QB J.J. McCarthy (Ankle), RB Aaron Jones (Hamstring) Out for Vikings in Week 3 vs Bengals

It’s awfully interesting that the Vikings would rule out McCarthy for two to four weeks after his abomination of a performance this past weekend in primetime against the Falcons – especially since he didn’t appear to be injured or dealing with any kind of pain for the entirety of the game in Week 2. Of course, it’s all just speculation regarding McCarthy’s absence; he very well may be injured and need the time to get right. Regardless of the true reason he’ll be missing the next handful games, though, the fact remains that he will, indeed, be out. Veteran journeyman Carson Wentz is set to draw the start for Minnesota against the Bengals this week, and given that the Vikings haven’t been able to push the ball downfield much with McCarthy early, the hope is that Wentz can unlock that part of Minnesota’s passing game and get Justin Jefferson involved and back to his fantasy WR1 ways. Wentz shouldn’t be started outside of the most desperate and deep 2 QB leagues, while the Vikings offense takes a slight hit overall. Meanwhile, Aaron Jones has been placed on IR with a hamstring injury, leaving the door open for Jordan Mason to take over the lion’s share of the backfield touches for the foreseeable future. Mason has been an extremely efficient and productive fantasy RB when given the workload of a real RB1, and that potential makes him an intriguing every-week RB2 start with some RB1 upside while Aaron Jones gets right.