Dynasty Fantasy Football Injury Report: Week One

Jeff Mueller

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

Pain for us in the dynasty and seasonal fantasy football community can be identified as injuries, which are inevitable throughout an NFL season. Suffering through these injuries is optional – you must now make a decision of how you are going to proceed after one of your key players has suffered an injury.

My name is Jeff Mueller, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and I am here to help guide you through these weekly injuries and provide (hopefully) helpful insight into how bad the injury is and what the expected timeline for recovery is for your key player. The weekly injury roundup will be posted on Wednesdays to discuss injuries that just occurred. I would also encourage you to tune in to the DLF YouTube channel (make sure to subscribe!) to tune in to helpful content throughout the week.

Let’s start with the week one Injury Report.

Dak Prescott, QB DAL

Injury: Bennett’s Fracture (Thumb)

Return to Play: 6-8 Weeks

Fantasy Impact: Prescott suffered a Bennett’s fracture, which is a fracture of the base of the thumb. Often times these can involve the UCL, but reports indicate that Prescott’s did not and was isolated to the fractured bone. I know Jerry Jones recently stated that they won’t put him on IR with a chance to return within four weeks, but the odds of this happening are low. After the surgery to stabilize the fracture site, he will need to regain full range and also rehabilitate his grip strength. This injury was on his throwing hand, so his ability to handle a snap all the way through gripping the football for an adequate release is important here. I believe he will be out for at least 6-8 weeks, which puts a major cap on any Cowboys players’ ceilings.

Mac Jones, QB NE

Injury: Back Injury

Return to Play: Week 2

Fantasy Impact: Reportedly suffered a back injury. He was able to play the entire game and post-game X-Rays were negative. Monitor his practice status, but decent chance he plays next week.

Najee Harris, RB PIT

Injury: Left Foot/Ankle, Possible High Ankle or Lisfranc reinjury

Return to Play: Week 2-3

Fantasy Impact: Early word is that Harris’ left foot/ankle injury is not considered serious. He was spotted standing on the sideline for the majority of the game after sustaining his injury, still in full gear and holding his helmet. However, he was spotted leaving the locker room with a CAM boot on. It should be viewed as a good sign that Harris was not immediately placed in a boot and was able to walk off the field with his teammates without a noticeable limp. Also, Harris was spotted at the team facility on Monday without a boot, and he has recently said that he will practice this week and play. New imaging was negative. My concern here is that I hope this is not a 2020 Joe Mixon situation where his Lisfranc sprain was misdiagnosed for a while. Harris carries risk for reinjury, so if you have a strong pivot, you may want to consider benching him for week two (I know, hard to bench a mass-volume RB).

Trending Up: Jaylen Warren (keep stashed even if Harris plays in week two.

Elijah Mitchell, RB SF

Injury: Right MCL Sprain

Return to Play: 6-8 Weeks, Placed on IR

Fantasy Impact: Reports surfaced that Mitchell left the 49ers locker room wearing a brace on his right knee and minimally moving it. The hope is that it is just a grade 2 MCL sprain, and not a grade 3 or an MCL injury with meniscus tear. Schefter reported that Mitchell is expected to miss about two months with a sprained MCL, so we will see how quickly he heals and can return. I’m placing 6-8 weeks here, but it could extend to 8-10 weeks.

Trending Up: Jeff Wilson, Jordan Mason

Alvin Kamara, RB NO

Injury: Rib Sprain

Return to Play: Week 2-3

Fantasy Impact: Reports are that his rib sprains are mild and that he should be able to play week two. Monitor his practice status, but I believe there is low concern here. Players can often play with rib sprains (likely with a flak jacket), but run the risk of missing snaps if they take a hard hit that reaggravates the injury. Note: The Saints signed Latavius Murray to the practice squad for insurance.

James Robinson, RB JAC

Injury: Achilles Return

Return to Play: He’s Back

Fantasy Impact: I have this Burst Score theory when it comes to RBs returning from an Achilles rupture, and Robinson is slowly proving it to be correct. Robinson has a higher burst score (tests explosiveness using their vertical and broad jumps) than Cam Akers, Marlon Mack, and D’Onta Foreman. He looked pretty good on the field, explosive and changing direction well. While he does run the risk of any soft tissue injuries (I do believe this is a mild concern at this stage), he is proving why Doug Pederson views him as the RB1. He will continue to be a thorn in the side of Travis Etienne’s ceiling.

Kenneth Walker, RB SEA

Injury: Inguinal Hernia

Return to Play: Week 2-3

Fantasy Impact: Walker was unable to return for week one, fitting with his initial timetable for recovery. I do believe he has a chance at returning week two, but monitor his practice status for his availability. For fantasy purposes, you likely will not want to start Walker for the first quarter to half of the season until we see him produce flex-worthy numbers. Rashaad Penny looked very good Monday night.

Ty Montgomery, OW NE

Injury: Unspecified, but had been dealing with a prior knee injury

Return to Play: 5-8 Weeks, placed on IR

Fantasy Impact: Montgomery has now been sent to IR, meaning he will miss at least four games. His passing down specialty will likely lead to an increased role for Rhamondre Stevenson.

Keenan Allen, WR LAC

Injury: Left Hamstring Strain

Return to Play: Week 3-4

Fantasy Impact: The Chargers play on a short week Thursday night against Kansas City, so I have my doubts that Allen will be able to suit up. Typically there’s a 2-3 week timetable for return while also having reinjury risk if the return is too soon.

Trending Up: Joshua Palmer, DeAndre Carter

Tee Higgins, WR CIN

Injury: Concussion

Return to Play: Week 2-3

Fantasy Impact: Higgins is in concussion protocol and his return depends on his ability to clear protocol. These are difficult to predict, as the range to clear protocol is typically between 5-10 days, so have a backup plan for week two if you have Higgins. My assumption is he clears, but we have to monitor.

Trending Up: Tyler Boyd

Michael Thomas, WR NO

Injury: Return from Deltoid Repair, Tightrope

Return to Play: He’s Back!

Fantasy Impact: I’ve been yelling into the abyss for people to acquire Thomas since November, stating he would have a good chance at returning to form by week one after his second surgery to fix what wasn’t repaired. He looked like his old self, sharp in routes and with no hesitation or apprehension in movement patterns. He is still in a window of potential reinjury risk for the most recent hamstring strain, but that injury risk lessens by the week. Don’t be surprised if he has rest days or limited practice throughout the week just to manage reps. Ladies and Gentleman, he’s back!

Chris Godwin, WR TB

Injury: Right Hamstring Strain (Returned from Right ACL/MCL)

Return to Play: 2-4 Weeks

Fantasy Impact: First things first – I want to discuss some interesting points others are making that have very weak correlation to Godwin’s prior ACL reconstruction. We know Godwin had not been absorbing contact in practice, but we also know that he does not need to absorb contact in practice in order to be cleared to play. We know the medical staff ran him through their standard battery of tests and cleared him to play, so from our couches we, as injury analysts, should not be saying that “he was not ready” as we are not the ones who are assessing these players. We knew the risk of soft tissue injuries after ACLR, as these are the most common complication that can arise (but do not always arise). Godwin absorbed contact from multiple defenders at multiple angles on two instances, and did not show any signs of discomfort, so this whole absorbing contact ordeal should be put to rest.

The thing I wonder about but we will never find out is: If Tom Brady does not throw that pass low to Godwin, does he ever suffer a hamstring strain? It’s easy for analysts to say “he wasn’t ready”, but we wouldn’t be saying that if his right leg wasn’t placed in a very typical mechanism for a hamstring strain (deceleration with max elongation of his hamstring while bending forward/low for a pass). Now, I do agree that Godwin specifically was at a higher risk for a hamstring strain in this specific position than some other wide receiver placed in the same position who was not coming off an ACLR, but that risk stands the same whether he is at 8 months 9 days RTP or if they had waited a few weeks until he was over the 9 month RTP timetable. And if Godwin was never placed in that specific position, who’s to say that he ever would have suffered a hamstring strain? No one can argue that he looked explosive and great off the line, changing direction, navigating and eluding defenders, and running routes. All on-field signs paired with a battery of tests that point to why the Bucs medical staff cleared him, whether we from our couches think he was ready to play or not.

Bottom Line: Godwin did suffer this hamstring strain, and now is at higher risk than he previously was for a reinjury, so the Bucs would be wise to rest him until he is fully recovered since the hamstring is pivotal in dynamic stabilization and protection of his ACL graft.

Trending Up: Julio Jones, Russell Gage

Wan’Dale Robinson, WR NYG

Injury: Knee Sprain

Return to Play: Day-to-Day

Fantasy Impact: Apparently Robinson’s imaging came back negative, because he has been listed as day-to-day. I have not seen any concrete information on his injury, but for fantasy purposes you probably aren’t starting Robinson until we see his role increase in the offense. The only weekly viable option from this team is Saquon Barkley (he looks GREAT by the way).

George Kittle, TE SF

Injury: Groin Strain

Return to Play: Week 2-3

Fantasy Impact: Kyle Shanahan stated that Kittle was close to playing in week one, but the medical staff decided to hold him out. I believe this was due to the weather conditions, as playing in the rain and in mud would have placed him at a higher risk for re-injury. I do believe we see Kittle in week two, but keep a close eye on his practice status.

Zach Ertz, TE ARI

Injury: Calf Strain

Return to Play: No Reinjury

Fantasy Impact: As predicted, Ertz was minimally involved this week, however he still paid off by scoring a garbage-time touchdown. Tight end is so thin that his 11.4 points still secured a top-ten tight end finish on the week. Expect to see more of Ertz in week two, as he avoided any reinjuries.

Robert Tonyan, TE GB

Injury: ACL+

Return to Play: No Reinjury

Fantasy Impact: As predicted, Tonyan was minimally involved this week, as well. He scored 6.6 total points this week, securing 24th on the week for tight ends. Aaron Rodgers targeted him in the end zone at the end of the game, but the defense was all over it. Expect to see Tonyan involved more as the season goes on, as he looked pretty good in his snaps and routes ran.

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Dynasty Fantasy Football Injury Report: Week One