With just over two weeks until the start of the NFL regular season, there are some injury concerns around tight ends that have major fantasy football relevance. With Sam LaPorta, Mark Andrews, and David Njoku all dealing with concerns, let’s look at the latest TE injury updates and see if any of them could miss time to open the season.
Sam LaPorta Injury Update
Another star Detroit Lions player dealing with a hamstring issue is tight end Sam LaPorta. It has been a slightly longer ordeal for fantasy managers with LaPorta, who first missed practice back on Aug. 5.
Much like with Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions head coach Dan Campbell gave a potential return timetable of Sunday this week or early next week.
Missing nearly three weeks due to a hamstring injury is somewhat of a concern for LaPorta, but there will be an element of being overly cautious here. Hamstring injuries are a re-injury risk, so the Lions may just be taking it cautiously from that perspective.
In some respects, fantasy managers would be happier if LaPorta sat out as long as required if it ensures he misses no time in the regular season.
As far as fantasy drafts go, there’s no reason to downgrade LaPorta. He should be good to go for Week 1, and there’s enough time for the hamstring to heal fully in order to avoid a re-injury.
Mark Andrews Injury Update
The situation surrounding Mark Andrews is a little bit unusual in that his injury is actually from a car accident that he was involved in last Wednesday.
The incident has been described as minor, with initial reports suggesting Andrews didn’t suffer any injury at all. However, as anyone who has been in a car accident will attest, the impact tends to be felt in the days following the incident.
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Andrews didn’t play a part in the preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons this past week, but that in itself shouldn’t be a major concern.
On Tuesday afternoon, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told reporters, “It was a very minor thing; we are just not messing with him right now. Don’t worry about Mark.” Harbaugh then confirmed Andrews would travel with the team to Green Bay.
David Njoku Injury Update
David Njoku was another player who left practice last week with an undisclosed injury. Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski described the tight end as “sore” but wouldn’t go into any more details.
Njoku remained absent from practice on Tuesday, which does raise the concern meter slightly. Still, it seems unlikely this injury will cost the Browns’ TE significant practice time, and there is very little chance it will cost him time in the regular season.
At this stage, there’s no reason to downgrade Njoku in drafts. He’s currently being selected 80th overall as the TE9 off the board. That is pretty spot on the right value for him in terms of his positional importance.
Until we receive an update on whether he could miss time in the regular season, there’s no reason this ADP should vary massively.