Harry Douglas' Fantasy Outlook for Week 3 with Roddy White Injured

The amount of injuries suffered two weeks into the NFL season has been unbelievable. Players across the league are dropping like flies. One of the latest casualties is Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White.

Though it's never fortunate, the silver lining when it comes to injuries is the opportunity for backups to emerge as playmakers. Atlanta’s Harry Douglas has that chance this week when he takes on the Tampa Bay Bucs on Thursday night.    

ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure reported White missed practice again on Tuesday because of a hamstring issue. Though McClure was optimistic Wednesday about White playing Thursday night, this situation raises a major red flag for his availability Week 3, or at the very least his potential effectiveness.

With White potentially not playing at 100 percent, if at all, Douglas will be asked to step in and be a key contributor.

One reason why Douglas’ situation is beneficial for him is that he did this for most of last season. Julio Jones got hurt early in the year and Roddy White was often ailing as well. Douglas did a fine job filling in, accumulating 85 catches for more than 1,000 yards.

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The wideout has been fairly impressive in 2014 too.

In the opener, he caught six balls for 69 yards. Last week, when the Falcons struggled, he had four receptions for 38 yards. So far, White and Douglas have very similar numbers in spite of White being the No. 2. With Douglas potentially acting as the second option on Thursday, his chances of having a big game increase significantly.

Even though they struggled to score against Cincinnati, Atlanta should be much better against Tampa. The Bengals rank third in the NFL in points allowed with only 13 a game. Although Tampa’s defense isn’t bad by any means, it's much more average at 19.5 points per game.

No matter which defense they play, however, the Falcons are sure to rack up the yards. Atlanta ranks second in the league with 438.5 yards per contest, having just one half yard fewer than Philadelphia. With Douglas in for White, the unit shouldn’t miss a beat.

Another reason Douglas and pretty much any Falcon this year is a good fantasy play is because they’re forced to air it out and score as often as possible. Their defense is dead last in the league in yards allowed with 944 in just two games. Even though Tampa’s offense isn’t a powerhouse, Atlanta’s defense will give up enough points that its offense is forced to score a few touchdowns.

Even if White plays this week, Douglas should find a spot in your starting lineup. At the very minimum, White will likely be limited and Douglas will have opportunities to break out.