This past week had a season ending achilles injury to Arian Foster , a significant knee injury to Vincent Jackson, and Darren McFadden came up big while Joseph Randle missed much of his game due to injury. With Foster being the big and oft covered news item of the week and the fact that it’s already Thursday, I’m turning my attention to other situations, starting with the newly injured, repeat law breaker (allegedly), the one and only…
Joseph Randle. Randle’s (oblique) would probably keep him out 1-3 weeks but he will quite possibly be relegated to backup duty when he comes back due to, umm, some more off the field allegations:
Joseph Randle faces a 1- or 2-game suspension for the incident. He didn’t violate domestic violence policy. It’s firearm & conduct related
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 29, 2015
Headed into the season I thought that Darren McFadden was done. That hasn’t been the case and I fully expect to Darren McFadden to be the Cowboys running back to own for as long as he’s healthy. Joseph Randle is no more valuable than Christine Michael right now. I’m really not sure which one I’d rather own, probably Michael. It’s not that hard to envision a scenario where Joseph Randle doesn’t play another snap in the NFL this year.
Two Tampa Buccaneers suffered injuries last week. First, in the major injury that hardly matters for fantasy category, Louis Murphy (knee, ACL) is out for the season. More importantly, Vincent Jackson (knee) certainly won’t play this week and according to this report I expect him to miss a total of 2-4 games:
My understanding on #Bucs WR Vincent Jackson is his knee injury is expected to keep him out multiple weeks, but not season ending.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 28, 2015
Prior to the injury, Vincent Jackson was doing his best Vincent Jackson impression, having been useful for two out of five weeks but pretty poor in the other three weeks. I think he should be dropped in 10-team leagues, where he probably wasn’t starting anyway. For 12-team leagues I think dropping him is also a possibility depending on what other options you have. This should certainly help Austin Seferian Jenkins, if he can get back on the field soon, and could possibly mean a slight uptick in targets for Doug Martin and Charles Sims. Wide receiver Donteea Dye could see a boost into relevancy for the very deepest of leagues.
Duke Johnson (shoulder injury from a couple weeks back?) might be one to monitor, or they might have held him out of practice as he tries to get back to 100%. I didn’t see an explanation for this one.
On The Mend
Tony Romo (shoulder) was earlier placed on the IR with designation to return which means the earliest he can return is week 11, but that also looks very much like his actual date to return. What’s especially great is Jerry Jones recently saying that he would play week 10, despite him not being eligible:
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said today that Tony "Romo will be back against Tampa." That's week 10, after 2-4 Cowboys host Seahawks, Eagles.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 26, 2015
In fairness, I apparently did the math wrong in my original Romo report and said he could be back week 10, but for a variety of reasons that’s not the same as Jones being confused. Anyway, now might be the time to go out and grab Tony Romo if you think he’s a significant upgrade over your current QB. I think his ownership should be at 100% in all leagues where people are really paying attention by week 9.
Dez Bryant (foot) will be an interesting lineup decision this week if he’s active. He’ll probably need to be started in most leagues but the tough matchup and QB situation make it very ugly and hard to predict.
That’s it for this week, I had to cut it short due to some unexpected vomit… well, and the fact that I was a bit lazy last night and left too much to do for this morning.
So now I leave you with the practice reports for week 8 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.
The Practice Report for Wednesday October 21, 2015
Arizona Cardinals
John Brown – WR – No Participation
Darren Fells – TE – No Participation
Brittan Golden – WR – No Participation
Atlanta Falcons
Leonard Hankerson – WR – No Participation
Nick Williams – WR – Limited Participation
Baltimore Ravens
Breshad Perriman – WR – No Participation
Maxx Williams – TE – Limited Participation
Buffalo Bills
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Carolina Panthers
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
Chicago Bears
None
Cincinnati Bengals
None
Cleveland Browns
Isaiah Crowell – RB – Full Participation
Andrew Hawkins – WR – No Participation
Rob Housler – TE – No Participation
Duke Johnson Jr. – RB – No Participation
Johnny Manziel – QB – Full Participation
Josh McCown – QB – No Participation
Marlon Moore – WR – Full Participation
Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant – WR – Limited Participation
Brice Butler – WR – Limited Participation
James Hanna – TE – Full Participation
Joseph Randle – RB – No Participation
Denver Broncos
Owen Daniels – TE – Full Participation
Emmanuel Sanders – WR – Limited Participation
Juwan Thompson – RB – Full Participation
Detroit Lions
Joique Bell – RB – Full Participation
Calvin Johnson – WR – No Participation
Brandon Pettigrew – TE – Limited Participation
Matthew Stafford – QB – Full Participation
Green Bay Packers
Davante Adams – WR – Limited Participation
Ty Montgomery – WR – No Participation
James Starks – RB – No Participation
Houston Texans
Chris Polk – RB – Full Participation
Jay Prosch – RB – Full Participation
Cecil Shorts III – WR – No Participation
Indianapolis Colts
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)
Jacksonville Jaguars
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Kansas City Chiefs
Travis Kelce – TE – Full Participation
Jeremy Maclin – WR – Full Participation
Alex Smith – QB – Full Participation
Charcandrick West – RB – Full Participation
Miami Dolphins
Matt Moore – QB – Limited Participation
Minnesota Vikings
Rhett Ellison – TE – Limited Participation
Zach Line – RB – Limited Participation
Adrian Peterson – RB – No Participation
Adam Thielen – WR – Limited Participation
Jarius Wright – WR – No Participation
New England Patriots
Brandon Bolden – RB – Limited Participation
Dion Lewis – RB – Limited Participation
Keshawn Martin – WR – Limited Participation
New Orleans Saints
Marques Colston – WR – No Participation
New York Giants
Odell Beckham Jr. – WR – Full Participation
Victor Cruz – WR – No Participation
New York Jets
Eric Decker – WR – No Participation
Chris Ivory – RB – Full Participation
Chris Owusu – WR – No Participation
Bilal Powell – RB – No Participation
Devin Smith – WR – Limited Participation
Oakland Raiders
None
Philadelphia Eagles
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Pittsburgh Steelers
Heath Miller – TE – No Participation
Ben Roethlisberger – QB – Full Participation
Matt Spaeth – TE – No Participation
Mike Vick – QB – Limited Participation
San Diego Chargers
Antonio Gates – TE – No Participation
Melvin Gordon – RB – Full Participation
Seattle Seahawks
Derrick Coleman – RB – Limited Participation
Marshawn Lynch – RB – No Participation
Thomas Rawls – RB – No Participation
San Francisco 49ers
Carlos Hyde – RB – No Participation
Colin Kaepernick – QB – Full Participation
St. Louis Rams
Lance Kendricks – TE – Full Participation
Tre Mason – RB – No Participation
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Vincent Jackson – WR – No Participation
Austin Seferian-Jenkins – TE – Limited Participation
Russell Shepard – WR – Full Participation
Tennessee Titans
Harry Douglas – WR – No Participation
Marcus Mariota – QB – Limited Participation
Washington Football Team
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)
Every week I either forget something or leave something out due to time constraints. I’m happy to discuss situations I missed or anything else in the Comments section below. Thanks for reading!
Lance is also available on Twitter @RotoLance.