Fantasy Football: Week 1 Injury Recap
As The Fantasy Footballers’ lead injury analyst and sports physical therapist, I’ll be recapping the previous week’s injuries and giving a projected timeline for recovery all season long. Let’s look at the biggest injuries from Week 1 and take a look at what fantasy managers can expect heading into Week 2 and beyond.
Don’t forget to check out JoinTheFoot.com for additional premium resources, including access to the Injury Blitz Podcast hosted by yours truly. This bonus podcast, available to all #FootClan Premier members, is a short, yet informative injury podcast that drops late in the week in order to provide all the injury updates you need to set your lineup each week.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Right Hip Subluxation: Out 6-8 Weeks
Fitzpatrick was hit on a pass attempt on Sunday against the Chargers, with a defender’s body weight landing on top of his back. When Fitzpatrick impacted the ground, his right hip was flexed to about 90 degrees, and he landed on the front of his right knee, forcing an impact directly into the hip joint. This can lead to a full dislocation if severe enough, as we saw with Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama, but can also lead to a subluxation where the hip partially dislocates then relocates back into the socket. It’s a serious injury, but it won’t cost Fitz his season. Look for him to miss about two months of the season.
Players impacted: Taylor Heineke, Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson, Logan Thomas
Raheem Mostert
Cartilage Injury in Knee: Out 8 Weeks
Mostert left the first half early on Sunday after just two carries with a knee injury and didn’t return. After further evaluating the knee via MRI on Monday, it was confirmed that Mostert suffered “chipped cartilage” in his knee as reported by major media outlets. The terminology here suggests Mostert is probably dealing with a meniscus injury, but his season is not over. The 49ers RB will return after about two months following an arthroscopic procedure to clean out the joint and remove the piece of the torn meniscus and/or cartilage.
Players impacted: Trey Sermon, Elijah Mitchell, JaMycal Hasty
Jerry Jeudy
Right High Ankle Sprain: Out 6-8 Weeks
Jerry Jeudy was primed for a breakout campaign as a sophomore, but that’s going to have to be put on hold. Jeudy got his right leg trapped under a defender, resulting in a high ankle sprain as confirmed via MRI. His 6-8 week recovery timeline suggests this is likely a grade II injury, which will land Jeudy on IR for several weeks.
Typically, these injuries can affect players well beyond the reported return to play timeline as a player gets back on the field, and as a result, it’s unrealistic to expect Jeudy to be himself until much later this year, learn here the difference between ankle sprain vs fracture.
Players impacted: Courtland Sutton, Noah Fant, Tim Patrick, Teddy Bridgewater
Zach Ertz
Hamstring Strain: Week-to-Week
Ertz left Week 1 early due to a hamstring injury, but head coach Nick Sirriani, told reporters on Monday that Ertz was pulled for precautionary reasons and that he was still being evaluated. As of now, consider Ertz week-to-week. He’ll likely miss practice time this week and is a name to monitor ahead of Week 2 as even a mild hamstring injury would put Ertz’s Week 2 availability in question.
Players impacted: Dallas Goedert, DeVonta Smith, Jalen Hurts
Antonio Gibson
Left Shoulder AC Joint Sprain: Week-to-Week
Gibson landed on the top of his left shoulder, which is the classic mechanism of injury for an AC joint sprain. This injury is not significant and may not even affect his availability for Week 2. However, with the quick turnaround for Thursday Night Football against the Giants, look for Gibson to miss practice time and possibly require an injection for pain control prior to TNF.
Players impacted: J.D. McKissic, Jaret Patterson
Rashaad Penny
Calf Strain: Out 2-6 Weeks
Penny left Week 1 early with a calf strain and didn’t return. For a player like Penny, who has a history of previous calf strain, this injury can be problematic moving forward. Penny will miss multiple weeks, further improving Chris Carson‘s outlook from a workload perspective. The Seahawks former first round NFL Draft pick carries an elevated reinjury risk upon returning to the field given his history of prior calf injuries. He entered Week 1 on the Seahawks injury report with the same calf issue.
Players impacted: Chris Carson, Travis Homer
Michael Gallup
Calf Strain: Out 3-6 Weeks
Gallup left Thursday Night Football early with a calf injury and didn’t return. His calf strain has a reported recovery timeline of 3-5 weeks, but fantasy managers may want to plan for a longer time period before Gallup returns to full speed given that calf injuries have a high reinjury rate in the first couple of weeks. We know Gallup will miss at least three weeks after being placed on IR, but I’d suspect he’s out longer.
Players impacted: Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Cedrick Wilson, Dak Prescott