Fantasy Football Week 13 Injury News: Adrian Peterson Ruled Out For Sunday

Hester popped up on the report on Thursday for non-injury reasons. The club declined to disclose why Hester had to leave practice, but it’s believed that his absence was related to a court case involving the individual who assaulted the Pro Bowl return specialist at an area casino during the lockout.

Once again excelling in the return game, Hester is averaging 19.4 yards on 19 punt returns with two returns for touchdowns and has a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the season. Hester has been bothered by rib and ankle injuries this season, decreasing his role as a receiver. Through 11 games, Hester has just 22 receptions for 320 yards and one touchdown, and has not been targeted with a pass since Week 9.

Smith was held out of Wednesday’s practice before returning on a limited basis on Thursday and Friday. After being out of football for a few months, Smith plans to play on Sunday night.

“I’m on track,” Smith said according to the Detroit Free Press...“I’m definitely one of the toughest people in the world.”

McGahee was held out of Wednesday’s practice and was limited on Thursday, but returned on Friday and will be active when the Broncos take on the Vikings’ ninth-ranked run defense.

In two career games against the Vikings, McGahee has 35 carries for just 81 yards with one touchdown.

Freeman did some light tossing on Friday and is regarded as being a game-time decision, head coach Raheem Morris said on Friday.

”Obviously, he’ll be a game-time decision and we’ll take it right up until the last moment of truth out there, so we’ll see,’’ Morris said according to the St. Petersburg Times. “He went out and threw the ball around a little bit. Still limited. We’ll have an opportunity to see more tomorrow and the next day after that.

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Coming off a breakout season in 2010 -- 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns with 61 receptions out of the backfield -- Hillis has had a forgettable 2011 season that has featured two agent changes, a missed game due to an illness that prompted reports that teammates were questioning his commitment to the club, and five games missed due to a troublesome hamstring injury.

Hillis’ absence and behavior during the first three months, including skipping out on a therapy session to return to Arkansas for a mid-week wedding, cost Hillis considerable capital with the Browns faithful, who voted en masse to put the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Hillis on the cover of Madden ‘12.

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McFadden did not participate in any of the team’s practices this week and does not appear to be close to returning to the field anytime soon.

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Janikowski missed two of the team’s three practices before returning on a limited basis on Friday.

While the injury has had an affect on the strong-legged Janikowski’s kickoffs -- four touchbacks on 24 kickoffs since the injury -- it has not affected the 12-year veteran on field goals. Janikowski is 10-of-11 on field goal attempts over the last four weeks, including a franchise-record six-for-six last week, earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the third time this season.

“That was pretty much the game plan for the year was to keep me fresh down the stretch and possibly increase my workload,” Tomlinson said on Thursday according to The Star-Ledger. “So, I am fresh and feeling good and so the coaches have that option if they want to use me more.”

In a reserve role this season, Tomlinson has 46 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown on the ground, with 25 receptions for 312 yards and a touchdown as a receiver in nine games this season.

Greene is expected to start and once again carry the load in the Jets’ backfield against the Redskins, who have the NFL’s 18th-ranked rush defense. Tomlinson, who has missed the last two weeks with a knee injury, is also listed as “Probable” and is expected to give Greene the occasional breather on Sunday.

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Most of the big names are listed as probable this week, which is good news for folks trying to get their lineups set. The biggest game-time decision is probably going to be Kevin Smith. He suffered an ankle injury on Thanksgiving that some feared was a high ankle sprain, but he has been on the practice field this week, which indicates it might not be as serious as first believed.

For those wondering, the designations break down as follows:

Julio Jones has been dealing with a nagging hamstring injury that has cost him two games and part of a third. When healthy he has put up some monster numbers. He is coming off back-to-back poor outings with two catches for nine yards over the last two games combined. It remains to be seen if that is due to his hamstring or Matt Ryan simply looking elsewhere. His upside is huge, but unless you have no other options, start him with caution on Sunday.

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Teams generally have formal practices Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and release practice participation and injury reports at the end of each session. Monday Night Football teams are a day later. For the participation reports, players are listed as Out (Definitely Will Not Play), Did Not Participate In Practice, Limited Participation in Practice, Full Participant In Practice.

Here are the notable names from Thursday practice participation reports (compared with Wednesday’s practice participation reports):

Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson indicated that Freeman had shown significant improvement since Sunday. However, head coach Raheem Morris said that he was being evaluated each day and could very well be a game-time decision. Freeman has been able to handle handoffs, but not the necessary throws to execute the Bucs game-plan. Once he can do that, Morris will clear him to start on Sunday.

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The rest of the league submitted their Wednesday practice participation reports for Week 13. There were quite a few DNPs for Wednesday as several teams are dealing with banged up skill position players. The New York Giants are dealing with some of the biggest issues with Ahmad Bradshaw still sidelined and Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham joining him on the sidelines for now. Victor Cruz was also limited so the Giants are dealing with quite a few receiver injuries as they head into a potential shootout with the Green Bay Packers.

The Oakland Raiders are right there with the Giants when it comes to the number of injuries. Running back Darren McFadden remains sidelined with Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore continues to deal with an ankle injury. Moore was in pads at Wednesday’s practice but ended up sitting it out.

The Vikings face a Denver Broncos team that has played fairly well against the rush and has developed a strong defense during their strong run recently. In fact, as much as the media will talk about Tebow guiding this team to victory, the defense has been as big a factor as anything else in the Broncos sudden rise to prominence.

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