Presented by:
The Injured List Podcast® and Fantasy Sports Corporation
Week 2
By Brian Scott and Andrew Leduc
WELCOME TO THE MEDICAL TENT
Welcome back for the second 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 Tuesday during the season for all the necessary information before hitting your league’s waiver wire.
Heading into Week 2 we are still recovering from a wild first week. Upset victories, wild finishes, and blowouts, both on the scoreboard and of the achilles kind led to panic across the nation. We have a lot to cover this week and the waiver wires are going to be frantic. Get ready for a long season folks, because we are only on the first hill of this roller coaster ride.
J.K. Dobbins - RB (BAL)
Andrew Leduc - With his season done, given his history, how much harder is it to return from this injury?
Brian Scott - Immediately two other athletes come to mind when talking about J.K. Dobbins’ most recent injury. Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors and Tarik Cohen, Running back for the Chicago Bears. Both tore their ACL in their knee, then within 10-12 months, sustained a ruptured Achilles. Cohen famously filmed himself rupturing his Achilles during a livestream of one of his ACL rehab sessions. He has not played in the NFL since, although he did try to make a comeback this year. Klay has made a comeback and looked like he never skipped a beat.
However, it took him quite a long time to return to action. Unfortunately for J.K. Dobbins, the game of football is not as forgiving the game of basketball. This is going to be a mountain to climb for him to get back on the field and be the player of old. Can he do it? Sure, he is young, so that certainly factors in his favor. That being said, when you’re dealing with two injuries that have been proven to show significant declines in power and performance, I do not think we see him at all resemble the player he was in college.
Andrew Leduc - This is tough to see for a guy that is so talented. Dobbins will once again exit the season early out of an offense that was a perfect fit for his style of play. He leaves a vacancy that should provide immediate value for whichever running back steps up to grab it. I believe in Gus Edwards. He has proven himself in this offense before when needed and I do not see that changing. Justice Hill looked good in his chances on Sunday, so I do believe he will have a role to play, but Edwards will be the guy I am after on the waiver wire. Also, do not even tempt yourself with Melvin Gordon just because he is on the depth chart. His TD vulture days are behind him and he is not worth your time.
Greg Dulcich - TE (DEN)
Andrew Leduc - What was the leg injury he suffered right before half time?
Brian Scott - He went down in the game Sunday after catching 2 passes for 22 yards. Reports are saying that he injured his hamstring. Apparently it is the same one that caused him to miss the first 5 games last year and also the finals two games of the season. He is scheduled for an MRI on that leg Monday of this week, but I have yet to see any reports about the findings. This is not good. Something has to be done, whether it be a complete overhaul to his conditioning and training program, or possible surgery to repair the strain. Surgery for this will depend solely on where the problem lies, either in the muscle itself or the tendinous attachments. I have not seen many of these surgeries in my 20+ years of practice. When I do, it's usually for players who have torn a piece of tendon with bone off of the attachment at the pelvic attachment site on the ischial tuberosity. Other than that, I have no idea how well people do with other types of repairs. Jose Reyes, former shortstop of the Mets, had surgery on his and played a long career with no residual effects, so there is some degree of optimism here, but not in the short term.
Andrew Leduc - This is shaping out to be a potentially bigger deal than I think most people are talking about, as yet another tight end goes down. Dulcich is a young athletic guy with the composition and set of skills to be an elite tight end in this league. Right now though, his first season was plagued by both injury and Russell Wilson, and now his second season could be hindered by injury once again. With the changes in recent years to the preseason structure and training camp structure, we are going to see a lot more of these soft tissue injuries early on in the season. The key is not too panic too much. At the tight end position we can find fill-ins when needed without having to break the bank on the trade market. Adam Trautman would be the first man up if Dulcich misses time and we know he can be a serviceable streamer when needed. You may need to look at other teams though to the likes of Isaiah Likely if Mark Andrews continues to miss time, Hayden Hurst, or Jake Ferguson.
Anthony Richardson - QB (IND)
Andrew Leduc - The team doesn't seem concerned with the ankle injury. Are you concerned?
Brian Scott - He missed the last 3 plays of the game with a knee injury that is reported as being minor and nothing to worry about. He said he probably could have gone back in to play but since the game was over at that point there was no reason to. He brushed off the media when talking about it in the post-game press conference by saying he was more hurt about the loss than about his knee. I do not expect anything to come of this, he probably just got banged up a little bit and was able to walk it off.
Andrew Leduc - All the signs point to the Colts just playing it safe here in the first game. I think Richardson exceeded even their expectations and they did not see the point in risking further injury at that point. Richardson exploded onto the scene with 223 yards in the air and one touchdown and one interception. He also added another 40 yards on the ground on 10 carries with a score. The hype is there and if you paid the premium draft price for a questionable rookie quarterback, then you should be feeling pretty good right now.
Evan Hull - RB (IND)
Andrew Leduc - Do you know what level of knee injury he is dealing with?
Brian Scott - Hull reportedly will be “missing some time” with a knee injury of some kind. It is likely some degree of a sprain as is usually the case. I have not seen any reports indicating that he had any MRI or other imaging studies done. We will keep an eye out for any updates as time passes. Sounds like we are looking at 2-3 weeks minimum. Any more than that and we could expect a trip to IR to free up some roster space and potentially make some transactions. If you see a player elevated from the practice squad or free agent signing, expect Hull to go to IR.
Andrew Leduc - I included Hull this week just because I was propping him up last week to be involved alongside Deon Jackson in the absence of Jonathan Taylor. With Hull heading to the sideline now the Colts are left with Jackson and Zack Moss. If Moss returns from his own injury this week he will definitely play a role, but I would now expect Jackson to be the main guy to own in this backfield, as he can be explosive as a pass catcher and outside runner. I would expect Moss to be used situationally.
Aaron Rodgers - QB (NYJ)
Andrew Leduc - With an achilles injury confirmed, how difficult is this injury to return from at his age?
Brian Scott - I was watching the game when this injury happened and right away, I was concerned about a possible Achilles injury once I saw the first slow motion replay. I was so concerned about it that at 8:35 pm EST I posted it on X. See@injuredlistpod and follow so you do not miss injury updates and info. Not only was I
concerned about this injury based on the mechanism, but once I saw him try to walk and then sit down with that expression of hopelessness on his face, I knew that I was right. I have seen that look of despair on athlete’s faces before and it is almost always bad news. People remained optimistic when they saw him in a boot walking on it and then heard he would have an MRI. Problem is, with an Achilles Rupture, you can be protected bearing weight in a boot. It's not ideal, but some physicians will allow their patients to walk on it in a boot if they already suspect it's ruptured and know that surgery is going to happen. Also, x-rays are taken to not confirm the rupture, but rather to rule out more serious injuries that can occur to bone, such as calcaneus avulsion fractures, which are a very serious type of injury that can sometimes occur and is very similar in mechanism to Achilles tendon rupture. So a quick inexpensive x-ray that can be done in the stadium is important to rule out a much more serious injury on location. MRI is done not only to confirm what they suspect is the diagnosis, but also for surgical planning. I can with almost 100% certainty say that the medical team of the NY Jets already knew what it was going to show. A ruptured Achilles tendon. At age 39, this is a potentially a career ending injury. For skilled position players such as wide receivers and running backs, you can pretty much call it quits at this age. As a QB, with it not being his back leg, you have a fighting chance. I know he is a competitive guy, so I do think he will make a comeback. Not sure how much he will be hampered by it in the future, but I would not throw in the towel just yet.
Andrew Leduc - The amount of emotions that ran through MetLife Stadium between 8:00 and 8:30 PM EST was unheard of. From the somber remembrance of pre-game ceremonies for September 11th, to the highs of Aaron Rodgers running on the field with the American Flag to lead the Jets out and the defense then stepping up and stopping the Bills, it was electric. Then, it was silent. A seemingly normal and harmless sack ended with the collective breath of an entire stadium and fanbase being taken away. I am not sure where the Jets go from here at quarterback, but I do not believe Zach Wilson will start the majority of games for this team this season.
If you had Rodgers as your quarterback then the rest of your team should be pretty solid given the value you got him at. Now you will need to take a shot on some other options such as Baker Mayfield, Mac Jones, or Desmond Ridder to name a few potentially available options. I am ranking them in that order myself as a Rodgers owner who now needs to scramble. Mayfield has a majority of home games in the early season and still has viable weapons at his disposal. Mac Jones settled down and looked good, but you have to be hesitant about the strength of schedule and the weapons around him. Desmond Ridder is a complete high risk high reward type of pickup. He looked good and efficient, although held in check by his own team to ease him into the league. He has the weapons around him and the rushing upside to be serviceable for you if the rest of your team is solid and healthy. You will most likely need to make a trade at some point though if you are shaping up for a playoff run.
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-rankings
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