RPO Football

RPO Football provides award-winning Fantasy Football Rankings, IDP Rankings and Premium Prop Bets

Linebacker Injury Report Week 12

Steve Hungarter

Embed from Getty Images

Linebacker Injury Report Week 12

Below are some injuries worth monitoring as we start Week 11. Please consider these players’ injuries when setting your lineups.

Baltimore Ravens

Embed from Getty Images

Underreported news right now is that Roquan Smith had an injury to his hamstring and came out of last week’s game. Head Coach John Harbaugh did not provide an update on Smith after the game either. Should this All-Pro LB miss next week, Fantasy managers should keep an eye on Malik Harrison as a streaming option. He would play as the LB2 next to Trenton Simpson who would take on Smith’s role. This would make Harrison a potential LB3 flex option.

Perhaps this is just an overreaction as Smith will, after all, have one extra day to get healthy as they play on Monday Night.

Buffalo Bills

I know what you are thinking. This team is on a bye right? What sort of news could there possibly be, right? Wrong. So the Bills activated Matt Milano’s 21-day practice window last week, making in theoretically that he could play in Week 13. A clever owner may scurry to waivers and pick him up. Great news considering the bicep injury was at first thought to be season-ending. He is returning to a team in contention and at just the right time.

While this may be debated, I do not think he will jump into a full-time role given the length away from the game. It would make sense for Milano to be eased back in given the depth at Bills LB room all of a sudden. (Where was this last year?) He is an excellent bench player and great time to stash him away for championship week.

Detroit Lions

As we all know Alex Anzalone‘s injury to his broken forearm has him out for 6-8 weeks, thus concluding his IDP season.  Malcolm Rodriguez and Jack Campbell will be the names to monitor but which one will step into Anzalone’s role. The IDP has been divided on this question as both Campbell (94%) and Rodriguez (90%) figure to play nearly every down. The answer as we revealed on last week’s podcast, is in how they play- Anzalone got 16% of his snaps off the edge, while Campbell was the direct replacement for Anzalone in the center of the middle of the defense. I am anticipating Campbell as your LB1 for every linebacker moving forward.

Green Bay Packers

Rookie Edgerrin Cooper is working his way in for increased playing time as the season progresses. With 31 tackles on the season, last week got 71% of snaps as is steadily climbing this depth chart. He could be challenging for the LB1 role down the role. Unfortunately, it definitely won’t be this week. Cooper first appeared on the Packers injury report Wednesday with a hamstring injury. It’s sort of under the radar reported right now because this injury was sustained during practice. Wheels up for Quay Walker this week.

Houston Texans

Embed from Getty Images

 
Azeez Al-Shaair had a limited practice this week despite coming back from an injury. Take this as good news and a positive vibe, as he previously battled a knee injury for most of October. That injury caused him to miss 3 games. Given the fact that he played in the last 2 games, and it’s only mid-week, it leads me to believe he’ll be good to go and the team is just taking it easy.

Los Angeles Chargers

Denzel Perryman did not practice and the team is saying he is day to day. However new rumors have emerged that Perryman injured his groin and could be out for weeks. None of this we should care about as Henley is the only one to own here. 

Tennessee Titans

As previously reported, Jack Gibbens is done for the season. You already know it’s Jerome Baker as his replacement. Yikes. 

Thank you for reading!  Follow me on X at @IDPHunter

If you want to win your IDP leagues, make sure you check out our 2024 Weekly IDP Rankings.