Rob Gronkowski is tracking toward a Week 2 debut to the 2016 season

Are last-minute injury decisions ruining your fantasy lineup every week? The Jocs and Docs Show is here to help. Not only are we going to break down the biggest injury question marks every week, but we are also going to provide insight on who is likely to sit and who you can pick up to bolster your lineup.

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Thomas Rawls (RB – SEA)
Rawls, who is coming off of an ankle injury from last year, saw 11 carries for a meager 24 yards in Week 1. Christine Michael, his competition, received 15 carries and gained a much better 66 yards. Although Rawls was named the starter this week, we expect a similar timeshare until Rawls can prove that he has returned to game shape. At this point, the issue is simply rehabbing back into form. Therefore as time progresses Rawls should gradually improve as his ankle should have healed properly. Rawls is not an RB1 play this week, especially when going against the pesky Ram run defense. If you have Michael you should consider starting him instead.  

Julio Jones (WR – ATL)
Jones injured his ankle in preseason. He happened to tweak the same injury in Week 1. Although he only missed one snap, Jones was hampered in practice on Wednesday. Even with this limitation, Jones will be a full go for Week 2 against Oakland. Jones has been saying all the right things, and we expect him to have a monster week against the Raiders defense who just got torched by New Orleans.

Sammy Watkins (WR – BUF)
As another victim of the dreaded Jones fracture, Watkins underwent surgery in the spring to place a screw into the base of his fifth metatarsal. While the bone should be healed by now, it wouldn’t be unusual for him to still have some discomfort in the foot as reports have been suggesting this week. Watkins seems convinced that he will see the field this Thursday. The big issue here is whether the bone has healed. 20% of these fractures require a second surgery, as was the case with Julian Edelman, Dez Bryant, and Julio Jones. Watkins reportedly has little concern over bone healing, but we are not convinced. Should this injury linger, we could be looking at a season-ending surgery. As for this Thursday, we are expecting limited participation. With a matchup against the Jets and the bruised ego of Darrelle Revis, Watkins is a DNP at any cost. Any other Bills receiver at this point is too risky to play.

Demaryius Thomas (WR – DEN)
Concern was raised Sunday regarding the possibility of an injury to the hip for Thomas. Reports stated that an MRI was performed and he was seeking a second opinion on the results. Luckily, these fears seem to have been allayed with reports that he should resume practice on Wednesday. It is not uncommon to seek second opinions with players throughout the season and, for now, there is no reason to worry. All signs seem to be that Thomas is well. As far as we are concerned Thomas is a must play this week against a paper mache Colts defense that just made Matthew Stafford look like Dan Marino.

Chris Ivory (RB – JAC)
There isn’t much concrete information on Ivory. We know he was hospitalized over the weekend for a “general medical condition” and was released early this week. He did not practice Wednesday. It is hard to speculate on his Week 2 status as we have no idea what his illness is. At best, Ivory is a 50-50 chance to play, but we predict that he will be sitting. That’s a shame because he definitely would have gotten some red zone opportunities against a Chargers defense that has shown no signs of improvement this year.  T.J. Yeldon, while disappointing so far, should have a good game, especially with the extra touches he’ll get in Ivory’s absence.   

Jamaal Charles/Spencer Ware (RB – KC)
Charles is still less than 100% coming off of his ACL reconstruction and was practicing with the scout team on Wednesday. Barring a miraculous recovery, we expect Charles to sit again this week. Out of the backup running backs it looks like Spencer Ware will get a majority of the carries for the Chiefs. However, a minor toe injury has many fantasy owners nervous after Ware had a monster performance totaling 199 yards and a touchdown Week 1. All reports are indicating that nothing will stop him from playing against the Texans.  However, we encourage all fantasy owners to temper expectations for a repeat performance as the Chiefs running attack will face the stiff opposition of J.J. Watt and Co.

Arian Foster (RB – MIA)
Another season, another Foster talking point. This week it is the hamstring. Foster may have missed practice on Wednesday, however, this is very likely just a veteran maintenance day. Keep an eye on his practice situation this week, but I would be surprised if Foster didn’t play Sunday. Arian Foster remains an RB2 play.  However, since he is going against the Patriots defense if you have two better RB options we recommend you take it.

Rob Gronkowski (TE – NE)
Gronkowski missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury but is trending towards playing this Sunday. The Patriots will likely ease him along as hamstring injuries have a nasty propensity to linger throughout the year. Since he is still limited in practice we may not see Gronkowski get the full snap count this week, however he will get some playing time.  You may want to consider playing Martellus Bennett instead. However, Bennett was disappointing during Week 1 where he had a lion’s share of the tight end snaps.

Russell Wilson (QB – SEA)
Wilson appeared to suffer a mild high ankle sprain after being unintentionally stepped on by Ndamukong Suh. Although some doubts were raised about Wilson’s ability to suit up for Week 2, by video his sprain does not appear to be severe. I fully expect Wilson to see the field this week. The real question will be how mobile he can be with the sprain. While he will definitely have some issues with cutting and running, I don’t think we will notice it too much. This impacts his fantasy value as he may not get as many rushing yards as anticipated. However, if Wilson is your QB1 I would still recommend playing him against a Rams team that is all but guaranteed to lose following their Week 1 debacle against the 49ers.

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The views of this show are strictly our own personal opinions and are in no way affiliated with any institution or any of our employers. All medical knowledge expressed is solely based off our own knowledge and no private patient information was obtained or used to formulate these opinions.

Asad Khalid is an orthopedic surgeon and sports maniac at heart. Aman Khalid is a law student and fantasy savant. Follow the show @jocsanddocs and listen to them on iTunes.