Danny Amendola injury: Slim fantasy football pickings to replace Rams sleeper

If you're in a points-per-reception league, Thursday's Danny Amendola injury was probably the last thing you needed. Fantasy football owners who gambled on the St. Louis Rams' returning slot receiver in the middle or even late rounds watched with mounting glee this season as Amendola morphed from Sam Bradford's favorite, kind-of-self-defeating target into a guy who not only caught a ton of passes but also pulled down some yards to go with them. Now he could miss at least a month with an injury that isn't quite a broken collarbone. It's hard replacing your favorite fantasy football sleeper. Harder still because there's nobody around to replace him with.

The receiving situation on the Rams without Amendola is far too scattered to gamble just yet. Veteran Steve Smith is the natural choice, except he's been inactive for each of the last two weeks and invisible otherwise. Brandon Gibson is second in receptions and has two touchdowns, but he's mixed a solid season with some awful mistakes that might leave Bradford wary. Chris Givens's 51-yard touchdown reception salvaged the Rams' passing game late against the Cardinals, but he's exclusively a home run threat at this point in his rookie season.

Personally, my panic move was to grab Chiefs receiver and noted tools goof Jonathan Baldwin off the waiver wire. But I've heard another choice, from fantasy football players with Amendola, that's too strange a turn of events not to share—other Danny Amendola owners are adding Donnie Avery, the very receiver whose preseason injury in 2010 ensured that Amendola would be Sam Bradford's favorite in the first place.