Inside The Medical Tent: Regular Season Week 5

Presented by The Injured List Podcast and That Sports Podcast Network

Written by Brian Scott and Andrew Leduc

Welcome to The Medical Tent

Welcome back for the third year of “Inside The Medical Tent.” Each week I, Andrew Leduc, will be asking Brian Scott, of “The Injured List Podcast,” injury questions that could have a fantasy impact. Brian will be giving his professional analysis of the injury and potential timelines. I will then turn that around into what you should do with that player and who could be a possible replacement. Check back every Wednesday during the season for all the necessary information before hitting your league’s waiver wire.

Jonathan Taylor - RB (IND)

Andrew Leduc - Taylor sustained another ankle injury. Can we expect the same as we have seen in years past for him?

Brian Scott - He was injured in the 2nd half of their week 4 game and then did not return. He was a non participant in practice on Wednesday and will likely be listed as questionable heading into the weekend, if he can get back on the field and prepare in time. Keep in mind, over the last few years, he has been banged up with multiple injuries which have caused him to miss time, but in particular ankle problems, which also saw him undergo offseason surgery prior to 2023. This is concerning if it is in fact the same ankle, but just as concerning is if it's the other side because this could lead to similar chronic issues as the season progresses. Assuming it is a high ankle sprain, it could be at least a few weeks before we see him back in game action.

Andrew Leduc - We have seen Taylor go down and miss time before. In the past it paved the way for some boom weeks for Nyheim Hines. This year the easy add has been Trey Sermon. We have seen Sermon step into spots in San Francisco in the past and be productive, to a certain degree. I think Sermon can be alright in this offense, but I would temper expectations. What we saw last week in the second half from this team was on the back of Joe Flacco. We have seen this offense be much less effective with Richardson under center and Sermon is no Taylor. FLEX value at max for Sermon for me.

Anthony Richardson - QB (IND)

Andrew Leduc - After being diagnosed with a hip-pointer, are there any updates? Also, what is a hip-pointer injury?

Brian Scott - With what was initially ruled a hip pointer has more recently been reported as an oblique injury. He was limited in practice on Wednesday. There is a big difference between these two injuries. Hip pointers are usually a contusion type injury to the hip/pelvic bone on your waistline, most of the time due to a direct impact. Oblique injuries are usually muscle strains. So, best case scenario here is that he has a bruise to his oblique, and hence the initial discrepancy in the reports of the injury. If this is the case, then we should not see him miss any time this weekend. If he gets on the practice field by Friday, he should be good to go. If he struggles, like Kenneth Walker, then this might be come down to a game time decision.

Andrew Leduc - Speaking of Anthony Richardson, Richardson goes down again for the Colts. Luckily for his owners this seems to be more minor and he could very well suit up this week. Outside of Week 1 Richardson has been largely disappointing. He has not been able to get star Michael Pittman going and has been sloppy at best. If Richardson comes back from the injury and has a good week against Jacksonville, then I am looking to shop him for value. I am not sure you would get top value for him, but you could possibly get the following guys depending on your league scoring formats. At receiver you could maybe get Xavier Worthy. At runningback you are looking at someone like Chubba Hubbard. At quarterback for a straight swap you could get Baker Mayfield. We are entering the time of year with BYE weeks where you can start to target specific guys in trades who already had their BYEs in order to limit the amount of exposure you have to holes in your lineups.

Christian Watson - WR (GB)

Andrew Leduc - Can Watson actually avoid IR as early reports suggested?

Brian Scott - Ok, so some reports stated that he is dealing with a “mild” high ankle sprain and will not need to go on IR. I say, hold on wait a minute here. He had to be carted off the field!!! High ankle sprains, just by their mechanism alone are usually not mild, as evidenced by the fact that he “was carted off the field”!!! So, let’s wait and see how this plays out. Perhaps it is not as bad as they originally thought, but I do see this being a few weeks at least before we see him make any meaningful return. IR stint is not out of the woods just yet as some players can be placed on IR retroactive to their injury date. So, I would like to revisit this in a week.

Andrew Leduc - Watson has the unfortunate problem of having a lot of capable options around him. Reed is the new star in the offense and Wicks will be stepping in for Watson in his absence. With Love back from injury all of these options will continue to hit ceiling week in and out. It will just be a question of which one each week. Others are saying to not trust Tucker Kraft after his boom week, but I think there is more of that to come especially with Watson out. Jacobs and Kraft are the two biggest benefactors from the combination of Love being back and Watson being out. Give me both of them.

Rashee Rice - WR (KC)

Andrew Leduc - What are we to believe since the team has yet to confirm a torn ACL injury?

Brian Scott - Ok, with this injury, the chiefs are now saying that he is still undergoing testing and that he may in fact be ready to return before the end of the season. They have confirmed that he will miss their week 5 game, and then they have a bye week 6, so we know that he will have at least 3 weeks to rehab or whatever they plan to do.

I am very skeptical of this. I think they are seeking a second opinion because the MRI was likely not so obvious for possible ACL injury or some other major soft tissue injury. MRI exams these days are very reliable and accurate with regard to musculoskeletal exams. Most orthopedic surgeons are so adept at reviewing them and have such a vast knowledge of how to read them and correlate them with their surgical findings, they often times do not even need to wait for the radiologist’s interpretation.

For this reason, I am calling BS! I think they see something on his MRI that has them stumped and unsure of what the best way is to proceed, so they are having him see another physician for a second opinion. Keep an eye out, because I am sure there is more to come on this. I do not have any inside sources, I am just going on media reports and my vast knowledge of how things work in the sports and orthopedic world. I myself am curious to see how this unfolds.

Andrew Leduc - Kansas City is dealt another blow to their season with Rice looking like he will need to head to the IR and possibly end his season. In theory Xavier Worthy should see a massive uptick in production here. The key to everything though will be if Kelce can get things going with Mahomes. Both Mahomes and Kelce has been wildly disappointing to start the year and this injury certainly does not help that. If there is someone else I am looking at in this offense who could step up and has the trust of Mahomes, it is Justin Watson. He has been serviceable in specific weeks in the past and has played a role even when the offense is fully healthy. Watson could be another Juauan Jennings, but to a lesser degree. I think he is still worth a pickup though, because JuJu Smith-Schuster is not going to be the answer for anyone.

Eligible To Return From PUP/IR

Kendrick Bourne - Bourne is coming off an ACL injury and is slated to start practicing today. This means that he will officially enter his 21 day window for possibly being activated to the roster. The teams HC Jerod Mayo has already stated that he will not be ready for week 5. He will ramp up his participation in practice as the next two weeks unfold and if he is ready they will probably wait until near the end of that 21 day window.

Nick Chubb - He officially returned to practice today and was a limited participant. They are going to bring him along slowly as they should given his history of major ligament injury and reconstructive surgery, twice, to the same knee dating back to 2015 when he was injured in college. He along with Nyheim Hines and David Njoku were all limited Wednesday this week in practice. While Chubb might be ready to come back this season, it will likely not be determined for several more weeks as he has officially entered the 21 day window.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire - He was placed on the Non Football Injury List due to complications from post-traumatic stress disorder and cyclic vomiting syndrome. He has entered the 21 day window to get back in shape and on the active roster. He was very public and open about his disorder and how he received much help early on from one of the Chief’s staff assistant athletic trainers Julie Frymeyer. ATCs are usually the unsung heroes Inside The Medical tent who take care of these athletes year round to ensure they are in peak physical and mental health in order to sustain their performance on the field. Kudos to her for helping CEH with this disorder and getting back to health.

Jonathan Brooks - It was announced this week that Brooks will not take the practice field just yet and it could be even more time before we see him do so as he continues to recover from ACL reconstructive surgery he had last November while in college. The team drafted him knowing his injury would significantly limit his availability this year, but as I have said all along I believe this was a steal of a draft pick and if they are looking to build a future around a potential game breaking back, then so far they are doing it the right way. They should and hopefully do bring him along slowly. When he takes the practice field he will enter that 21 day window. Teams are allowed two IR designations max on any one player and if they feel they need to use another one on Brooks and extend his time off, they could go this route, or could officially end his season if they do not feel he will be ready this year. I expect that they at least will get him on the practice field and see where he stands before making any decision, so we will see when he finally gets out there.

TJ Hockenson - The Vikings made it official today as HC Kevin O’Connell announced that Hockenson will return to practice Friday and enter the 21 day window with the expectation that he will be game ready either week 7 or 8. This is good news and right on target as he is now 10 months removed from his knee ACL surgery. Look for him to slowly but steadily ramp up his practice participation. If any setback occurs, guaranteed Andrew Leduc and myself will be all over it right here from Inside The Medical Tent.

The Discharge

Come back every week for all of the latest injury updates. If you have other questions we didn’t get to in this week’s edition you can follow us on Twitter below and message us directly.

Brian Scott - The Injured List Podcast - (@injuredlistpod)  https://twitter.com/injuredlistpod

Andrew Leduc - (@theRealMrMallard) https://twitter.com/realMrMallard

If you are interested in Andrew’s weekly rankings as well, follow the link below to TSS Fantasy.

Andrew Leduc’s (Mr. Mallard) Rankings - https://tssfantasy.com/andrews-ranking