Fantasy Football Injury News, Week 2: Latest Status Info For Banged Up Players

Texans running back Arian Foster is questionable to return to his team’s week two game against the Miami Dolphins. Foster aggravated his hamstring, the same injury that kept him sidelined last week. Ben Tate will pick up primary rushing duties, looking to repeat his performance from last week.

Foster injured his hamstring in the preseason. In his place last week, Ben Tate ran for 116 yards on 24 carries. He also scored a touchdown as the Texans walked past the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts by a 34-7 score.

On Monday, Johnson was walking gingerly in Buffalo and told reporters that he can feel the injury when he is walking, which is something that hadn’t been an issue previously. Prior to Monday he felt the injury on the football field but not as much off the field. This would indicate the injury has gotten a little bit more serious. At the same time, Johnson has said he has no plans to miss any games.

As it currently stands, Johnson will likely miss one practice each week and end up on the injury report as a regular “probable.” Until you hear otherwise, Johnson remains a starter every week. The Bills passing attack is looking pretty impressive and if they can maintain it, Johnson will be a huge beneficiary. Until the injury knocks him out of a game, stick with him.

The decision to hand over carries to Ben Tate for now is not surprising, primarily because Tate was already handling the load through the first two weeks. Tate is off to a fantastic start through two weeks and there’s no need to rock the boat and aggravate Arian Foster’s injury.

The decision might make Foster a little nervous given how quickly a great back can become yesterday’s news (see Alexander, Shaun). For fantasy purposes, if you have Foster but not Tate, I wouldn’t get too nervous yet. Once healthy, Foster will get back in the mix and would likely take over the load moving forward this season. If Tate stays hot, the Texans might have a decision to make in the offseason, but for 2011 fantasy football that is not your concern.

If you’ve only got Cadillac he remains a start because even if Jackson decides he can play Cadillac will likely get a decent number of carries. Of course, given that it’s Monday Night Football, you likely don’t have a choice to make unless you have both Jackson and Cadillac. I’d imagine Cadillac will be the play, but we’ll see what the Rams announce over the next hour and a half.

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Holley is not really a guy you’ll want to jump on right away on waivers unless you’ve got an end of the roster guy you really don’t care about one way or the other. If Austin is unable to play the next two weeks, Holley does retain a little bit of value. One possible play with Holley is sit on him these next two weeks hoping for some strong performances and then try and convince a sucker in your league that he’s worth acquiring via trade. Outside of winning a fantasy championship, there’s nothing quite as fun as pulling the wool over another owner’s eyes.

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If Charles is going to miss significant time and you’re looking for a guy at the bottom of your roster, McCluster might be worth a look. Of course, the Chiefs could be looking at season-long struggles, which would devalue much of the Chiefs offense at this point.

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According to Jay Glazer, the injury is actually a torn labrum, which is serious and explains why Pete Carroll said Rice was a “longshot” to play against Pittsburgh in Week 2.

Glazer also reports that Rice is trying to avoid surgery so he can play through the injury. This isn’t a surprising move because a torn labrum normally has a fairly lengthy recovery process. If it’s mostly a pain issue, then Rice will try to play through it.

Detroit Lions all-world receiver Calvin Johnson has been nursing an ankle injury this week, but it’s not something that will keep him from taking the field today against the Kanas City Chiefs. That’s good news for the Lions, and even better news for Matthew Stafford’s fantasy owners. From ESPN’s Josina Anderson:

Holmes, listed as questionable with knee and quadriceps injuries, will indeed suit up Sunday after pulling his quad while running in practice Thursday. Jets head coach Rex Ryan was non-committal about his status Friday.

His chances of playing? Not very good. Jason La Canfora of NFL Network reports he’ll test the quad out in pregame, but it doesn’t look good. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, as well as Peter King of SI.com, don’t think he’ll play.

So if you’re wondering what to do with Bryant on your fantasy football team, strongly consider benching him.

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How you use that information likely depends on your opinion of Peter King. Some view King as one of the more connected people in the NFL. If you believe that then feel confident benching Bryant. Other people are not quite as sure what to make of King, in which case it becomes your own game-time decision.

My own opinion is that even if a guy is well connected, that does not mean his sources are always giving him the best information. King has been around long enough to have plenty of sources so I don’t doubt he has heard information that would make him think Bryant will sit. I simply choose to take it with a grain of salt. As it currently stands, if you’re deciding between Bryant and a 1:00pm ET receiver or flex play, I’d pull the plug on Bryant for the week. If you can wait until 4:00pm ET, sit on it for a few hours.

Lloyd returned to practice on Friday after missing the previous two days due to a groin injury. Although Lloyd appears to be all systems go for today’s game against Cincinnati, injuries to the groin, much like the hamstring, are often nagging ailments that can easily be re-aggravated. Fantasy owners will need to keep a close eye on Lloyd’s status throughout the season and consider bolstering their WR corps early in the campaign in case the injury flares up in weeks to come.

The Giants’ top WR suffered a bone bruise on his left knee during the Giants’ 28-14 loss to Washington last Sunday. This type of injury is essentially a step short of a fracture, and it occurs when traumatic force on the bone results in shredding of fibers that make up the outside of the bone. A bone bruise can be accompanied by swelling or internal bleeding, and is often extremely painful. Although early in the week, Nicks vowed to take the field against the Rams, and the extra day of rest due to the Monday night game will certainly help. But keep WR Mario Manningham in the back of your mind as the fantasy player who would be most likely to benefit if Nicks is slowed or unable to play at all.

This is probably as close as you’ll come to official word on Foster’s status before active/inactive information comes out on Sunday. As it currently stands, you’ll want to start Foster, but don’t expect monster numbers from the Texans running back. If he blows up that would be great. If the Texans end up with a bit of a running back by committee situation for one week, it’s not the end of the world. While you may be uncomfortable with an RBBC, Foster’s considerable upside means you are almost obligated to start him. That is of course, pending new information.

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Well, in a sign that Bryant could be looking at sitting out the game, Jones admitted Bryant’s status for Sunday is iffy (that’s a medical term). Bryant was absent at the start of practice on Friday, which means he has missed all three days of practice this week. He is an explosive talent who likely doesn’t need a ton of practice, but given the optimism we had previously heard, this is a bit concerning.

The 49ers and Cowboys play a 4:05pm ET game, which means if you’re loaded with early games you may have to roll the dice on Bryant. As it currently stands, if your roster dictates a decision before the early games, bench Dez Bryant. We’ll update this situation as game day approaches.

Moreno and Lloyd both have been dealing with some nagging injuries this week, but the Broncos have yet to make any roster moves. They have some practice squad options they could later in the week, but the lack of a move would seem to indicate a somewhat positive status for both Moreno and Lloyd.

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Johnson tweaked his ankle, Bryant has a bruise and cramps in his quad and Nicks bruised/hyperextended his knee and it has cost all three practice time this week. All three have sat out both Wednesday and Thursday practice sessions, but to a certain extent all three are guys that could play even with extremely limited practice time.

We’ll have updates on all three tomorrow and possibly Saturday if anything changes.

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The injury was initially described as a bone bruise but Nicks apparently also hyperextended the knee a bit. Nicks did not practice on Wednesday but he did some jogging, which is a positive sign for a knee injury. Nicks claims to feel better than he did on Tuesday and will hopefully practice by the end of the week. The team will release practice participation reports Thursday and Friday, followed by a final injury report.

I would argue the two practice participation reports are more significant in your assessment of Nicks’ availability for Monday. If he misses the entire week of practice, the safe play would be sitting Nicks, particularly since it’s the MNF game. If he gets into practice tomorrow or the next day, it’s still a little tricky, but we’ll see what Tom Coughlin has to say each day.

The return to practice is significant for a couple reasons. The first is just the fact that he has missed practice with the hamstring injury and getting back on the field is a huge step towards getting back on the field in a game. The second reason is that Kubiak said on Monday the running back is not a position where a player can miss the entire week of practice and then play on Sunday. The inference being that if Foster did not practice this week, he would not play on Sunday.