Welcome to the introductory edition of the Injury Report. The Injury Report will be your chance to get caught up on the latest player injury news every Thursday throughout the NFL season. (I would say “National Football League season” but I’m not a former National (w/emphasis and pause) Football (w/emphasis and pause) League (w/emphasis and pause) player. The most basic components of the Injury Report will be a run down of all the newly injured players, a suggestion for their recovery time, quick updates on previously injured players and the NFL practice reports in near entirety for skill position players.  (I’ll be relying on all released reports via most media outlets for this portion of the post.) Some situations will require a more detailed analysis on what the injury means for the player and for the team. That will give me a chance to go over who benefits from the injury and who, other than the injured player, loses out. I’ll also be giving my thoughts on whether the injured player should be dropped or held onto through the injury. Another goal of the injury report will be to dig a little deeper, as in, deeper down the depth chart. That means I’ll also be noting when that fourth wide receiver on the depth chart sustains an injury, for example.
I’d first like to get into a more lengthy, general, discussion on whether to hold or let go of an injured player. I view the most important factors here as:
- Performance level of the player (also can be viewed as “how much better is he than replacement”)
- Length of the injury
- Player’s expected role/performance when he returns from the injury
The longer the injury will keep a player out, the better the player has to be in order to keep him. Obvious right. And I think occasionally we will need to consider whether the player will be the same player when he gets back from the injury or if he’ll still have his starting job.
Some general guidelines for when to hold onto an injured player are: If it’s the worst player on your team you should probably be dropping him even for the shortest of injuries. If it’s a player that is a not an every week starter but starts sometimes depending on the matchup then it will depend on the length of the injury. I’d consider dropping a player at that level if the injury was expected to be longer than 2 weeks but it will depend on who is available to acquire. A lot of it comes down to: If you choose to drop a useful player that will only be out a short amount of time, you better be relatively sure you are either going to use the player you acquire or the player you acquire better be a good breakout candidate. Players with a higher expected performance level, like those that are your every week starters, should be held onto through injuries of almost any length other than season ending.
I’m hopeful that most or all of us are aware of the injuries that took place during the preseason because I decided I’m not re-hashing old news. Instead I’ve got the practice reports of all the skill players for every team. These are the same reports that each team is required to give the league after every day of practice. Teams that play Thursday have a full injury report with the “Out/Doubtful/Questionable/Probably” designations due by Wednesday. Teams that play Sunday (or Saturday) only have a practice report due Wednesday and teams that play Monday have nothing at all due by Wednesday. The reason “by Wednesday” is important is because that’s when I’ll be collecting the data and writing this report.
Week 1 Practice Reports
(Legend:Â Player – Practice Status (F = Full Practice, L = Limited, N = No Practice Participation)
Arizona Cardinals
Michael Floyd – L
Jermaine Gresham – L
Atlanta Falcons
No Practice Info Reported
Baltimore Ravens
Breshad Perriman – N
Lorenzo Taliaferro – N
Buffalo Bills
Charles Clay – F
Marquise Goodwin – N
Percy Harvin – N
Chris Hogan – F
LeSean McCoy – F
Sammy Watkins – F
Robert Woods – F
Carolina Panthers
None
Chicago Bears
Alshon Jeffery – L
Eddie Royal – L
Marquess Wilson – L
Cincinnati Bengals
None
Cleveland Browns
Dwayne Bowe – L
Duke Johnson Jr. – L
Johnny Manziel – L
Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant – F
James Hanna – L
Brandon Weeden – F
Denver Broncos
None
Detroit Lions
Eric Ebron – L
Green Bay Packers
Randall Cobb – L
Houston Texans
Arian Foster – N
Indianapolis Colts
Vick Ballard – N
Jacksonville Jaguars
Toby Gerhart – L
Marqise Lee – N
Julius Thomas – N
Bryan Walters – N
Kansas City Chiefs
Jason Avant – F
Chris Conley – F
Demetrius Harris – F
Travis Kelce – F
De’Anthony Thomas – F
Albert Wilson – F
Miami Dolphins
DeVante Parker – F
Minnesota Vikings
No Practice Info Reported
New England Patriots
Travaris Cadet – Probable
New Orleans Saints
Tim Hightower – N
C.J. Spiller – N
New York Giants
Victor Cruz – N
New York Jets
Chris Ivory – F
Jeremy Kerley – F
Devin Smith – L
Geno Smith – N
Oakland Raiders
Andre Holmes – F
Philadelphia Eagles
No Practice Info Reported
Pittsburgh Steelers
None
San Diego Chargers
None
Seattle Seahawks
Tarvaris Jackson – L
San Francisco 49ers
No Practice Info Reported
St. Louis Rams
Todd Gurley – L
Tre Mason – N
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mike Evans – N
Tennessee Titans
None
Wahsington Football Team
Robert Griffin III – L
So all I’ve really got to say this time is: Great news for DeVante Parker and LeSean McCoy. Bad news for C.J. Spiller (arthroscopic knee surgery), Tre Mason (thigh), and Mike Evans (hamstring). I’m also worried about Alshon Jeffery but my guess is that he will play.
I’ll make these practice reports a weekly thing but in other weeks I think I’ll have an additional list of injured players grouped by something like injury length or how near return they are. This week I decided to skip player analysis in favor of an overview so the forthcoming weeks will look a little different in that regard as well. Good luck everybody. (I think there might be some football game on tonight…)
Bonus (Last Minute/Non Skill Player) Injury Update – I just learned that Minnesota Vikings center Jonathan Sullivan has been put on the IR w/Designation to Return list. The Vikings have already lost right tackle Phil Loadholt for the season so they are down two solid offensive linemen. My biggest fantasy takeaway is that you should consider slot receiver Jarius Wright (who was just inked to a 4 year deal this morning) in deeper leagues because he’ll possibly receive extra (as in, more than expected) targets on quick hit passes. Of course it also hurts every skill player but we just don’t know how much yet so there’s not really anything to be done there except watch as the season progresses.
Lance is also on Twitter @RotoLance.
