What Injuries Matter
There are so daily injuries training camp, and most of them only last a few days. We attempt to sift through the noise in our player news by only highlighting major players or major injuries, but the amount of information is still overwhelming. Here's my quick take on what injuries matter thus far during camp, and which ones don't.
LaMont Jordan (back) - Becoming an issue, but not a big one yet. He's about a week away from getting a downgrade.
Clinton Portis (knee) - Just don't know at this point, but it's hard to imagine him starting the year getting 20 carries a game. He hasn't eased any concerns.
Vernand Morency (knee) - A serious problem. Morency is going to struggle to be ready for Week 1, and a committee seems inevitable.
Willie Parker (knee) - Not concerned yet.
Brandon Marshall (quad) - It's a problem. He needs to play through injuries and has barely practiced all summer.
Adrian Peterson (hip) - Won't help his chances of a huge workload early, but not a big deal yet.
Larry Johnson (holdout) - If I had to guess, I'd put his likelihood of playing in Week 1 around 90%.
Plaxico Burress (ankle) - Always seems to miss camp practices. Not a concern.
Warrick Dunn (back) - Major sign of things to come. I'm not confident he'll stay healthy this season.
Randy Moss (hamstring) - Not a big deal yet.
Keenan McCardell (quadriceps) - May not make the team if he doesn't hurry up.
Comments
Gregg...when should we start viewing Ladell Betts as more than a backup during drafts? Don't you see Portis being plagued by injury for the foreseeable future (and for Betts value to consequently be a lot closer to Portis's?).
I don't see Portis being worth more than a late 3rd rounder right now...and Betts isn't too far away from that with each passing day. Thoughts?
Posted by: JS | August 9, 2007 11:39 AM
i see betts as now beginning to move his way, appropriately, into the spot a lot of people are picking him. if portis is healthy, it's his backfield, and betts is spelling him, and anything other than an RB4 is too high. 6th round for a guy who might only be a change of pace back is too much.
as portis continues his injury ways, betts' value as an RB3 will begin to be a proper place to put him.
portis isn't going away. it's going to take betts being traded to a new team to even consider him an RB2.
imo.
Posted by: dibble | August 9, 2007 01:04 PM
I agree with your thoughts Dibble...but remember, Betts being being traded OR another long-term injury to Portis are both ways to see Ladell as a RB2. To me, that makes Betts a risky but high reward RB3 this year. The elephant in the room is Portis...will he stay "healthy"??
Posted by: JS | August 9, 2007 01:20 PM
I'm frequently rearranging the 25-50 range on my RB and WR lists. Is this an overly compulsive waste of time, meaning I should just go with my gut in the late rounds, or will this "beats the crap out of actually doing my real daytime job" pay off as the seconds are ticking away on the draft clock in the late rounds?
Posted by: Rob | August 9, 2007 02:36 PM
Ha! Rob, I don't think it's a waste of time...but hopefully, it's your gut that's telling you to rearrange your RBs in the first place. In the 25-50 range it can be a total crap shoot (truly where luck comes into play in fantasy football). I generally have some guys I just hate for some reason and don't take 'em. Others I like so I take 'em. Follow your gut & your season will be more enjoyable.
Posted by: JS | August 9, 2007 03:13 PM
it's not a waste of time if you're playing the injuries, imo. now is the time we either learn that a guy is over something, or that nagging injury just keeps hanging around. either to the player you're moving, or an important teammate of his. moving in that case makes sense.
also for young 'uns that are coming and doing great work in practice. that work ethic often equates to sundays.
but if you're moving a guy at this point b/c you read he dropped a ball or said something positive about himself... yeah probably a waste of time.
then again... anything's better than work.
Posted by: dibble | August 10, 2007 10:36 AM