The Injury Report, Week 9: Don’t Kid About These Knees

So many significant and/or season ending injuries in the NFL this past week.  By the time Thursday comes around there has already been a lot written about these situations, specifically how to value the backups.  The aspect that you probably haven’t seen covered as much at Razzball is how to value the players lost for the season in keeper or dynasty leagues.  So that’s what I’ll be hitting on.  For the players who have suffered less severe injuries, it’s important that we get a handle on their recovery times.  In other words, to properly value Jeremy Langford, we have to know the extent of Matt Forte‘s injury, which is easier said than done.  First I’ll discuss the players with season ending injuries, starting with the most valuable fantasy football players.

Le’Veon Bell suffered a torn MCL but we also don’t know the full extent of the injury what if any other parts of his knee were injured:

As far as valuing Bell going forward, I wrote earlier this year about the recent tendency of players coming off an ACL injury to exceed expectations.  “Is there still such a thing as an ACL injury after effect?  Adrian Peterson famously rushed for over 2000 yards the year following a December ACL tear.  Jeremy Maclin turned out to be a 2014 draft day bargain after suffering an ACL tear in the 2013 preseason.  Rob Gronkowski also went undervalued in 2014 drafts after coming off an ACL injury.  Now Todd Gurley is meeting or exceeding his expectations.  The fact is that risk is always built into the value of post ACL tear players, but they have a pretty good recent track record.  I literally can’t think of a single player that failed to come back from an ACL tear in the last few years.  Recently the upside has outweighed the draft cost of buying a player coming off an ACL injury.”

I’m not really sure to what extent this applies to Bell’s MCL plus “other damage” injury, but I’m going to take a guess that it does apply, so what has me somewhat concerned for Bell going forward is not how he will do the first year back from his injury, but the chance of recurrence. (Like, I don’t know, but I’m fairly sure your knees don’t come back stronger after this type of injury).  Still, I think that Bell will be deserving of at least a late first round to mid second round pick in re-draft next year, so those if you in keeper leagues need to still value him highly.

Keenan Allen is out for the season due to a lacerated kidney.  That’s not good.  What is good is that it appears the Chargers are merely playing it safe with their decision to shut Allen down for the rest of the season, as in, he could possibly be back to play this season, but what’s the point?  With him making a full recovery, look for him to be a borderline top 10 WR next year.  Count David Chao as someone that thinks a full recovery is indeed the likely outcome:

Steve Smith Sr. suffered a torn achilles and will miss the remainder of this season, which was supposedly his last.  However, speculation has begun that he will not let the achilles injury have the final say on his career and he will instead attempt to make a 2016 come back.  I really don’t know about that.  I would value him in keeper similarly to how I would value a late round, high upside, “lottery pick”.  Keep in mind that the Ravens will likely take more steps to improve their WR corps in 2016 and not be so dependent on Steve Smith even if he does come back.

Khiry Robinson (leg) was doing a great job this year as a dual threat to both Mark Ingram and C.J. Spiller’s value.  Ok, he was more than a threat to Spiller’s value, he basically decimated it.  I remember reading that the Saints weren’t initially interested in Spiller because they thought his price would be too high.  Apparently only after signing him for about $4M per year (cheap, they must have thought) they realized that he would be below both Ingram and Robinson on the depth chart.  With Robinson out for the year we can go back to expecting 6-9 carries plus 3-6 catches per game for Spiller.

Reggie Bush (knee, MCL) seems to have suffered a similar injury to Le’Veon Bell, a severe MCL tear and he’ll miss the remainder of the season.  Newly acquired Pierre Thomas could see a significant amount of work for the 49ers (Carlos Hyde (foot) is also out), we’ll know more as Sunday approaches.

Matt Forte (knee, MCL) has basically all but been declared out for this Sunday’s game, which makes me think he’s very iffy for next week as well.  I have seen cases where a player comes back from a knee ligament sprain wearing a brace, and obviously at less than 100%.  This was the case for Ben Roethlisberger last week.  Will this be the case for Matt Forte?  I hope not.  It’s easier for all of us if they just wait until he’s essentially 100% to bring him back, plus I have to assume that’s better for the player as well.  I could see him miss only one or two games but if they do bring him back that early I think it will be the dreaded “less than 100%”.  If they decide to go the patient route, I think maybe he can play by week 13.  In the meantime, I’m all over Jeremy Langford.  Here’s a more official looking report:

Josh McCown (ribs) is out for Thursday Night Football, which as far as I’m concerned is unfortunate timing because I was planning on leaning heavily on Gary Barnidge this week with Travis Kelce on bye.

Newly Injured/Questionable for this week:

T.Y. Hilton (foot) has a foot injury of undetermined nature which required an MRI.  Stefon Diggs (hamstring), Willie Snead (knee), and Ryan Mathews (groin) are also dealing with injuries that I don’t know the extent of.

On The Mend (nearing a return):

DeSean Jackson (hamstring), depending on how you look at it, has been on the mend basically the entire season and he just can’t seem to shrug off this hamstring injury.  Is this week finally the week? Likewise maybe this is finally the week Austin-Seferian Jenkins (shoulder) gets back on the field.

Reportedly Returning:

Karlos Williams (concussion), Tyrod Taylor (knee), and Chris Thompson (back) are among those that are set to return this week.

 

So now I leave you with the practice reports for week 9 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
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

Atlanta Falcons
Leonard Hankerson – WR – No Participation
Nick Williams – WR – Limited Participation

Baltimore Ravens
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

Buffalo Bills
Percy Harvin – WR – No Participation
Tyrod Taylor – QB – Full Participation
Sammy Watkins – WR – Limited Participation
Karlos Williams – RB – Full Participation

Carolina Panthers
Ed Dickson – TE – Limited Participation

Chicago Bears
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)

Cincinnati Bengals
None

Cleveland Browns
Brian Hartline – WR – No Participation
Andrew Hawkins – WR – No Participation
Rob Housler – TE – No Participation
Johnny Manziel – QB – Full Participation
Josh McCown – QB – No Participation

Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant – WR – Limited Participation
Brice Butler – WR – Full Participation
Matt Cassel – QB – Full Participation
James Hanna – TE – Limited Participation

Denver Broncos
C.J. Anderson – RB – Full Participation
Owen Daniels – TE – Full Participation
Ronnie Hillman – RB – Full Participation
Peyton Manning – QB – Limited Participation
Jordan Norwood – WR – No Participation
Emmanuel Sanders – WR – Limited Participation

Detroit Lions
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

Green Bay Packers
Ty Montgomery – WR – Limited Participation
Aaron Ripkowski – RB – No Participation

Houston Texans
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

Indianapolis Colts
Phillip Dorsett – WR – No Participation
T.Y. Hilton – WR – No Participation
Andre Johnson – WR – No Participation
Andrew Luck – QB – Limited Participation

Jacksonville Jaguars
Allen Hurns – WR – Limited Participation
Marqise Lee – WR – No Participation
Julius Thomas – TE – Full Participation

Kansas City Chiefs
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

Miami Dolphins
Matt Moore – QB – Full Participation
DeVante Parker – WR – No Participation
Damien Williams – RB – Limited Participation

Minnesota Vikings
Stefon Diggs – WR – No Participation
Rhett Ellison – TE – Full Participation

New England Patriots
Julian Edelman – WR – Limited Participation
Dion Lewis – RB – Limited Participation
Keshawn Martin – WR – Limited Participation

New Orleans Saints
Marques Colston – WR – No Participation
Willie Snead – WR – No Participation

New York Giants
Victor Cruz – WR – No Participation
Orleans Darkwa – RB – Limited Participation
Larry Donnell – TE – No Participation
Rueben Randle – WR – No Participation

New York Jets
Kellen Davis – TE – Limited Participation
Eric Decker – WR – No Participation
Ryan Fitzpatrick – QB – Full Participation
Chris Ivory – RB – Full Participation
Brandon Marshall – WR – No Participation
Bilal Powell – RB – Limited Participation
Stevan Ridley – RB – Full Participation
Devin Smith – WR – No Participation
Geno Smith – QB – Full Participation

Oakland Raiders
None

Philadelphia Eagles
Nelson Agholor – WR – Full Participation
Ryan Mathews – RB – Limited Participation

Pittsburgh Steelers
Martavis Bryant – WR – No Participation
Heath Miller – TE – No Participation
Matt Spaeth – TE – No Participation
Mike Vick – QB – Full Participation
Markus Wheaton – WR – No Participation

San Diego Chargers
No Practice Information Reported (Monday Night Football)

Seattle Seahawks
No Practice Information Reported (bye week)

San Francisco 49ers
Anquan Boldin – WR – No Participation
Garrett Celek – TE – No Participation
Mike Davis – RB – No Participation
Carlos Hyde – RB – No Participation

St. Louis Rams
Tre Mason – RB – Limited Participation
Chase Reynolds – RB – No Participation

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Vincent Jackson – WR – No Participation
Austin Seferian-Jenkins – TE – Limited Participation

Tennessee Titans
Harry Douglas – WR – Full Participation
Marcus Mariota – QB – Full Participation
Kendall Wright – WR – Full Participation

Washington Football Team
DeSean Jackson – WR – Limited Participation
Anthony McCoy – TE – No Participation
Chris Thompson – RB – Full Participation

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!