Jelani

Woods

The Athletic’s James Boyd was first with the report. We already knew Woods was missing at least four months, but the Colts are going ahead and calling it now. It’s a brutal blow for the 2022 third-rounder after he missed all of 2023 with hamstring issues. He’ll now be headed into his age-26 campaign with only 25 career grabs. Woods is no longer worth a hold in Dynasty leagues.

It’s yet another tough break for Woods, who has battled through numerous injuries since being drafted in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Woods has caught 25 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns in 15 career games but hasn’t taken a regular-season snap since 2022. After missing all of last season with nagging hamstring injuries, Woods will now hope to see the field at some point late in the 2024 season. With Woods out, fourth-year tight end Kylen Granson is expected to serve as the team’s starter. Granson is well off the fantasy radar at this time.

News of toe surgery is big blow for Woods, who missed the entire 2023 season with a hamstring injury. The 2022 third-rounder caught 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie, showing off his size and athleticism. Unfortunately, Woods’ toe injury will keep him out for at least the start of the regular season. Kylen Granson and Mo Alie-Cox are next up in the tight end room, but both are only fantasy targets in deeper leagues.

Hamstring injuries have limited Woods to just 15 games through his first two seasons — all of which were played in 2022. Last year’s hamstring injury sidelined Woods for all of 2023, but the third-year tight end is reportedly healthy and playing well this offseason. The Indy Star’s Joel A. Erickson pointed out in a recent article that Woods has focused specifically on working out his legs and strengthening his hamstrings, quads, and hips in hopes of limiting these types of injuries going forward. Woods, who ran a 4.61 at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine, caught 25 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie and caught eight passes for 98 yards against the Steelers that season. He’s an athletic tight end capable of turning in big performances if he’s able to stay healthy and put everything together. Woods could make for a sneaky late-round flyer in fantasy drafts starts to tap into his potential in 2024.

Woods quietly missed most of organized team activities and all of the preseason with a hamstring injury that now requires a trip to injured reserve. The organization kept the athletic tight end’s status largely under wraps throughout the offseason and ultimately kept five tight ends on the active roster through cut down day. This now appears to be the reason why.

“Woods is the only Indianapolis tight end who’s shown he has the athleticism to stretch the field the way Goedert can,” the Star reported. Woods will compete with six other Indy tight ends this summer, with the team likely to keep three tight ends to start the season. A 2022 third-round pick, Woods as a rookie caught 25 of 40 targets for 312 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 12.5 yards per catch and had an average depth of target of 10.7 yards. Like most rookie tight ends, Woods said he struggled to pick up the multiple roles he had to learn in last year’s offense. Woods profiles as a fine late-round dart throw who should at least have a chance to run consistent routes in Steichen’s offense.

It’s a new injury for Woods, one that could limit him at mandatory OTAs next month. Overshadowed by the addition of third-round WR Josh Downs, Woods is in line for a Year 2 leap under a new coaching staff in Indy. Woods projects for heavy snaps in the Colts’ redzone offense and could be the Week 1 starter after posting a 25/312/3 line as a rookie.

On a fourth-and-goal go from the three, Woods was targeted near the front of the end zone but had the ball harmlessly hit off his hands in a contested situation. Woods proved capable of big fantasy games this year inbetween nagging injuries, as he scored twice against the Chiefs in an upset win and went off for 8/98 against the Steelers on Monday Night Football. He’s got the size and speed -- and showed enough polish -- to be a big part of Indy’s pass attack next year. How big is a question we won’t really be able to answer until we see the rest of the picture, but he’ll be a TE1 dart throw in offseason drafts at worst.

Granson will miss the season’s final month with a lingering ankle injury. Jelani Woods in Week 17 led all Indy tight ends with a 55 percent route share and three catches for 19 yards. He would be a thin fantasy option against Houston with Granson sidelined. Granson sat out the last three weeks of the season with this ankle injury. He failed to seize on a move tight end opportunity, creating just 40 targets and not scoring once. He’s a high catch-rate option with some juice in the open field, but barely blocks and has Jelani Woods waiting to make him irrelevant this offseason. Granson’s dynasty stock has gone down in 2022 and likely won’t recover without a coaching change that affirmatively says that they want Granson more involved in the offense. He’ll probably just be a backup.

Woods was able to get open a few times early in the game and that was about all you saw from him. He gave the Colts’ offense a boost and some hope early, but as the pressure barred down on Nick Foles, it got harder for him to find pass catchers. Woods has had his moments, but it’s best you leave him out of your lineups, try again in 2023.