Final Preseason Injury Update | Watch Before Your Fantasy Football Draft

Intro good morning Dr Morris injury experts we are here Friday morning it's August 30th this is the biggest drafting weekend of the season I have a couple drafts myself and there are a ton of players that have been injured either last year that are still lingering placed on the pup list or been dealing with an injury over the past four to six weeks that potentially should and could affect not only their draft status but also their week one availability now this is going to be a free video but I will not do this extensive of a one once the season starts once everything really matters that one will predominately be behind uh the pay wall at the injury experts.com uh where we offer you the most upto-date injury news and Analysis you can check out our injury draft guide as well as our injury report the Port uh the initial one is for free there is a super deep Advanced one that you can also look into as well if you are interested you could join our Discord Channel as well all right so let's get started I'm going to do quarterbacks first then running backs then wide receivers and tight ends this is an extensive list I'm going to try to go through it quickly just bear with me let's go so DeShaun Watson DeShaun Watson dealing with a little arm fatigue was one of the worst accuracy quarterbacks last year between his initial rotator cuff injury and then eventually his fracture should be healthier this year the fatigue isn't overly concerning just don't know if he's fantasy relevant anymore or if he is he's he's kind of a deep qb2 uh really in a super Flex Dak Prescott League Dak Prescott not over concerned about this ankle I think this is combination of him being smart and also trying to avoid practicing too much this is likely lingering from his old uh ankle fracture back in 2020 I believe it was now that he gets uh CD lamb back I'm assuming they're fine I'm no longer concerns with anything uh he Brandon Cooks is a little banged up with a little knee soreness but I think he'll be okay uh we will see how this plays out I expect him to throw a ton more similar to last year because if you've seen how ugly their backfield is you would understand jacobe brassette of the Jacoby Brisset Patriots was named starter yesterday um he he tweaked his shoulder in in the preseason game three sounds like it could have been a dislocation but it wasn't given the fact that he was able to potentially turn and was just given the starter job probably a mild tweak not overly concerning uh we don't know how this is going to play out but uh not really a fantasy relevant quarterback uh at least early on that we know of Matthew Stafford Matthew Stafford did have a hamstring train a couple weeks ago it sounds like it was super mild uh not overly concerning uh he should be ready to rock and roll uh really no uh restrictions on him he's not really much of a mobile guy Justin Herbert anyway justtin Herbert obviously had that significant uh right plantar fash entry my guess is is partial tear which is a very painful injury uh he was able to transition out of the boot back onto the field uh this will linger intermittently but I'm not super concerned about this injury in general um you know whether or not he has the weapons he needs uh and and how much they're going to run the ball is a different story but uh a little bit of a a sneaky dip on Herbert you know decent but not someone that most people are targeting just given the way that we we likely think this this season is going to play out for LA Wilson obviously had Russell Wilson that cast string that set him back he is the correct quarterback for this offense at least from a professional standpoint he throws a great deep ball uh he he'll be a little bit more mobile now that the calf is healthier um and and and Justin just really struggles with simple things um and and he you know he takes way too many sacks so not overly concerned about Wilson he's a Pros Pro he's pretty much only missed time with significant injuries remember that gnarly hand injury a couple years ago but uh he might have one one more harah in him and we'll see how him and Pickins end up linking up the final two qbi I'll mention both placed on season ending reserved JJ McCarthy obviously with that significant knee injury uh and then the backup for the Buffalo Bills is relatively irrelevant heading over to running backs we see that Nick chub was Nick Chubb not surprisingly placed or started on the pup list this was completely expected um I thought there was maybe a 30 or 40% chance uh that he could have possibly played week one if everything went perfect but not surprisingly it didn't uh this is a very complicated procedure a very significant injury the second time or close to the second time he's injured multiple ligaments in this knee he's never been much of a receiver uh so I fully expect him probably to return between week five and week 10 I know that's a big window but it really depends on how comfortable he feels he'll barely be a a year out by that time he won't be 100% with that knee in my opinion ever again he will never be back to pre-injury level ever again he's already 29 or close to kind of that 29 which is when they start to drop off you know he is a genetic freak and and and and I know that there's a chance he could bounce back but the odds of him finishing as a top 10 running back again are very slim I think Jerome Ford is is likely to take over obviously the first month Dante Foreman just came back onto the 53 with a rib injury he's probably going to be more of the Red Zone guy but Foreman is real or forward is really the guy that we're looking at early on in the season and even when chub comes back it's probably going to be an ugly three-headed monster uh so it's it's probably going to be something I really want to avoid I've been avoiding chub at all cost just because I don't really see a way that he could potentially finish uh in the top 10 uh despite them significantly upgrading the offensive line this year another guy that is coming off of an ACL that was started on Jonathan Brooks the pup is Jonathan Brooks uh super talented kid could be a top five running back at some point in the future not completely ready to start week one not surprising he did suffer a late ACL tear this was reportedly a a clean ACL tear which uh is rare uh that usually means that there's no ligament damage besides the ACL there's no meniscal damage there's no cartilage damage which is really nice um nonetheless I realistically think that he could uh probably return between week five and week eight and I think they'll probably ramp him up but he could be a problem and be elite by midseason would not surprise me at all um this is a very talented kid and he basically mimicked what Bean did in his last season at Texas he's that talented so uh I don't mind him in eight around 8 n 10 you're probably going to have to reach for him a little bit um but um he obviously he's going to miss the first month so you kind of have to figure out uh where he's going to fit in uh but nonetheless he should be back week 5 to8 I think that's realistic assuming he doesn't have any Keaton Mitchell setbacks Keon Mitchell another guy coming off of ACL he won't be available till probably mid to late November if not later so it's not someone you really should focus on early in the season there's a lot of time between now and when he's going to be available CMC Christian mcaffrey obviously suffered uh his third calf strain in the past year and a half or so probably the same location we don't know that for certain you know he led the league in touches last year the last time he led the league in touches was 2019 and we remember what happened in 2020 and then again in 2021 um we saw Elijah Mitchell go on season ending IR so that is going to give Jordan Mason and Isaac Reno likely the backup jobs if if they do become applicable you know there's a dichotomy some people think that CMC is safe and we'll get the volume again and then there's the other uh group that is concerned about him and just feels like he's a little too risky he might be able to pull off another Elite season uh but I think he he's peaked and I think he's starting to come back down I don't know if it's realistic for him to get to another 320 350 touches again and as that in the team's best interest if they're trying to win a Super Bowl we'll see how it plays out obviously super talented um but you know I have my reservations about him moving on to Jahmyr Gibbs another talented running back that's being drafted in the top 12 and that's jir Gibbs who suffered his second hamstring strain in about 13 months he you he missed two games with it early last year and now I missed about 10 or or 12 days which is likely a grade one not overly concerning but I think they're going to probably do what they did last year and they're going to keep the workloads between him and Montgomery pretty even so you're going to have a heck of a Time finishing in the top five unless Montgomery gets really injured and and Gibbs manag just to say super healthy I love the talent uh and I love the team uh overall it's just hard for me to say he has he's going to be a top five back because of how they run their back field I do have some concerns about reinjury for Gibbs for the next six weeks or so just enough to to to make me say you know what I'm not going to take him at the end of the first round I'd prefer him mid to late second round Saquon Barkley sequan Barkley did tweak his back nothing overly concerning he will be running behind the best team and the best offensive line he's ever had uh we'll see how that plays out I think he might have a couple good years left in him at least based on the data Josh Josh Jacobs Jacobs and the entire Green Bay backfield is interesting hot mess Jacobs did have multiple injuries this offseason um including a groin injury uh and then he had a hamstring injury previous to that um the the benefit of of Jacobs right now is that AJ Dylan unfortunately suffered a season ending neck injury that was not obviously planned and they did have plans for Dylan so now the backup for Dylan who's Marshon Lloyd is also dealing with a decent hamstring injury he was supposed to go on the pup list and Dylan was supposed to be active but now that Dylan is on season ending IR they avoided putting Lloyd on the uh pess cuz they really need him early so he might not be available for the first couple of weeks uh there's the other kid I can't think of his name that's the other backup but Jacobs uh very well could be a a a beast in the first couple of weeks because they really don't have anyone else to to hand it off to in in the backfield at least that they can trust so I do I bumped up Jacobs a couple spots in season long rankings although I do have a little bit of injury concerns Jaylen Jaylen Warren Warren suffered a hamstring strain he's only ever missed I believe it's one game in his entire NFL career career and that was with a hamstring but not overly concerning he's been able to stay really healthy I know the Steelers offensive line is banged up yes they took Russell Wilson over Justin Fields I think Jaylen Warren is a good chance he'll play in week one but I don't think he'll be completely ready so consider maybe taking the unders depending on what they are uh Nasha Harris is one of the only running backs that's never missed an NFL game due to an injury uh Rashad white and James uh cook um is another one but nonetheless I do like how this is going to play out this year Jaylen Warren did have a little bit of a dip due to that haming I'm not overly worried he's been able as I said to stay pretty healthy Miami RBs the Dolphins backfield and and wide receivers are a hot mess right now I don't know what's going on here in Miami but it's bad um you know Jaylen uh Wright who I really like was banged up a little bit they didn't really sell I believe they they might have told us it was a hamstring uh I don't think they ever confirmed it as far as we know moart is healthy and and hn is healthy uh I think that there's a chance hn could get a little bit more slot roll this year but I think all three will be used I'm not overly worried about this jayen Wright injury we saw him in college he looks really good and they drafted him for a good reason I think that all of them will have to be used early and often given in light of how banged up this receiving core is which I'll talk about in a little bit kendre Kendre Miller Miller suffered a significant grade two uh kind of reminds me of uh the Christian Watson situation he had a bad injury last year that couldn't stay healthy uh and now the coaches he's on the coach's bad side in the dogghouse and as a result we don't know how this is going to play out he already started on the pup list uh ideally he would have started and Alvin kamaro would have been that receiver but right now it we don't know exactly how this going to play out because he can't seem to get healthy enough to get on the field to prove that he deserves to be on the field so you know Camaro is probably going to get another bump even though he just is no longer as elusive as he used to be he might just get crazy volume uh they have an offensive line for what it's worth Alvin Kamara Kamar himself did have a little bit of a back issue but I'm not overly concerned about it he deals with that every year Trey Sermon Trey Surman just came back from a hamstring strain he's the backup to Jonathan Taylor Who's struggled to stay healthy himself for the past couple years there's a couple guys that did end up on IR uh Chase edmans I believe was season ending ir and nahe Hines is on the pup list he's also coming back for an ACL on Cleveland heading over to wide receivers so Tyreek Hill is dealing with Tyreek Hill a thumb sprain likely a UCL sprain which is an important ligament that allows for catching obviously important this is his right I'm assuming dominant hand he's been in a a sling or a little mini brace for the past couple of weeks I'm assuming that's what it is unless it's a fracture and they that would obviously be equally as concerning he will be on the field week one I do have some reservations about him potentially reinjuring this he's not exactly a spring chicken anymore so it does cause some issues to struggle to to heal when you're in your 29 30 31 years as opposed to when you're early 20s obviously still super Elite transitioning to his uh Jaylen Waddle partner in crime Jaylen Wadd has been dealing like with with a left cap strain probably at grade two for the past month or so he really hasn't done a whole lot in practice um and I do have some reservations with him when healthy he's Elite and and and can finish in the top 10 like he did a couple years ago with crazy volume the problem is he left a bunch of games early last year he suffered a bunch of different injuries that kept him off the field now he's already Bang up early in the season the first six we six weeks of the season are the highest risk for soft tissue injuries so it doesn't take a whole lot to kind of knock them down um and the problem is they you know Odell Beckham Jr is dealing with another soft tissue injury that we don't know what it is in he was placed on pup beros is also banged up with I think another soft tissue injury so he's not available so or you know maybe not as available as he should be so I have no idea who they're going to throw to probably J Smith a little bit of Tyreek and and a little bit of waddle but we have to be careful here cuz obviously a lot of these guys are really banged up Hollywood Brown Hollywood Brown probably going to miss at least the first two weeks of the season with that SC sprain which is kind of right here but uh as he ramps up it should be good it'll be interesting to see how they use him where the rice Kelsey rine along with fko so I think this would be a cool uh one of the best offenses that Mahomes has had in a couple years puka AA uh had Puka Nacua this this they called it a Bersa sack and you know a torn or which is usually along here on top of here there's a couple of them that's not going to keep you out for 2 3 weeks that is a weird oneoff like super rare injury in my opinion this is what we call a PCL which is the ligament that crisscrosses with the ACL and the problem with that is if you sprain it the knee sags so so you have trouble stabilizing when you're cutting so in my opinion I'm a little bit more concerned about puka uh than than the rest of them are I dropped him down my board at least about 8 to 10 spots uh because I just have some concerns he's already going into the season banged up and the and that and hasn't even really started yet uh on the Cooper Kupp other hand Cooper cup has been able to stay healthy this year everybody's saying he's going to be on fire this year I have significant reservations I wish him the best of luck I want nothing to do with him this year in my opinion he's on the downtrend his his uh ypr and a bunch of other stats just do not look pretty anymore so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out if he can stay healthy and get back to that Elite status or if he's just a shell of himself we will see Deontay Johnson did Diontae Johnson have a minor groin injury and foot injury not overly concerning he'll be ready for week one is a Target Monster Davante Adams Devonte Adams not overly concerning we don't know what it is it was probably a minor injury Amari kooper with another Amari Cooper leg injury he's fine I'm not really worried about him Malik neighbors uh I'm Malik Nabers more worried about the offensive line not being able to protect for Jones in order to throw to neighbors neighbors tweaked his ankle a couple weeks ago not Curtis Samuel a big deal ctis Samuel could be a available week one due to his turf toe but I would avoid him for a couple weeks because these are rough injuries they are notorious for reinjury and they do not heal really at all they're really really slow so be careful with Curtis Samuel early in the season Christian Christian Kirk Kirk also had a cal injury not overly concerning uh by week one he'll be fine I love Brian Thomas Jr I think and Ingram is a beast etn should should wake up and have a great year again um so not overly concerning with Christian Kirk Josh Downs Josh DS might be ready for week one if if there was anything good about this high ankle sprain is that it happened relatively early so he should be close to 100% by week one or maybe like 80 85% and by the next couple of weeks by that dip he uh has shown to be just as good if not better than uh Michael Pitman they also have a Deni Mitchell they have Pierce We Lost galani Woods to pretty much a season ending turf toe injury uh so we will we will likely see um downs and Mitchell and Pitman all get the ball don't sleep on Downs I think by week three he'll be good to go and he won't really have any ill issues hopefully he DeAndre Hopkins can stay healthy DeAndre Hopkins dealt with that probably pretty severe MCL sprain which is this one right here sometimes it's attached to the miniscus and you could tear some of that miniscus off that is a little concerning especially when these guys get tackled on the outside of the knee and the MC get sprained again very common injury he will push through likely play week one but I definitely have my reservations about him reinjuring it and at this point in his career he's probably going to miss a couple games anyway just due to knick-knack injuries I think realistically we're looking at uh Ridley and Boyd more so than Hopkins but Hopson will get his if he can stay on the field healthy L mcon has been dealing with a Ladd McConkey couple soft tissue injuries he's had a crazy injury history but I think he's going to get crazy volume if he can stay Rashid Shaheed healthy rashed Shahed has had a couple hamstring injuries now he's dealing with a toe and or foot injury uh I think he they already announced he'll be good for week one but nonetheless um a little bit more reservations but great for best ball or a deep flex play has Monster uh potential his ypr is insane but he just needs to stay healthy uh but he should be the number two option on that offense at least for receiving jayen Reed had Jayden Reed been dealing with a calf I'm not overly IR WRs concerned a couple guys that are currently on IR Kendrick Bourne with a KNE not really relevant rham Jarrett not relevant Z Jones is secondary to uh a suspension that probably is going to help Greg dorch and Michael Wilson as well as Marvin Harrison Jr rondale Moore unfortunately suffered a season ending injury for the for the Falcons probably a need dislocation um and then Chase clayo was basically cut injury settlement no longer probably relevant finishing up strong uh before I start my patience tight ends uh TJ Hawkinson TJ Hockenson expectedly placed on the pup list my guess is he comes back around week six or seven and slowly ramps up you can still get him and stash him and he could be a top 15 to uh 18 play about finishing by the end of the year despite missing that many weeks I think they have an early buy so it wouldn't be surprised if he came back after that don't expect him to be a smash button immediately but you know he has the talent to to already be elite you know even even with only five or six targets Mark Andrews a game Mark Andrews a combination of coming off of this back an bad ankle injury and remember Tony Pard had this a couple years ago similar injury he really didn't look 100% until kind of now so I think that may happen with Andrews this is a tough injury to come back from he's a bigger guy they're doing a lot more 12 Personnel so Isaiah likely is going to eat and he just got into a car accident about 10 days ago and hasn't really practiced a whole lot so add in the type one diabetes and I just have a combination of things while I I'm kind of avoiding Andrews if I have a choice of the other guys because there's a couple things that could potentially go wrong Brock Bowers who Brock Bowers I'm a big fan of is dealing with a foot injury I think they're just being careful with him at least I hope uh he suffered it maybe two weeks ago or so and he hasn't really practiced since but coach said he should be on the field for week one let's just hope that he doesn't reinjure it and he's able to uh secure a lot of those uh receptions that we're expecting him to get Dallas Goddard is Dallas Goedert dealing with an oblique strain these are the abdominal muscles that are kind of on the side this is what alone rossing Brown de with last year usually keeps him out for a game or half a game but it's already been a couple weeks God it really has been super relevant with all the other Playmakers so I don't really uh you know I think it'll be fine for week one it'll be annoying he'll probably still be there but he he will he will likely play through it David David Njoku nooku we don't know what he's dealing with but I'm not overly concerned Sam LaPorta leaport had that hamstring injury he is at increased risk for hamstring strain despite uh smashing last year and finishing as the tight end one I think he still has potential to do it again uh but I think do think a little regression is possible finishing up strong Jawan Juwan Johnson Johnson made it back after a foot injury I think he had surgery we don't know exactly what it was a sneaky kind of deep play um you know him and T heill should should get some looks uh and that's pretty much it um there's a ton of guys that there's about another 20 or 30 that are less relevant so I didn't discuss them but to give you an idea there's not many people that can do what I just did in 23 minutes straight really without stopping off the top of my head um this is what I do this is what I love um if you like this type the content do me a favor smash the Thumbs Up Button the Subscribe button check out uh you know our our website there's a lot of stuff you can check out for free and then there's some stuff behind the paywall for only a bu about a buck and a quarter a week uh thank you for tuning in we will see you next week good luck drafting