A look through some of the injury reports after week 1 of the NFL preseason, and how they affect your IDP roster.
The NFL season is underway and now that all teams have donned pads and started hitting each other. well, we have injuries. What we will be detailing here is the impact including who may gain some extra opportunities due to those injuries and what that means for your fantasy football team. So let's take a look at the noteworthy injuries for IDP.
Arizona Cardinals:
Deone Bucannon, WLB-(Knee)
Josh Bynes, MLB- (Undisclosed)
Both players have not practiced this week but were warming up separately from the team. The overall outlook for both are well and will likely be back to practicing in full by early next week. But, in the meantime, this provides some extra opportunity for Scooby Wright. He has taken just about all first-team snap at MLB since Baynes' ailment. Gerald Wright is Bucannon's direct replacement to the Cardinals have tested Airius Moore at the WLB spot also.
Baltimore Ravens:
Tony Jefferson, SS- (Hamstring)
Being on the field in a limited capacity the past few days has quelled most concerns towards Jefferson's hamstring. In the meantime, Anthony Levine and Deshone Elliott have offered up their cases to next up. Elliott has made the best of his chances and has made a strong case for a roster spot.
Buffalo Bills:
Trent Murphy, DE- (Groin)
For the second time in three weeks, Murphy has shown up with a groin injury. This has become somewhat of a concern for Buffalo that they claimed defensive end Albert Havili off of waivers from the Los Angeles Chargers, and as part of a corresponding move, the team also designated defensive tackle Marquavius Lewis as waived/injured. He likely won't be returning anytime soon. Shaq Lawson is looking to capitalize on this opportunity and seize the starting job from Murphy and to spell any concerns over his 2017 output.
Cleveland Browns:
Damarious Randall, S- (Leg)
After leaving practice with a leg contusion, Cleveland coaches stated that Randall was ok, he shared the same sentiment. This shouldn't be of any concern and will likely not be an ongoing issue.
Dallas Cowboys:
Leighton Vander Esch, LB- (Groin)
After an unimpressive game in the first week of preseason, Vander Esch left practice early with a mild groin strain. This one will need to be monitored and he likely won't be playing in week 2 of the preseason against the Bengals.
Jeff Heath, SS- (Ankle)
Jeff Heath was limited in drills with a low ankle sprain. This is a sign that heaths injury is not serious. His status for this weekends game in still cloudy. This has provided Kavon Frazier a chance to cement himself behind Heath for the SS role.
Denver Broncos
The Broncos secondary as a whole just has not seemed to stay healthy this preseason. Su'a Cravens S (knee), Dymonte Thomas S (hamstring), CB Michael Hunter (migraines) and starting CB Chris Harris (oblique) were out, that moved Tramaine Brock up to the first unit in replace of Harris. All of these injuries don't look to be long-term issues. Certainly an eye-opening week of practice for Denver to say the least.
Kansas City Chiefs:
Daniel Sorensen, FS- (knee)
Eric Berry, SS -(Heel)
Missing his third straight day of practice Eric Berry has now joined Dan Sorensen with nagging lower-body ailments. Paired with the release request of Robert Golden the chiefs are quite concerned with the safety position. As of right now, the focus for the Chiefs is caution with their assumed starters and with that, they will be leaning on Amri watts, Eric Murray and Leon Mcquay to provide substantial snaps.
Los Angeles Chargers:
Kyzir White, LB -(Knee)
Uchenna Nwosu, LB -(Knee)
Uchenna Nwosu and Kyzir White both did not practice due to sore knees. Anthony Lynn stated that both are expected to play this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks.
New Orleans Saints:
Alex Okafor, DE- (Knee)
After practice was abruptly halted by a downed Okafor, he was able to limp off the field under his own power. sustaining a bone bruise in his knee and sprained ankle a timetable for Okafor's return is unknown. it's not unreasonable to expect the Saints to take their time with this one after coming back from a torn Achilles that held him to only 10 games last year. The role will be shouldered by first-round pick Marcus Davenport.
Check out more from Ronald Heckel (@TheReaperKing21) on twitter, and keep an eye out each week for his injury reports.
[podbean resource="episode=tzpqj-973b4a" type="audio-rectangle" height="100" skin="1" btn-skin="107" share="1" fonts="Helvetica" auto="0" download="0" rtl="0"]
