Indianapolis Colts' Austin Collie Out: Fantasy Implications and More

The Indianapolis Colts have confirmed reports that Austin Collie will in fact miss “several weeks” and maybe even more.

For many fantasy owners, this is not the news they want to digest as they finish up their dinners.

For those of you who own Pierre Garcon, it is safe now to consider him a WR2 in Indianapolis, but if you are directly affected by this in a negative way, you still have a few different options. 

WR Brandon Gibson, St. Louis Rams, is the first person who comes to mind and with good reason. While at first glance Gibson doesn’t look like much, it’s his long-term potential that has him as a nice grab off the waiver wire.

Gibson has been considered by many Rams beat writers to eventually be the guy that will assume most of Mark Clayton’s role. And while Danny Amendola is the guy right now, he isn’t the guy by much. In addition to that, Gibson has been one of the most consistently used WR in St. Louis to date.

Again, he hasn’t gotten a ton of work, but it’s not the immediate past you want to look at, it’s what the Rams will eventually do with him.

WR Anthony Armstrong, Washington Redskins, is another candidate that is sure to be available in just about any league and he has been featured numerous times as a deep threat option in Washington’s growing offense.

Armstrong is a guy who is also slated to be used more and more as the season progresses, and he has shown he can catch in traffic. He also provides a solid target deep.

WR/KR Marc Mariani, Tennessee Titans, is a guy I want to mention for those of you who get points for players who return kicks, since Mariani basically owns this spot in fantasy waiver wire grabs.

Mariani is a very consistent player who has chimed in for at least 10 points each week in my ESPN league, and could be one of those X-factor replacements, should you need one.

The idea here is that there isn’t going to be a waiver wire replacement for Collie while he is out, since most leagues are plucked dry. But the trick is to find the best candidate, with the best matchups that will ultimately do an admirable job as a fill-in, and these are the top guys to mention right now that are SURE to be available.

If you are now looking at what to do this week with your roster check out my WR Week 7 Start Sit column.