In the Week Seven Injury Breakdown, I’ll discuss a few players who are game time decisions or playing through designations as well as a few who are returning following a layoff from injury. As always, my aim is to provide more context from a medical perspective. Make sure to bookmark my user profile as I am constantly updating these injury articles with analysis as news rolls in.
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Saquon Barkley
I won’t bury the lead and will start with Barkley as he is scheduled to make his return following a high ankle sprain. Although I am concerned for Barkley’s long term health, his ankle should be good to go this week. I have no issues paying up for him against the Arizona Cardinals 25th ranked rushing DVOA (Defensive-adjusted Value Over Average) according to Football Outsiders.
Evan Engram
Barkley’s teammate, Engram, is scheduled to return from an MCL sprain. He’s going to be the chalk this week, so if you need an excuse to pivot consider that he has a history of these specific sprains and it would not be a complete shock if he re-aggravates the injury this week. I am not saying fade Engram altogether, but I am saying that his knee has proven to be structurally unstable in the past.
Devin Singletary
Singletary will finally make his return after missing the previous three games of the season. From an injury perspective, he’s had plenty of time to recover from a hamstring strain. I’m mentioning him here because I have gotten some questions about him.
John Brown
“Smoky” gave us a scare this week when he surprisingly popped up on the injury report with a groin strain. Although he’s no longer on the report and practiced in full on Friday, this is worth mentioning because he carries the sickle cell trait. This trait slows tissue healing times and complicates recovery. This is enough information for me to avoid him in cash games this week.
David Johnson
D.J. is once again a game-time decision as this is becoming a pattern. This week his designation is due to an ankle injury that limited him in practice all week. To make matters worse, Kliff Kingsbury told the media that if the Cardinals would have played on Friday, Johnson would not have been ready to go. Johnson is no more than a contrarian play in tournaments this week if he’s active, as the Cardinals’ injuries have proven difficult to peg. At this point, Johnson could have a high ankle sprain or a lateral ankle sprain, but there’s no way to be certain. Again, if D.J. is active on Sunday, I wouldn’t blame you for sprinkling him into a few tournaments as the Giants are in the bottom 5 in passing DVOA, where Johnson has made his money this year. But he would not be a high percentage play from an injury perspective.
Christian Kirk
Kirk suffered a high ankle sprain in Week Four, so I would not expect him to be active until Week Eight at the earliest despite his game-time decision status. On the off chance he is active, I’m not confident in using him until I see him play a full game and remain healthy.
Todd Gurley
Next on the Week Seven Injury Breakdown is a player who I believe we’ll begin seeing more and more often in my reports as the season goes on. The bottom line with Gurley at this point is that he’s not the player he was last season due to his knee condition. Despite the Rams reporting a “contusion” kept him out of Week Six, it’s within the realm of possibilities that it was actually his arthritis flaring up or a combination of both. As such, it would not be surprising if Gurley once again re-aggravates his knee, leaving Darrell Henderson as the top dog in a game with a ridiculous 54 over/under. Darrell Henderson will likely occupy the Malcolm Brown (OUT) role and could serve as a serious salary saver.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling
MVS practiced in a limited fashion on Friday and is listed on the injury report with both knee and ankle injuries. He also admitted that he finished the game on Monday night “on adrenaline” which is not a good sign. Even if MVS is active on Sunday (he’s currently questionable) there’s no way I trust him in cash and would even be hesitant to use him in tournaments despite the volume. Why? Because this is a classic situation in which a starter might play through serious injury due to the state of his team’s overall health. His price tag is just too high for me at this point.
Amari Cooper
I’m surprised Cooper is expected to play considering that on Thursday he “plateaued” in his recovery according to reports. Essentially, a contusion is a bruise of deep tissues. For context, when you or I gracefully ram into a door frame and bruise our arm, that’s only affecting our thickest layer of skin. Now, imagine that same bruise penetrating to the muscle. That’s what Cooper is currently dealing with, which makes me nervous to use him this week. Another aspect to consider is the fact that this is a divisional game that the Cowboys would love to win and take control of the NFC Least East. Additionally, there’s always the possibility that Cooper is activated primarily as a decoy a la Julian Edelman in Week Four following a rib injury. The counter argument here is that all Cooper needs against this awful Eagles secondary is one big play. Even then, I don’t trust him any further than a junior high quarterback could throw a football against the Eagles secondary. Well, that may not be the best analogy.
Josh Gordon
Flash did not practice this week and I’m skeptical he plays on Sunday.
Thank you for reading the Week Seven Injury Breakdown. Make sure to check back with me on Sunday morning for the Final Injury Report. Good luck this week!
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Featured image courtesy of Keith Allison.
