With the start of the 2022 NFL season just three weeks away, and fantasy football drafts of all sorts in full swing, NFL injury news is at the top of everyone’s list each and everyday. The NFL injury report impacts every draft – whether it’s fantasy football best ball drafts on Underdog Fantasy, your home league that has the last-place finisher spend 24 hours at a Waffle House, or an industry league with the sharpest minds in the game. These injuries can shift fantasy football ADP and NFL pre-season projections. Who’s hurt, who’s back, and who’s the next man up if an injury is serious? The NFL injury news, and the impact on fantasy football rankings, is what consumes our minds like Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” right after your friend just Rick Rolled you. These injuries will cause fantasy football ADP risers and fallers as the regular season approaches. Don't forget to stay on top of all the latest NFL Training Camp news and fantasy football advice surrounding each player as well. Let’s now go across the league and break down all of the impactful fantasy football injury news in the midst of the second week of the NFL preseason schedule. 

 

NFL Quarterbacks Injury Report

Joe Burrow, CIN - Appendix

Having your appendix removed as a normal human being stinks, so I can’t imagine how great it is for a guy that people try to lay out. It seems like Joe Burrow is recovering just fine, but as you see from the tweet below, he will not play during the preseason. This shouldn’t really impact our thoughts on how we view Burrow in fantasy this season. That is, unless you believe he could get off to a slower start than he would if he had been able to work with the Cincinnati Bengals receivers during the preseason. 

Kyler Murray, ARI - Wrist

After missing some time last week, Kyler Murray stepped back on the practice field on Monday of this week. That was the first time both Murray and new weapon Marquise Brown were together at Arizona Cardinals camp. Murray’s wrist injury is seemingly getting better by the day. Hopefully, we can say the same about his playbook knowledge.

Matthew Stafford, LAR - Elbow

There have been concerns about Matthew Stafford’s elbow the entire offseason, but the Los Angeles Rams quarterback was back at practice this week and even participated in the team's scrimmage on Tuesday. Everything seemed hunky-dory when reporters talked to Stafford and Rams head coach Sean McVay after the scrimmage. McVay was quoted as saying he hasn’t seen “any reason to be concerned” and “he looked like the Matthew I know.”

Zach Wilson, NYJ - Knee

After the initial scare with Zach Wilson’s knee injury looking bad, things have definitely taken a turn for the better. The New York Jets quarterback underwent successful surgery on Tuesday and now there are reports he could potentially be back by Week 1. It’s no surprise to see, considering Wilson has the dog in him. All that being said, the Jets will not rush him back until he’s 100% and if that’s after Week 1, your best ball teams will have to wait a little bit longer.

Jameis Winston, NO - Foot

Although he was doing a lot more standing than he was participating in practice, Jameis Winston was suited up for the New Orleans Saints’ joint practice with the Packers this week. The foot sprain has kept him out since August 8th, but things are trending in the right direction for the Saints' starting quarterback. The team won’t bring him back until he’s feeling 100%, so that likely means we’ll have to wait to see a patented weird Winston workout posted to one of his social media pages before we see him on the field again. 

 

NFL Running Backs Injury Report

Cam Akers & Darrell Henderson, LAR - “Soft Tissue Stuff"

We put the injury in quotes because that’s all we know. That’s all Sean McVay gave us about the Rams’ running backs. McVay also said neither injury is serious and both Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson will be good by the time the season rolls around in three weeks' time.

J.K. Dobbins, BAL - Knee

Everything is trending in the right direction for J.K. Dobbins other than a commitment for Week 1. That’s the only thing we’re missing for the Baltimore Ravens running back. Dobbins has been practicing for over a week now, though. Still, head coach John Harbaugh said it would take about two weeks before he knew whether or not Dobbins would be available for Week 1.

Elijah Mitchell, SF - Hamstring

We’ll list the hamstring injury as what’s keeping Elijah Mitchell sidelined here, but the injuries are seemingly piling up for the San Francisco 49ers running back. He had offseason knee surgery that limited him to open training camp and now this hamstring issue will keep him from playing in the first two weeks of the preseason – and possibly the final week as well. The 49ers are telling us not to be concerned about Mitchell’s injury, but it’s hard not to when the problems been so frequent for a second-year player.

James Robinson, JAC - Achilles

Great news for the Jacksonville running back as it’s been reported that James Robinson will be ready to go for Week 1 according to head coach Doug Pederson. He won’t play in the next preseason game for the Jaguars, but this has been quite the recovery for Robinson after he tore his Achilles back on December 26th. Robinson dodged the PUP list and should have a solid role for Jacksonville this year despite the team having a healthy Travis Etienne.

Miles Sanders, PHI - Hamstring

It’s been tough for Miles Sanders to stay healthy since arriving on the scene and, once again, he’s dealing with an injury that was initially deemed leg soreness and then changed to a hamstring injury. There’s still no word on how serious the injury is, but Sanders hasn’t played more than 12 games in each of the previous two seasons. It’s definitely something we have to keep our eye on.

Kenneth Walker, SEA - Abdomen

According to Ian Rappoport, the Seattle Seahawks expect Kenneth Walker III to be ready for Week 1 after undergoing successful surgery to repair a hernia. Walker was initially listed as Rashaad Penny’s backup upon release of the Seahawks' depth chart. This won’t help his case for starter reps out of the gates as he’ll miss the rest of the preseason. Walker will enter the season as the clear-cut No. 2 option out of the backfield.

J.D. McKissic, WAS - Groin

It doesn’t seem like anything serious, but J.D. McKissic sat out of Thursday’s practice due to a groin injury. It’s looking more likely that he’ll miss the Commanders' next preseason game as well. McKissic is once again slated to handle third-down duties for Washington this season, once his groin is fully healed.

 

NFL Wide Receivers Injury Report

Mike Evans, TB - Hamstring

We’re still not going to see Mike Evans on the practice field as he’s not quite ready to return. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' primary focus is to have Evans back on the field by the time the regular season rolls around.

CeeDee Lamb, DAL - Foot

Everyone take a deep breath. Breathe in, and now breathe out. The apparent foot injury that kept CeeDee Lamb sidelined for Dallas Cowboys practice this week was just a cut on his foot. That’s all. That’s the tweet. CeeDee Lamb WR1 SZN is back on.

Chris Godwin, TB - Knee 

Things are getting really real for the Chris Godwin return as we saw him participating in the Bucs and Titans joint practice on Thursday. If all goes well on Thursday, we’ll see Godwin advance to 7-on-7 and then to 11-on-11. Then it's possibly a Week 1 return for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout? The value on Godwin in fantasy drafts is criminal if he doesn’t miss a game.

Tee Higgins, CIN - Shoulder

The shoulder injury Tee Higgins was dealing with seems to be a thing of the past. He’s back doing 11-on-11 in practice and catching passes in between two defenders in the end zone. All the Cincinnati Bengals wide reciever needs is Joe Burrow back.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, KC - Knee

Thursday was the Chiefs' final practice at Missouri Western State University and JuJu Smith-Schuster wasn’t on the field for it. In fact, he’s missed the past three days of practice with knee soreness. He fell while he was recording his latest Tik Tok…nevermind, we’re just joking. All that said, we should see Smith-Schuster back at practice next week for Kanas City.

Robert Woods, TEN - Knee

Robert Woods is jumping through the screen everyday at Tennessee Titans practice and the team anticipates him being ready for Week 1. He is coming off an ACL tear in Week 10 of last year, which puts him on pace for a great recovery timeline. With A.J. Brown shipped off to Philadelphia, Woods will step into the WR1 role in Tennessee.

Kadarius Toney, NYG - Leg

The expectation was that we wouldn’t see Kadarius Toney in practice this week, but he has done some individual drills. That's a great sign as he recovers from a leg injury. Don’t expect Toney to participate in the New York Giants' second preseason game this weekend.

Drake London, ATL - Knee

When Drake London went down in his first preseason game, it was definitely a hold-your-breath moment. Everything seems to be trending in the right direction right now for London, but the Atlanta Falcons are slow playing their first-round draft pick. He hasn’t practiced since and likely won’t be playing in the team's second preseason game.

Michael Gallup, DAL - Knee

There hasn’t been much new news on Michael Gallup of late. He’s not going to be playing in the Dallas Cowboys' first game of the year. The question is, will he return in Week 2 or beyond? Upon Gallup’s return to the offense, he’ll join one of the most potent passing attacks in the league over the past couple of seasons.

Mecole Hardman, KC - Groin

The tweet above says it all. Outside of a second report claiming Mecole Hardman is a “star receiver," everything seems to be good in the Hardman camp. The Kansas City Chiefs receiver will miss some time with the groin injury, but it’s not serious.

Laviska Shenault, JAC - Hamstring

Last week we didn’t see Laviska Shenault Jr. on the field in the Jacksonville Jaguars' preseason game due to a hamstring injury. However, he’s been back at practice playing in 11-on-11 drills. Everything looks like it’s all systems go as Shenault is partaking in both offensive drills as well as special teams.

Christian Watson, GB - Knee

The Green Bay Packers' rookie receiver is back at practice after offseason knee surgery had him on the PUP list. He’s been seen working with Aaron Rodgers on some short routes, but the Packers QB has already come out and said the young receivers on this team are going to be a work in progress. Not great, Bob. Not great.

Robbie Anderson, CAR - Quadriceps

We’re unsure how serious of an injury this is for Robbie Anderson, but it’s definitely putting his second preseason game appearance in jeopardy. We’ll continue to monitor Anderson’s status as he’s still away from Carolina Panthers practice.

 

NFL Tight Ends Injury Report

Zach Ertz, ARI - Calf

We haven’t seen Zach Ertz on the practice field since August 4th due to a calf injury. Still, here hasn’t once been anything about him missing actual time when the Arizona Cardinals' season begins. Maybe Ertz would be back at practice by now, but him and his wife just welcomed a baby boy into the world. Congrats to the Ertz family!

Logan Thomas, WAS - Knee

There just hasn’t been anything on Logan Thomas outside of the fact that he was far away from game shape back at the end of July. Since then, we’ve seen a few dust balls roll across the Washington Commanders practice field when it comes to Thomas news.

Irv Smith Jr., MIN - Thumb

After going under the knife for thumb surgery, it was reported today that Irv Smith Jr. is going to be ready for Week 1 of the regular season barring no setbacks. Here’s Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell talking about it:

Robert Tonyan, GB - Knee

After originally being placed on PUP to start Packers camp, Robert Tonyan is back at practice for the new-look Green Bay passing attack. Tonyan isn’t even wearing a brace on his surgically repaired knee. Remember, the tight end had 10 touchdowns in 2020.

Hunter Henry, NE - “Minor Injury”

Why would the New England Patriots disclose anything, let alone Hunter Henry’s injury? “Minor injury” is what he’s dealing with, apparently. Thanks, guys, you’re always so full of fantastic information!

 

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