Linebacker Injury Report Week 9
Below are some injuries worth monitoring as we start Week 8. Please consider these players’ injuries when setting your lineups.
Cleveland Browns
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has a neck injury. Per Browns injury: JOK carted off field, taken to hospital; remains hospitalized overnight (Update) reports are saying no serious harm, expect him to be slowly eased back into the lineup as precautionary. Our favored waiver wire pickup last week, Mohamoud Diabate remains the better option over Devin Bush. Diabate instantly becomes the green dot and will have every down role duties with Devin Bush stepping in as LB2 role. It’s worth mentioning that Jordan Hicks did not practice either, so Daibate and Bush will remain the top options on this team, and in that order.
Detroit Lions
The news here is Malcolm Rodriguez is expected to miss at least one game that we know of, The door is wide open for Jack Campbell to kick it in with another strong week upcoming. Last week, he rewarded the team for his snap increase with 10 tackles and has a sweet matchup against Green Bay on the horizon, so I expect solid volume out of him and LB1 Alex Anzalone.
Houston Texans
Azeez Al-Shaair is out again, Neville Hewitt is his direct replacement playing the green dot role, and (at least temporarily) becoming this team’s every down linebacker. Newly signed Devin White rotated in the LB2 role for the Texans, sharing snaps evenly with Jake Hansen, each playing 50%. Those numbers absolutely cancel out each other’s value as neither linebacker is playable now. With Henry To’oTo’o now back for TNF, I expect Hewitt and To’oTo’o to play close to everydown roles. As @MasterIDP mentioned on this week’s podcast, no news of Christian Harris. It almost seems like he may have had a setback. You can listen to that podcast here. (25:27) IDP Week 9 Big Game: IDP+ Offense+TNF
Los Angeles Rams
With Troy Reeder placed on IR, we have seen rookie and PFF sensation Omar Speights come in with 44% snap use. As that stat suggests, he is only in a two-down role, coming off in passing downs with Jake Hummel rotating in. It seems these snap distributions will likely continue until Reeder returns. For a limited time, Speights has been effective (4 tackles) but is getting pulled on third downs like clockwork, this can be expected with younger players as passing downs are harder to diagnose play duties. Unsung hero Christian Rozeboom played every down with 94% snaps and seems to be the reliable choice at least early on until Speights could be eased into duty.
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings’ injury report came out Thursday morning and confirmed Cashman was absent from practice once again, making it highly likely he’ll miss Sunday night’s primetime matchup against the Colts. We still have a few days but with a toe injury, we can conclude the likelihood of Cashman missing at least one more game. The Ivan Pace Jr. Season continues. If this happens, there is a path for massive tackles in this one, especially with the return of Jonathan Taylor last week. On that note- Just wondering if Brian Flores’ defense can contain the Colts and Jonathan Taylor without Cashman assuming his green dot duties. So far, reliability in that area has been elusive as the team has had a hot start with Cashman (5-0) but has been cold (0-2) without him.
New York Jets
Though active last week, C.J. Mosley didn’t take a single snap due to a neck injury sustained during pre-game warmups. This was telling and TNF came so quickly, so it was not shocking to see Mosley declared out. Quincy Williams remains the LB1 on this team, with (97% snaps last week) in almost every down role. Chazz Surratt fills in when the team calls for a third player, he is not playable as his snaps range from 26-34% and are non-sustainable.
Washington Commanders
Going a little underreported, but according to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio, Luvu (shin) did not practice on Wednesday. Frankie Luvu Injury: Dealing with shin issue | RotoWire To say Luvu is a little banged up is an understatement. This week he is down with a shin injury, and in the weeks before it was his toe. Luvu has been used as the blitzing linebacker in this team scheme, so doesn’t have a direct IDP replacement for this role per say, rather this is a mention only to monitor for lineups. Luvu placed 100% snap counts and ended up with six tackles in the Commander’s exciting win over the Bears.
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