Dez Bryant Injury: Which Dallas Cowboys WRs Will Benefit in Fantasy Football?

After a tremendous start against the Jets last week where he caught three balls for 71 yards and a touchdown (worrying the Jets so much that they pulled corner back Darrelle Revis from blanketing Austin Miles), Dez Bryant left the game with cramps and when he came back in, was pretty ineffective the rest of the way.

It was thought that with a week to recover, Bryant would be fine and ready to go today for a great matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

However, as the week progressed, the news was less than good and it was revealed he was also suffering from a bruised quad.

ESPNDallas' Tim MacMahon on Wednesday had this to say on twitter:

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Dez Bryant is actually here, but he's not dressed out. He's riding the exercise bike in the tunnel. At least he'll get mental reps.

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Matt Mosely from Fox Sports Southwest posted this on Thursday:

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Terence Newman and Dez Bryant will NOT practice today, according to a source.

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Things got worse when Rotoworld's Evan Silva relayed this "nugget" from none other than Peter King:

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SI's Peter King on Cowboys WR Dez Bryant: "I do NOT think he'll play."

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It's not looking good for Bryant. However it does look good for other parts of the Cowboys' offense.

Bryant's targets have to go somewhere.

If Bryant is out, Kevin Ogletree will get the nod and start at the X position. He's a decent wide receiver but so far has been nothing special and actually wasn't even good enough to prod head coach Jason Garrett into running three-wide receiver sets against a Jets defense the Cowboys moved the ball well against.

Ogletree will be in line for plenty of targets and will do well enough because of it, especially since the Niners aren't that impressive against the pass—last week's defeat of the Seattle Sehawks notwithstanding.

If you're in desperate need of a receiver, Ogletree will serve though sheer opportunity.

Mile Austin may find more attention with Bryant out, but he'll definitely get more balls thrown his way. If you liked Austin before—and I loved him in this matchup already—you'll be even happier with Bryant out. While another secondary would make it tough for him, the 49ers won't be able to contain him and you can expect quarterback Tony Romo to find him often.

The other person to likely see even more work isn't a receiver though he plays like one. Assume tight end Jason Witten will have a monster day. Not only can the secondary not cover him, but neither can the linebackers. He was already a matchup nightmare. He's going to get more balls thrown his way and it may be all San Francisco can do to slow him down.

Behind these three are Jesse Holley and Dwayne Harris. Neither of them are worth a look, though Harris will likely get Bryant's return duties.

Andrew Garda is a staff writer at Footballguys.com—check out all their subscriber content—money back guarantee until Sept 30^th!