Gameday Injury Expectations: Week 2

Photo: Imagn Images

UNDERSTANDING THE NFL'S INJURY REPORT

The injury report released by the NFL is actually two reports. The first is the Practice Participation report, which lists which injured players were able to practice and how much. It also includes players who rested or missed practice for non-injury related reasons. The second is the Game Status Report, which gives the probability a player will play, i.e. Questionable, Doubtful, Out. The Practice Participation Report is released every day of the week (Monday through Saturday). The Game Status Report is released with the Friday participation report (Wednesday for Thursday games, Saturday for Monday games).

In this feature, I'll include the Game Status Listing, my expectation of their likelihood to play, and the player's practice participation throughout the week.

Key:

PLAYER | INJURY | GAME STATUS LISTING | FOOTBALLGUYS EXPECTATION

Practice Participation Listing by Day

* = playing on Monday night

I'll also include a table at the bottom of the article for easy reference.

Here's the latest on every relevant injured player on the practice participation and game status report this week:

QUARTERBACK

CAM NEWTON | SHOULDER | Not Listed | Active

Practice Participation: Wed - Full | Thurs - Limited | Fri - Full

The Panthers are going to limit Newton's throwing reps during practice as they try to limit any chance of recurrent arm soreness. Newton threw only 25 passes last week but seemed to find a rhythm in the second half. He is not listed on the game status report and will play.

Sam Bradford | Knee | Questionable | Inactive

Practice Participation: Wed - Limited | Thurs - Limited | Fri - Limited

Bradford had pain and swelling in his surgically-repaired left knee after Monday night's game. There was enough concern to prompt an MRI on Tuesday, the results of which were not reported. Bradford's return to practice, while limited, is reassuring. It indicates a review of his MRI didn't necessitate an in-person visit to Dr. Andrews, who performed his ACL reconstructions. While Bradford is on record saying there was no cartilage damage with either ACL injury, it's likely that's the concern here. There were no obvious mechanisms of injury during last week's game, though Bradford did throw from awkward angles on some designed rollouts and other plays when he left the pocket. 

Mike Zimmer didn't say much about Bradford's Week 2 status but the expectation is the Vikings' quarterback will play. Don't expect to see many designed rollouts this week and it's possible the team will scheme its protections and route combinations differently to limit the stress on Bradford's plant leg. That could mean fewer deep passes and/or a higher percentage of plays where Kyle Rudolph and Dalvin Cook are asked to assist w/ protection. I wouldn't significantly adjust expectations but watch the Vikings and Bradford carefully this week.

***Saturday Evening Update: The Vikings added a third quarterback to the active roster today. The move doesn't expressly mean Bradford will be inactive. He's traveled with the team and there are no reports he won't play. It does mean the team is concerned about Bradford's status and has no intention of getting caught with Case Keenum as the only healthy quarterback. Don't panic here but pregame reports will be eagerly awaited overnight and tomorrow morning.

***Sunday AM Update: Nothing of note so far this morning. Both Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport believe Bradford will play, though Rapoport reports Bradford will be a game-time decision. The Vikings have a 1:00 PM ET start today. I'll cover the notes on pregame warmups closely and update again later this morning.

***Sunday AM Update: While I'm always leery of reading too much into pregame reports and video, Bradford did not look like he was comfortable in his limited pregame work. I would now strongly lean toward him not playing today. Hopefully, we'll hear more on Bradford's injury and status after the game. I'll have extended thoughts on his status in Monday's article.

***Sunday AM Update: Bradford is officially inactive.

Others of note: Blake Bortles (wrist) practiced this week and will play without limitation. Andrew Luck (shoulder) has been declared out. I'll update return to play expectations on all inactive players in Monday's column.

RUNNING BACK

LESEAN MCCOY | Wrist / Groin | NOT LISTED | Active

Practice Participation: Wed - Full | Thurs - Full | Fri - DNP

McCoy's wrist injury is not a concern this week. A contusion suffered during last week's game caused the area to briefly go numb but he quickly returned to play without limitations or obvious ball security concerns. After practicing fully on Wednesday and Thursday, it's safe to consider it a non-issue. The groin injury that prompted the Bills to rest him on Friday could be fatigue or a very low-grade strain. McCoy has a long history of soft tissue injuries and they've been a mixed bag. At times, he's struggled with aggravations while playing effectively through minor limitations at other times. The Bills expressed no concern on Friday. Head coach Sean McDermott called it a rest day and Buffalo didn't list him on the game status report. While the risk of an in-game aggravation cannot be entirely ruled out, all indications are McCoy will play and be able to take his usual workload.

Jordan Howard | Shoulder | Questionable | Active

Practice Participation: Wed - Limited | Thurs - Limited | Fri - Limited

The Bears are notorious for withholding actionable information on injured players. Howard was said to be "banged up" last weekend and was limited all week in practice. It's not clear what Howard's shoulder injury may be or how limited he was in practice. John Fox told reporters Howard was injured on his late second-quarter touchdown run. He landed on the outside of his right shoulder. It's not a clear mechanism for an AC sprain; it's possible the injury is to other soft tissue structures in the shoulder joint (labrum, rotator cuff, etc.). That's not much to go on unfortunately but those conditions are likely something Howard would be able to play through and it's reassuring (but not definitive) we didn't hear about specialist visits and imaging studies.

The only beat writer observation is from Rich Campbell, who tweeted he expects Howard to play but implied he wouldn't be surprised if his snap count was affected. The second part of his tweet read as generalization rather than a specific expectation for Howard. What could be most important to the projection on Howard is whether the Bears trust his shoulder to hold up in pass protection. If not, Howard may not see many passing down reps. And the emergence of Tarik Cohen -- five rushes and 17 total touches and targets on 28 snaps -- suggests the Bears have more than viable alternatives if there's any pregame concern.

I'll update with any weekend news but my initial expectation is that Howard will be active and see close to his usual workload with a risk of in-game aggravation and higher sensitivity to surrounding factors (game script, Cohen effectiveness) than usual.

***Sunday AM Update: Jordan Howard is expected to play according to tweets from both Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport. Neither provided additional information. I consider that positive. I expect they would have included concern for limitation if they were given that information.

Jay Ajayi | Knee | Not Listed | Expected to Play

Practice Participation: Wed - Full | Thurs - Full | Fri - Full

Ajayi fell in the draft due to concern about early signs of arthritis in his knees. So it's not comforting to see him on the injury report before taking a regular season snap. A full week of practice is reassuring and the Dolphins didn't list Ajayi on the game status report. Without more information, it's difficult to know whether this is a non-issue or the start of a concern that lingers throughout the year. Were it another player, it would be much easier to ignore. I'll watch Ajayi closely but for now, it's reasonable to assume the team is being cautious rather than concerned.

Thomas Rawls | Ankle | Not Listed | Expected to Play

Practice Participation: Wed - Full | Thurs - Full | Fri - Full

Rawls has had two weeks of full practice and is not listed on the game status report. The high ankle sprain should be sufficiently recovered and won't affect his statistical expectation this week -- but the four-deep running back depth chart will. Expect the Seahawks to get Rawls a handful of touches to continue the reconditioning process but he's unlikely to see more than 20-25 snaps or 10-15 touches unless there are injuries or a striking difference in effectiveness.

Others of note: Frank Gore, Mike Tolbert (knee), Duke Johnson Jr (chest), Jamaal Charles (knee), Matt Forte (knee/abdomen), T.J. Yeldon (hamstring), and Chris Thompson (back) have practiced, are not listed on the game status report, and expected to play without limitation. Danny Woodhead (hamstring) and Donnel Pumphery (hamstring) were moved to injured reserve and are out for eight weeks. Devontae Booker (wrist) returned to limited practices this week but has been declared out. I'll update return to play expectations on all inactive players in Monday's column.

Sunday AM Update: T.J. Yeldon is inactive despite full practices and not being listed on the game status report.

WIDE RECEIVER

*ODELL BECKHAM | ANKLE | Questionable | GAME-TIME DECISION | Likely to Play / Limited

Practice Participation: Thurs - Limited | Fri - Limited | Sat - Limited [MNF]

Beckham was limited in practice all week. That's an upgrade from last week's participation but it's clear Beckham hasn't fully recovered. Since last week's surprising travel to Dallas and attempt to improve enough to play by Sunday night, the news has continued to be positive on Beckham's availability this week. I think he'll play.

It's harder to handicap Beckham's snap count and statistical expectation. Beckham will undoubtedly draw coverage when he plays and while it's probably incorrect to expect the Giants to plan to use him as a decoy -- why risk your stud receiver who has already missed a critical division game after watching his teammates struggle to get open -- there will be some routes that Beckham is incapable of running effectively. If Beckham plays 60 snaps, there will be plays he has no chance of seeing a target.

What we can't know and what will drive his statistical expectation is how many packages the Giants will run with routes Beckham can separate on and win. We've seen many elite receivers -- Calvin Johnson and Jimmy Graham are notable examples -- who are put in a position to succeed in the red zone and other limited high-leverage situations. While not a high likelihood, that success is in Beckham's range of possible expectation this week.

More likely, Beckham runs 15-20 routes and sees 3-5 targets. If he avoids a setback this week, we could see a return to a near-usual workload next week.

*Golden Tate | Finger | Not Listed | Expected to Play

Practice Participation: Thurs - Limited | Fri - Full | Sat - Full [MNF]

Tate returned to a full practice on Friday and told reporters there were no fractures in his finger and he was not limited catching passes. His Saturday practice participation and game status is still pending but another full practice would be more indication Tate is good to go without limitation on Monday night.

***Saturday Evening Update: Tate was a full Saturday participant, is not listed on the game status report, and can be expected to play with minimal limitation.

John Brown | Quad | Declared Out

Practice Participation: Wed - DNP | Thurs - DNP | Fri - DNP

On Wednesday, there was hope Brown's appearance on the injury report was cautionary. The Thursday DNP raised concern that Brown's quad soreness had recurred. Unfortunately, Brown was unable to practice Friday and has been ruled out. More on Brown's quad issues and why the sickle cell trait condition complicates diagnosis and recovery on Monday. It's not confirmed whether this quad issue is recurrent or SCT-related but it's a reasonable assumption. Brown missed multiple weeks of practice in the preseason with quad soreness, which puts his availability in question next week.

Jarvis Landry | Knee | Questionable | Likely to Play

Practice Participation: Wed - Not Listed | Thurs - Not Listed | Fri - Not Listed

Landry was added to the injury report on Friday after experiencing knee swelling overnight. There doesn't appear to be significant concern from the Dolphins about his availability and Landry was seen on the practice field watching rather than in the training room receiving treatment. If Landry is to be significantly limited, I'd expect a Sunday morning note from Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport. I'll update here with any news.

***Sunday AM Update: Landry is expected to play without limitation today per Ian Rapoport.

Josh Doctson | Hamstring | Questionable | Likely to pLay / Limited

Practice Participation: Wed - Limited | Thurs - Limited | Fri - Limited

Jay Gruden attempted reassurance on Wednesday, telling reporters Doctson was experiencing soreness and was unlikely to miss this week's game. On Friday, Gruden admitted Doctson wasn't ready to see increased reps on gameday. If that's the case -- and this isn't the first time Washington has struggled to manage a soft tissue condition with Doctson -- it's unclear why the team continues to risk further aggravation. Doctson is listed questionable and the consensus seems to be that he'll be active this week. But he's not ready for a full workload yet.

Markus Wheaton | Finger | Questionable | Inactive

Practice Participation: Wed - Limited | Thurs - Limited | Fri - Limited

Wheaton is a tough read. The trend appeared positive this week but his Friday media interview has red flags. Wheaton said he'd like a full week of practice before playing and suggested the decision-makers are thinking similarly. He also noted he's not had time to build chemistry with Mike Glennon yet. At least one beat writer believes it's possible Wheaton plays but would be surprised to see him active. Consider him a game-time decision but likely to see a significant number of snaps if active. While chemistry would be an issue, conditioning should not be a concern and the Chicago receiver depth chart is strikingly thin.

Terrance Williams | Ankle | Questionable | Likely active

Practice Participation: Wed - DNP | Thurs - DNP | Fri - Limited

Williams has a low-ankle sprain but was unable to practice until Friday. The limited Friday practice was a positive note to end the week but the team likely wants to see how his ankle responded to Friday's light work before committing him to the active roster.

***Sunday AM Update: Williams is expected to be active today.

Others of note: Amari Cooper (knee), Jamison Crowder (hip), and Kenny Britt (knee) have fully practiced, are not listed on the game status report, and expected to play without limitation. Danny Amendola (concussion / knee), Mike Williams (back) have been declared out. I'll update return to play expectations on all inactive players in Monday's column.

TIGHT END

Jermaine Gresham | Ribs | Questionable | INACTIVE

Practice Participation: Wed - DNP | Thurs - DNP | Fri - DNP

Gresham didn't practice this week and was listed questionable. The Cardinals use the doubtful tag on some players (see Deone Bucannon) and aren't opposed to ruling players out on Friday (see John Brown). Give Gresham a chance to play but he'll be limited at best if active.

Others of note: Charles Clay (shoulder) and George Kittle (hamstring) have fully practiced, are not listed on the game status report, and expected to play without limitation. I'll update return to play expectations on all inactive players in Monday's column.

*Note: Monday night players with asterisk practice Thursday/Friday/Saturday

*Note: Monday night players with asterisk practice Thursday/Friday/Saturday.

Follow me on Twitter @JeneBramel for breaking injury news and analysis throughout the week.