Matt Ryan, Roddy White's Updated Fantasy Value After Julio Jones' Injury

This is about the most inopportune time for an injury to hit a star like Julio Jones if you're a fantasy football owner.

The Atlanta Falcons wideout set a franchise record on Monday night, catching 11 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown, per SportsCenter:

"Julio each week is getting better and better," said Atlanta wide receiver Harry Douglas after the game, per Jay Adams of AtlantaFalcons.com. "He's the dominant force that we all knew he would be, and he’s showing why we took him in the draft when we took him."

However, the night was a bit of a mixed bag after the Falcons announced he hurt his hip in the fourth quarter:

Until more information is known about the severity of the problem, it's impossible to say for sure what the fantasy impact of the injury will be. Obviously, Matt Ryan's value will dip if Jones is forced to miss time, while Roddy White will become a more attractive option at WR.

For the purposes of this discussion, we'll pretend that Jones is out or considered highly questionable in the days leading to the Falcons' Week 15 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fantasy owners will have to plan on him not being on the field.

At least heading into Week 14, the Steelers didn't possess the most daunting of secondaries. Football Outsiders ranked Pittsburgh 29th in pass defense DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average). The defense is giving up an average of 248.5 yards and two touchdowns a game to opposing quarterbacks.

According to ESPN.com, the Steelers are also allowing an average of 16.9 fantasy points a game to quarterbacks and 22.2 points to wide receivers.

In short, Pittsburgh presents a favorable matchup for Ryan and the Falcons passing attack.

Without Jones, though, the Atlanta signal-caller might lack the downfield threat to rack up the big points. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Ryan had a lot of success deep against the Packers, but all of the throws went Jones' way:

Take that option out, and the Falcons might struggle to hit that big play through the air, thus limiting Ryan's fantasy ceiling a bit.

White likely wouldn't be a good target down the field. After Monday night, he's averaging only 11.9 yards a catch, the second-lowest total of his career. His longest reception of the season went for only 39 yards.

The 33-year-old has played well of late, catching 26 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns in his past four games.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The one thing that would scare you about White is how much his value has fluctuated from week to week, at least before his most recent run of form. His high-scoring Weeks 1, 4 and 7 were followed up by minuscule outputs in Weeks 2, 5 and 8.

Some of the volatility in White's fantasy potential would be mitigated if he's Ryan's No. 1 target.

That's at least the early forecast. You should continue monitoring the situation as the week unfolds.

In the event Jones is out on Sunday, you may want to consider dropping Ryan if you've got another good, safe QB option on the bench. With Jones in the lineup, Ryan's looking at the kind of matchup conducive to a healthy day.

White, on the other hand, will have added value if Jones is absent. He wouldn't post huge numbers but would be worth lining up as a WR3 or at the flex.