The New Orleans Saints–Tampa Bay Buccaneers clash Sunday had a lot of key players in question. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on a number of them late Saturday night, saying that Alvin Kamara was likely out for the Saints while Mark Ingram and Jameis Winston were likely in, while Leonard Fournette and Mike Evans were likely in for the Bucs. The key uncertainty was with Tampa Bay receiver Julio Jones (seen above at left Aug. 13 with teammate Keanu Neal), though, who Schefter called “a true game-time decision” requiring evaluation of his knee in warmups. Well, when the official actives and inactives came down, all of those reports held up, and Jones was ruled out as well, as ESPN’s Field Yates relayed:
Officially active: D’Andre Swift, Mike Evans, Jameis Winston, Leonard Fournette, Russell Gage.
Officially inactive: Julio Jones, Alvin Kamara, J.K. Dobbins.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 18, 2022
Jones’ exclusion here is the main one that wasn’t fully anticipated heading into Sunday morning, and it has some fantasy implications. As per FantasyPros, the 33-year-old Jones was rostered in around 70 percent of leagues, with an average draft position of 128th overall or 141st in point-per-reception leagues. That’s not as significant as Kamara (100 percent, #11 overall in standard and #13 overall in PPR), but it may still matter for some.
Jones not being able to go Sunday is also another blow to the Tampa Bay receiving corps for Tom Brady. That receiving group is still missing Chris Godwin as well. At least Brady has Fournette and Evans active.
[Field Yates on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.