injury: What status means for Week 8 fantasy football

Game status: Jones is ACTIVE for Week 8 TNF.

Game-day afternoon update: Jones is expected to play on Thursday, per Mike Garafolo and Sara Walsh.

Game-day update: The Buccaneers haven’t moved any receivers up from the practice squad for tonight’s game, so Julio Jones might play tonight, per Greg Auman.

Week 8 of the NFL season will get underway on Thursday, October 27. As we hope for two good Thursday Night Football games in a row, we turn to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers facing the Baltimore Ravens. The Bucs are coming off a bad loss to the PJ Walker-led, Christian McCaffrey-less Carolina Panthers. To make matters worse, Tampa Bay is still banged up on the injury report, including wide receiver Julio Jones. He is dealing with a knee injury that has plagued him throughout the season. Jones didn't practice on Monday and then logged limited practice sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fantasy football implications

Jones is an intriguing fantasy football play this week. He normally wouldn't have value in the offense, but Russell Gage has been ruled out with an injury giving Jones some upside. The Ravens are giving up the sixth-most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers. The predicament is that he would normally have flex appeal in this situation, but there will be 28 teams left to play after Thursday. If Jones is active and you are desperate, you could start him and hope for the best. Otherwise, I’d leave him on your fantasy football bench and then see about inserting him into a DFS lineup.