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.
Marquise Brown - WR (KC)
Andrew Leduc - For those of us in the room without a medical degree, what is a sterno-clavicular joint dislocation?
Brian Scott - Marquise Brown sustained a serious sterno-clavicular joint dislocation. While these are not unheard of in football, they are quite rare. They are more common in high energy injuries such as those resulting from motor vehicle accidents or falls from significant heights. Luckily for Marquise his clavicle (collar bone) dislocated from the articulation on his sternum (SC joint) in a forward fashion, which is the most common type. In doing so, he avoided any major injury to his neuro-vascular structures in his neck (veins, arteries, nerves) which can be potentially life threatening and more likely to occur with the second most common type of this injury which causes the clavicle to dislocate backwards into the sternal cavity of the neck/thorax. Tyreek Hill had a similar type of injury in 2019. In both cases each player was slammed to the ground and landed chest first into the turf while holding onto the ball, which likely acted like a projectile creating tremendous force. Hill was able to make his return in 4 weeks and by all reports it seems as though the same will be likely for Brown. Both players were able to avoid surgery and given adequate time to heel should have no residual long lasting issues. As scary as it sounds, we can be reassured that Brown can continue to perform at a high level once he gets back on the field.
Andrew Leduc - After 2 years of very uninspired football in Arizona, Marquise Brown finds himself in a historically sustained and stable offense. Unfortunately for Brown, there is enough data to show that his lone 1,000 yard receiving season in Baltimore may have been a fluke, having not surpassed 800 yards in any other season. That coupled with the pattern of him missing at least one or two games a season make him an unreliable WR1 option for fantasy teams. Now with his latest injury, it seems he avoided any major setbacks but will most likely miss at least Week 1 if not Week 2 as well.
The good news for Brown now though, is that for the first time in his career he will be in an offense that will need him, but not rely on him. With Mahomes throwing to him he should find more accurate work than his past 2 seasons. He will be competing for targets with the other-worldly Travis Kelce, but he should still get his. The young bucks in Skyler Moore, Rashee Rice, and Xavier Worthy definitely pose a threat to his production. Luckily though, once again, Kansas City is an offense that finished 15th in points and 9th in yards last year. I suspect they will be even better than that this year and predict Brown to have around 750 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. This would probably put him around WR20 compared to last year's rankings depending on his receptions, which I suspect will be around the 60 mark.
Christian McCaffery - RB (SF)
Andrew Leduc - Do you have any serious level of concern for the outlook of Christian's season?
Brian Scott - Christian had a calf strain, mild one at that, in practice leading up to the first pre-season game. He was quoted as saying that he could play if needed to, but that they would be taking it slow and ensuring a full recovery. We are reminded of Joe Burrow last year dealing with a calf strain that lingered into the start of the regular season and cost him valuable pre-season preparation time. He also re-aggravated it coming back too soon.
McCaffrey will not make that mistake and as a guy who regularly maintains himself in top condition, along with blessed set of genetics, he will be more than ready to go week 1. Calf strains while tricky to treat, if not at least a moderate grade, then they can be managed with rest, strengthening, flexibility, and a gradual return to sport. Sounds like the team has a solid plan in place.
Andrew Leduc - There is no need to complicate this situation. CMC will play week 1, barring any setbacks, and he will be worth every single first overall pick that he has been ranked this year. The man is just a machine and even missing games every year due to injury still comes out near the top of fantasy scoring. He is as close to a sure thing as you can get in fantasy football. I do not see the San Francisco offense slowing down at all, even with the Brandon Aiyuk saga still ongoing.
Puka Nacua - WR (LAR)
Andrew Leduc - Is there risk for long-term aggravation with this injury?
Brian Scott - Nacua went down with a knee injury that the team reported as a ruptured bursa sac. These are fluid filled sacs that we all have throughout our body surrounding joints and tendons that act as a protective buffer against friction on bony prominences. There are several in the knee and in watching Nacua’s injury on film, he likely ruptured the one on the front of his knee. This in turn can cause the bursa to either become significantly inflamed or in some cases even rupture. This can lead to sudden onset of swelling in the knee which initially can cause pain, stiffness, and until more advanced imaging like an MRI is obtain, can cause fear of a more serious structural injury. My guess is that they likely did a bedside ultrasound to quickly find the source of his swelling in the knee which lead to their quick and rather firm diagnosis of a bursa issue.
Once that swelling subsides much of his pain and stiffness should also improve and I foresee a quick rehab and recovery once that takes place. The Bursa in the knee do not serve any structural purpose and the only major complication that can sometimes arise is when the bursa can get inflamed and lead to an infection, acute bursitis. These are usually not a problem in young athletic population that suffers trauma, but certainly something the team will be cognizant of. Once back, we should see him firing on all cylinders.
Andrew Leduc - Nacua should be able to return to be the stud receiver we saw last year breakout on to the scene. This was perfect timing for the Rams giving the doubts and questions surrounding the durability and long-term production capabilities of Cooper Kupp. I think what this scenario offers us is the perfect trade conditions to get an early season win on one of your league-mates. If you end up with Cooper Kupp we could see a nice quick and explosive start as Nacua either eases back in from the injury or even misses time. If that happens I am going to be selling Kupp to the highest bidder and try to find an owner who has a case of the early season panics. Nacua will be the number one explosive option in this offense again and Kupp will be most valuable as a name to cash in on while you still can. I am trying to trade Kupp before week 5 if the scenario plays out as stated above.
JJ McCarthy - QB (MIN)
Andrew Leduc - Is this injury as bad as it sounds?
Brian Scott - When news first came out of his injury, MRI, and decision for surgery, I almost immediately knew it was some kind of meniscus injury. These can often be found on MRI, but it is important for the medical team to correlate the MRI findings with the clinical symptoms McCarthy had. In doing so, they likely felt strongly that the meniscus injury found on MRI was causing significant enough symptoms, that at the very least it warranted a diagnostic arthroscopy (knee scope) to better assess the knee joint under direct visual inspection.
If a simple debridement is to be performed we can expect him back fairly quickly, within a few weeks, however, if there is any type of tear found that is best treated with some form of a repair, then the timeline can change dramatically, in some cases by as much as several months. So while we are all hopeful that his timeline is the former, there is still a strong possibility it could be the latter.
No one will know for sure until that procedure is done, which should happen fairly soon.
Andrew Leduc - Luckily for us we do now have more information on the situation since asking Brian this question. Unfortunately for the Vikings, McCarthy is done for the season. The investigative procedure indeed found a tear that will require surgery to repair the meniscus. This is disappointing on a lot of levels. Obviously for McCarthy himself now needing to miss his rookie season after having an impressive camp and first pre-season game. McCarthy looked to be in control of the offense and confident enough to get the ball to his playmakers with little mistakes. For a brief period of time, I started to have some more confidence in the high draft value of Justin Jefferson. Now with most likely Sam Darnold taking over the signal calling, my expectations are lowered.
My biggest concern for the likes of TJ Hockenson and Justin Jefferson is the touchdown production. I do not see this offense operating consistently enough to produce high end scoring opportunities at a rate that equals the high draft value of Jefferson currently. I believe Jefferson will still get a ton of targets and yards, but his ceiling is definitely lowered and capped now I believe. I would still take him on my team, but I am not drafting him as a top 5 WR with this current situation.
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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