A fantasy manager can spend days checking matchups, studying injury reports, and deciding whether to trust a player coming back from an injury. Then, just before kickoff, one sentence can undo the whole exercise.
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That was the situation facing fantasy managers who had started D.J. Moore on Monday night. Moore had returned to action the previous week, and managers were counting on him against Minnesota. Then ESPN’s Laura Rutledge reported that the Buffalo Bills receiver was inactive.
“@LauraRutledge, you just sent a lightning bolt through the fantasy football world when you said DJ Moore was inactive tonight,” wrote a user on X on November 9.
Rutledge, a former SEC Nation host, responded within 30 minutes and apologized for the blunder.
“Scared me too! We got some old, inaccurate information that I should have triple-checked,” she wrote in response to the fan. “It’s completely my fault. DJ MOORE IS ACTIVE TONIGHT!!!”
The confusion appears to have come from Moore’s previous Monday night appearance. According to a report by Heavy, ESPN’s inaccurate information was tied to the Bills’ Week 5 game against the Los Angeles Rams, when Moore was in fact inactive.
Moore missed that game, as well as the following matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, before Buffalo’s bye week. But his situation had changed by the time Buffalo traveled to Minnesota.
He returned against the Baltimore Ravens on November 1 and caught four passes for 82 yards and a touchdown in the Bills’ 36-10 victory. He was still dealing with a shoulder problem, but he had taken part in all three practices during the week leading into the Vikings game.
Buffalo also listed him with no injury designation on its final report. That should have been enough to prevent the old information from being treated as current.
Instead, the inactive report made its way onto ESPN’s NFL Live coverage, prompting a correction from Rutledge. Sal Capaccio of WGR 550 also weighed in on X.
“From what I understand, the ESPN miscommunication re: DJ Moore stemmed from the last MNF game the Bills played (at Rams) when he was inactive,” Capaccio wrote on X.
There was a genuine reason for managers to care about Moore’s availability. Before Monday’s game, he had 16 receptions for 260 yards and two touchdowns in five appearances for Buffalo. His return against Baltimore had also offered a useful reminder of what he could provide in the Bills’ passing attack. The shoulder injury had interrupted his season.
Moore hurt his shoulder in Buffalo’s Week 2 win over Detroit, played through it against the Chargers, and aggravated it in the October 4 loss to New England. He missed the next two games before returning against Baltimore.
Moore had been limited during the week, but he had not missed a session and carried no game designation. For anyone trying to make a last-minute fantasy decision, those details matter far more than an outdated list from an earlier game.
Thankfully, Rutledge issued the correction before Moore took the field.
Buffalo went on to beat the Vikings 23-6 at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the receiver finished with three catches for 25 yards on five targets. He also carried the ball once for 11 yards.