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DeMarco Murray suffered fractured hand, Sunday status unclear

Andy Behrens
Fantasy analyst

First, the frightening news: DeMarco Murray, the NFL's leading rusher, is undergoing surgery Monday to repair a broken bone in his left hand. His status for Dallas' Week 16 home matchup with Indianapolis is not yet known. The injury occurred late in Sunday night's win at Philly, and postgame X-rays revealed a broken fourth metacarpal.

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Now, the less frightening news: Recovery time for this surgery is not long at all — days, potentially, not weeks. So when we say that Murray's status for Sunday is not yet known, that's another way of saying he might play. The injury is to his non-dominant hand, which has to help. (Of course he still has to use the left hand in the normal course of business, catching passes and holding off defenders. But the right hand would presumably be worse.)

Ideally, if you're a Murray owner, you would have added his handcuff long ago. But since DeMarco is 100 percent owned and Joseph Randle is only 6 percent owned, it's clear that we have not all been exercising proper late-season handcuff discipline.

Should Murray miss the upcoming game with the Colts, Randle seems like understudy to own, ahead of Lance Dunbar. Here's a useful tweet from Pro Football Focus' Mike Clay, describing the deployment of the two backs to this point in the season:

Randle would figure to get much of the early down work, likely leading the team in carries. He's averaged a ridiculous 7.0 YPC on 34 totes thus far. We probably won't have clarity on Murray's availability until late in the week, so you'll need to make a speculative claim on Randle without knowing his role. It's a worthwhile gamble, no question. Dallas is a run-heavy team with an excellent O-line, facing a middle-of-the-pack Indy run defense. Depending on your fantasy league's scoring system and depth, Dunbar is on the radar as well.

But, again, there's still hope for DeMarco. Don't despair, Murray owners. You're still in this thing. And if you're still reading fantasy content at this late date, then it's been a profitable season already.