After seeing him fall to the ground and clutching his knee against the Seattle Seahawks, many fans wondered if Robert Griffin III would miss a whole year. Luckily for Washington fans, Redskins general manager Bruce Allen said on Friday that the team is planning on Griffin being ready to start by Week 1.
NFL roundup: Robert Griffin III expected back by Week 1, Tom Brady expected to play Friday
As a number of NFL teams prepare for their second preseason games, several injured players are at various stages of returning, including Tom Brady, Robert Griffin III and Hakeem Nicks.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Griffin has held steady for awhile that he would not miss any regular season action and that is good news for anyone that is a fan of watching the best players play. Whether or not Griffin will be his regular self remains to be seen and when he takes the field for the first time on September 9 against the Eagles at FedEx Field, he will have done so without any preseason game action.
The media was buzzing with rumors of a possible injury to Brady's knee this week, but there should be nothing to worry about. Brady has been cleared to play Friday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Bill Belichick also plans to see Ryan Mallett and Tim Tebow get action.
Mallett was feared to have suffered a concussion in last Friday’s game against the Eagles, but took the brunt of the damage to his chest area and is apparently okay.
Two years younger than teammate Victor Cruz, Nicks is in the final year of his contract and set to make $2.675 million in base salary. Cruz signed a contract extension in the offseason and will make base salary that is a hair under $4 million next season and over $6 million in 2015. How much will Nicks get?
The only thing we know for certain is that he will make a lot more if he stays healthy and productive. He had just 692 yards last season.
Lewis looked like a good bet to be the primary backup to Trent Richardson this season, but a broken leg will land him on injured reserve. What Cleveland doesn't know yet is whether or not the news on Lewis' leg will be good enough to give him the "designated to return" tag.
Brandon Jackson now has an opportunity to step up for the rest of the preseason and provide insurance to Richardson and the oft-injured Montario Hardesty.
The Bucs were one of the worst teams in the NFL last season at rushing the passer, totaling only 27 sacks as a team. Nine of those sacks belonged to Michael Bennett, now with the Seattle Seahawks, while Da'Quan Bowers had only three sacks in ten games.
Coaches were hoping that Bowers would step up this year, but the third-year defensive end has not had good reports coming out of training camp and could see a reduced role. That could mean more time for rookies William Gholston and Steven Means.
That much should be obvious, but the Carolina coach spoke out on Friday that he was disappointed to see Cam Newton and the first team offense settle for field goals on Thursday.
The Panthers finished 18th in both scoring offense and scoring defense last year and they opted to address defense in the draft by taking defensive tackles Star Lotulelei in the first and Kawann Short in the second. Running back Kenjon Barner (sixth round) was the only skill player drafted by the Panthers.
The team signed receivers Ted Ginn, Jr. and Domenik Hixon to hopefully bolster the offense, but thus far that is not showing up in the preseason.
The Colts tight end emerged as one of the top rookies at his position last year, even ahead of teammate Coby Fleener. Even though Fleener was drafted earlier and went to Stanford with Andrew Luck, Allen found himself as one of Luck’s favorite targets.
Fleener suffered a concussion last week but was back at practice Thursday. It appears as though both will be ready to go by Week 1.
See More:
