Julian Edelman’s Sunday shoes are most definitely going to be “kicked off” for the next several weeks. I actually started, umm, researching, let’s say, the Kevin Bacon movie Footloose to see how I could work a Julian Edelman Footloose pun into this post. Then I came across something… interesting. See, I’ve also spent a lot of time researching Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well. And OH MY GAWD OH MY GAWD OH MY GAWD, you guys, it turns out the character’s name from Footloose is Ren McCormack!
Perhaps all of these fellas just want to… cut footloose?
Anyway, depending on whom you ask, injuries might be the worst thing about fantasy football, the NFL and football in general. (Another candidate for worst thing might include the fact that playing fantasy football can put us in a position where we end up rooting for some real scumbags…). Writing this post sometimes makes me feel like I’m the bearer of bad news. Nevertheless, I’m tasked with bringing you information to help you succeed in playing fantasy football. In my quest to provide actionable fantasy analysis I like to reference people with medical credentials. Well, this primarily turns out to be one person (named David Chao), not people, and as it turns out he is a very controversial figure in the NFL. Yet he also has some of the best, readily available, film based injury diagnoses. I’ve included a paragraph at the end of this post that addresses why I’m ultimately OK with using him as a reference for these injury situations. So with that out of the way let’s talk some fantasy football injuries… (and I promise it’s delightful and full of people missing weeks due to foot injuries).
Julian Edelman (foot) has suffered a Jones fracture and will probably miss the rest of the regular season. This is the same type of injury Dez Bryant suffered earlier in the year.
Type of WR @Edelman11 makes it harder than @DezBryant to return early.
As underneath receiver, multiple quick cuts & direction change.— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 17, 2015
It’s great if you own Danny Amendola, yet I don’t think Edelman’s production in the offense is replaced that easily. It just seems like between Edelman and Dion Lewis they’ve lost two big components which were helping to make that offense so efficient. So it might seem enticing that Amendola, Brandon LaFell and possibly others will see a higher share of the targets, just remember, due to the loss of efficiency there will be less targets available as a whole.
Peyton Manning (foot). I mean, wow. Just wow. We’ve seen bad Manning all year. Now we’ve seen worst Manning. I’m hopeful that he will stay off the field until he is feeling much much better. And I’m not even sure that he will get there this year. I hope he does. I suspect Manning will miss at least two weeks, maybe the rest of the regular season? Maybe if he starts to feel better and play better in practice they bring him back for the last week or two to get him ready for the playoffs? I think to come back earlier than that he’ll have to feel a whole lot better and Brock Osweiler will have to be quite bad.
Carlos Hyde (foot) update: Apparently Hyde might not get back to being the same player this year because his stress fracture isn’t going away anytime soon. Between him missing weeks and questionable effectiveness when/if he gets back on the field I’m skeptical that he’ll be able to provide value this year. I don’t think you drop him yet because I doubt there’s anyone on your wire worth dropping him for.
Possible but true stress fracture healing measured in months not weeks#CarlosHyde @49ers Look for eventual surgery https://t.co/yZX009kYRF
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 17, 2015
Breshad Perriman (knee) update: He’s now officially done for the year. Assuming he will go back to being himself next year, it’s a very interesting situation for him value-wise. On the hand they don’t have much else there right now (who knows if Steve Smith Sr. will be back) on the other hand I think they will make further attempts to upgrade their WR corps as Perriman was supposed to be the first of such upgrades.
There is some concern for articular cartilage damage.
Season ending over a non reconstructed PCL injury is unusual. https://t.co/Et7b8CSIP8— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 18, 2015
Kevin White (tibia) update: Things aren’t looking any better for Kevin White. And I think most of us would have loved to see what Perriman and White were capable of this year because they might have been capable of a lot as they both have QBs that have pretty good deep accuracy on deep throws.
Hope I am wrong but I have been pessimistic from the beginning. Tibial stress fractures take a long time to heal. https://t.co/t0O9442SGR
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 19, 2015
Oh and DeVante Parker (foot) too. He may still make a meaningful contribution this year, but I’m not hopeful of it. The tale of his foot injury goes something like this: Injured it in college, replaced screw in June, re-injured versus New England a few weeks back.
DeVante Parker tells me he'll be full speed at practice today. Was limited all last week.
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) November 18, 2015
So now I leave you with the practice reports for week 11 of the NFL season. 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/Probable” 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, which is when this post is written.
Arizona Cardinals
John Brown – WR – No Participation
Larry Fitzgerald – WR – Limited Participation
Michael Floyd – WR – No Participation
Atlanta Falcons
Leonard Hankerson – WR – Limited Participation
Baltimore Ravens
Nick Boyle – TE – No Participation
Buffalo Bills
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
Carolina Panthers
Fozzy Whittaker – RB – Limited Participation
Chicago Bears
Matt Forte – RB – Limited Participation
Alshon Jeffery – WR – Limited Participation
Eddie Royal – WR – No Participation
Cincinnati Bengals
Mario Alford – WR – Limited Participation
Cleveland Browns
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Dallas Cowboys
Brice Butler – WR – No Participation
Denver Broncos
Owen Daniels – TE – No Participation
Virgil Green – TE – Full Participation
Ronnie Hillman – RB – Full Participation
Peyton Manning – QB – No Participation
Emmanuel Sanders – WR – No Participation
Detroit Lions
Joique Bell – RB – Limited Participation
Calvin Johnson – WR – No Participation
Green Bay Packers
Jared Abbrederis – WR – No Participation
James Jones – WR – Full Participation
Eddie Lacy – RB – Full Participation
Ty Montgomery – WR – Full Participation
Aaron Rodgers – QB – Limited Participation
Houston Texans
DeAndre Hopkins – WR – No Participation
Brian Hoyer – QB – No Participation
Chris Polk – RB – No Participation
Nate Washington – WR – Full Participation
Indianapolis Colts
Phillip Dorsett – WR – No Participation
Andre Johnson – WR – No Participation
Andrew Luck – QB – No Participation
Jacksonville Jaguars
Toby Gerhart – RB – Full Participation
Allen Hurns – WR – Full Participation
Nic Jacobs – TE – No Participation
Marqise Lee – WR – Full Participation
Bernard Pierce – RB – No Participation
Julius Thomas – TE – Full Participation
Bryan Walters – WR – Limited Participation
T.J. Yeldon – RB – Limited Participation
Kansas City Chiefs
Travis Kelce – TE – Full Participation
Miami Dolphins
Damien Williams – RB – Full Participation
Minnesota Vikings
Matt Asiata – RB – Limited Participation
Teddy Bridgewater – QB – Full Participation
Adrian Peterson – RB – Limited Participation
Adam Thielen – WR – Full Participation
New England Patriots
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
New Orleans Saints
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
New York Giants
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
New York Jets
Eric Decker – WR – Full Participation
Ryan Fitzpatrick – QB – No Participation
Brandon Marshall – WR – Limited Participation
Bilal Powell – RB – Full Participation
Oakland Raiders
Lee Smith – TE – No Participation
Philadelphia Eagles
Sam Bradford – QB – No Participation
Ryan Mathews – RB – No Participation
Pittsburgh Steelers
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
San Diego Chargers
Malcom Floyd – WR – No Participation
Antonio Gates – TE – Limited Participation
Ladarius Green – TE – No Participation
Seattle Seahawks
Doug Baldwin – WR – No Participation
Marshawn Lynch – RB – No Participation
Paul Richardson – WR – No Participation
Luke Willson – TE – Full Participation
San Francisco 49ers
Anquan Boldin – WR – Limited Participation
Carlos Hyde – RB – No Participation
Colin Kaepernick – QB – Full Participation
St. Louis Rams
None
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Vincent Jackson – WR – No Participation
Austin Seferian-Jenkins – TE – Limited Participation
Tennessee Titans
Justin Hunter – WR – No Participation
Kendall Wright – WR – No Participation
Washington Football Team
Alfred Morris – RB – Full Participation
Andre Roberts – WR – Full Participation
Now, back to David Chao and my decision to use him as a reference. First of all, when I first started using him I was unaware of his controversy (technically speaking I think I had come across an article but I forgot about it). It was pointed out to me by a commenter. So it turns out that David Chao has purportedly done a number of questionable things which you can read about here. (Warning: it’s some troubling, if not disturbing, stuff). The bottom line is I that I think his information is still worthwhile, regardless of his questionable past. However, if you know of anyone else that has as much worthwhile information I’d be happy to use that person as a source instead. So let me know in the comments section.
Lance is also available on Twitter @RotoLance.
