NFL players get hurt in training camp. It’s as predictable as death, taxes, and celebrity sex tapes. There’s nothing anybody can do about it, so the best way for fantasy owners to deal with the maladies is to gather as much information as possible and decipher what it means. Let’s do just that with some of the latest injury news.

Donnie Avery, WR, St. Louis Rams: The second-year pro has a stress fracture in his left foot, and is said to be out 4-6 weeks. This is a dangerous injury, because it can be difficult to know when a stress fracture is fully healed. Avery could very well miss the opening few weeks of the regular season. As such, bump him down a few notches on your WR cheat sheets. He was also hurt last season in training camp, so the “injury prone” label is quickly coming. You can move the likes of Keenan Burton, Laurent Robinson and Ronald Curry up your rankings if you wish, but their fantasy value will ebb once Avery comes back, and it wouldn’t be high enough to make them draftable in anything but deep leagues anyway.

Beanie Wells, RB, Arizona Cardinals: Wells is not practicing with Arizona, as he recovers from an ankle malady. Injuries were the knock on him coming out of Ohio State, and it took him no time at all to get hurt in training camp, which isn’t a good sign. If Wells continues to miss a significant amount of time, it will help Tim Hightower snatch the starting job at running back. Hightower failed to capitalize on the opportunity last season, as you can see in the graph to the right which shows his rushing yards per game, but he is a good receiver and will get in the end zone a number of times. Still, be careful making him anything more than a RB3.

Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions: Johnson jammed his right thumb over the weekend, and had a temporary cast on it. X-rays revealed nothing major, but the Lions can ill afford to lose their most talented player, so he’ll have more tests done on it. This simply sounds like the Lions being overly cautious early in camp with their best player, so fantasy owners should continue taking Johnson with confidence.

Ben Utecht, TE, Cincinnati Bengals: Utecht may miss the season after suffering a concussion. He’ll meet with neurologists to discuss his future over the next couple days. While not a prolific player, Utecht could have mustered some fantasy value with the return of Carson Palmer this season to Cincy’s offense. Should Utecht miss the year, the fantasy value of Robert Royal and Chase Coffman goes up, especially in Coffman’s case. He struggles blocking, but is an excellent receiver who can catch anything thrown to him, and if Utecht is gone, Coffman is guaranteed to see more playing time, and should be moved up a number of notches on your TE rankings.

Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Beanie Wells, Ben Utecht, Calvin Johnson, Chase Coffman, Chris Wells, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Donnie Avery, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Draft Strategy, Injuries, Keenan Burton, Laurent Robinson, Robert Royal, Ronald Curry, St Louis Rams, Statistics

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Entry posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm. Filed under tags: Arizona Cardinals, Beanie Wells, Ben Utecht, Calvin Johnson, Chase Coffman, Chris Wells, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Donnie Avery, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Draft Strategy, Injuries, Keenan Burton, Laurent Robinson, Robert Royal, Ronald Curry, St Louis Rams, Statistics,
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