0:00I'm not making the same mistake I did last year. I am not going to be drafting these injured players as if they're
0:06going to be good to go week one. I'm diving deep into every current injured player that we have, every player that's
0:11coming off significant injury, looking at what is the realistic timetable, and are they cheap enough in drafts for us to actually buy the discount, or do we
0:20need to be avoiding them all together?
0:21Now, our first name with Rashee Rice, I'm going to be honest, I was very concerned initially because with Rice, not only did he go under the knife to
0:29have a knee procedure clean up that was supposed to hold him out about a month to 6 weeks with good rehab, but then
0:36right afterwards, he got sent to jail, county jail, right? We were in the live stream looking up pictures of this facility going, "You know what? This
0:43does not look good." We had no clarity on what the rehab process was going to be like for Rashee Rice, and what
0:49treatment he was going to be able to get at the facility. However, about 2 weeks in to his month-long booking, we did get
0:56clarity on two things. One, he was actually held to his cell by himself, he got special permission there, and two, he got special permission for somebody
1:06to come into the facility and give him treatment with his knee. And now the latest updates that we've had with Rice
1:12are Andy Reid coming through and saying that he is going to be ready for training camp. The exact quote is, "I
1:18think he will be. He gets out of here in {parentheses} jail somewhere this next week, so we should see where it goes.
1:24He'll be back up here and working." So, if we look at the exact timeline, went to jail May 19th, um and now we should
1:32expect him out later this week, and hopefully we get to see him on Twitter with videos running around at camp. And
1:39looking at the updated cost of Rashee Rice, I'm actually fine buying the dip now that we have seen him fall from a
1:45mid round two pick where he used to have an ADP at 20, and now his ADP has fallen to 30. So, at this cost, I do think that
1:52the risk is priced in. I'm fine drafting Rice. Now, looking at Bo Nix, the jersey we are rocking for this video cuz we
1:58have to talk about RJ Harvey's secret surgery, the reports are that he's going to be full go at training camp. If we
2:04look at this timeline, January 17th, he fractured his right ankle. January 19th, he had surgery. So, it wasn't a massive difference between the timeline. And
2:14then late April, he did have a second procedure to clean up some bone fragments in his ankle, which all of this together should be anywhere from a
2:233 to 6-month recovery timetable. But, if you look at the exact dates, again, he had surgery January 19th. So, if we go
2:32on the optimistic end, he is good to go by April. He's already 100%. Now, again, that's the optimistic end. If we go with
2:38the pessimistic end, that 6-month timetable, he's still going to be good in July. He's still going to be full go at training camp. So, I wouldn't need a
2:46discount at all drafting Bo Nix. Like, right now, Bo Nix is off the board at pick 106 as QB 15. And he's actually
2:54fallen in ADP seven spots since contest opened. So, I'm fine buying the dip on Bo Nix. Now, the player that has fallen
3:02in ADP the most due to injury stuff is Malik Nabers. Malik Nabers used to have an ADP in the middle of the second round
3:12at pick 17. Now, I was recently able to draft Malik Nabers in the fourth round of a $500 draft that I am in. And let's
3:21go through and let's try to establish the timeline and everything that we have with Nabers. I found this account on Twitter Fantasy Footy PT. I thought they
3:29did a great job of laying everything out here. So, let's run through it. Let's establish the baseline. Nabers underwent an ACL reconstruction and a lateral
3:37meniscus repair. This is crucial. An ACL plus meniscus repair is not a standard isolated ACL timeline. The meniscus requires early weight-bearing
3:47restrictions, delaying initial strength milestones. Data on professional athletes shows the return to play timeline for an ACL plus meniscus repair ranges anywhere from 10 to 12 and 1/2
3:58months. We'll carry that over to the timeline that we have later.
4:01Re-ligamentization, believe it or not, I'm an idiot, takes up to 2 years, meaning clearance for return relies on criterion-based testing. In the clinic, I'll typically
4:12test single-leg plyometrics and approve a return to sport if the impacted leg single tests are at least 90% compared to the unaffected leg. Example,
4:21single-leg jump for height, for distance, for triple hop. Obviously, the professional teams have better facilities though than a random PT. And
4:28then came out the news of his quote-unquote cleanup procedure. Reports indicated this was specifically for a cyclops lesion excision due to a lack of
4:36knee extension. This means the joint itself isn't stiff. It is physically obstructed by a nodule of scar tissue blocking full strengthening. This
4:45extension deficit likely created a bottleneck preventing him from hitting specific rehab milestones or normalizing his gait mechanics. It's not that the
4:53cleanup procedure itself causes a massive delay, rather the lesion had already paused his forward progression.
4:59What does the timeline look like post-excision? Research shows it takes 1 to 2 weeks just for the functional range of motion to improve post-op even if
5:09cleared intraoperatively. You have to battle surgical inflammation, soft tissue adaption, and quad inhibition.
5:17Typically, an athlete can return to a specific training phase 2 to 4 weeks after excision. Literature shows this adds about 1 full month of total
5:26recovery time compared to an uncomplicated ACL rehab path. The good news, long-term functional outcomes are not compromised. The bad news, the
5:34calendar doesn't lie. Factor in the meniscus delay plus the 1-month cyclops bottleneck, and a realistic timeline pushes to 11 to 12 months. Optimistic
5:44organization timelines are common, but a worst-case 12 and 1/2 month timeline lands right around week eight of the season. For an elite athlete, worst case
5:54is not what I would expect, but a more realistic guess would be 11 months post-op, about week four. But who knows?
5:59There are always exceptions / research to the norm. So, if we look at this timeline, he destroyed his knee September 28th. He did not get surgery
6:09until October 28th, and he had his cleanup procedure April 26th. This puts the timeline of Malik Nabers coming back anywhere from weeks four to eight. So,
6:20you should be drafting Malik Nabers under the assumption that he is not going to be available at the beginning of the season for you. So, for me, if I
6:29were to be drafting him in a redraft league right now, I would need a discount, especially if I didn't have an
6:34IR slot and I was going to have to be throwing him on our bench and limiting the waiver wire moves that we're going
6:39to be able to make at the beginning of the season. Now, if you're drafting in like an underdog best ball draft where
6:44all the money's up for grabs in weeks 15, 16, 17, I may be a little bit more aggressive to take him there because, of
6:50course, I do think once we get to weeks 15, 16, 17, Malik Nabers could very easily be the wide receiver one overall
6:57in football, which is why I'm willing to take him when he falls to round four of my $500 drafts. And honestly, even when
7:04he falls to the very end of round three, I'll snag him there as well until we get additional information. But every piece
7:10of info we've gotten this off-season has been bad. But we can stay in New York and look at actually a good update with
7:18Cam Skattebo. Cam Skattebo's already out there running through drills eight months after fracturing his ankle. So, if we look at the timeline here, he
7:25destroyed that ankle October 26th. He had surgery that same day. It was an emergency surgery, it had to happen. And the recovery timeline really is anywhere
7:34from four to six months for an injury like this. So, it's already been cleared that he is good for training camp, not
7:41really going to have any limitations, and he is 100% going to be good for week one this season. So, I think you can
7:48draft Skatabu with maybe the tiniest discount based on his injury, but definitely don't need anything like the Malik Neighbors discount. Now, if you're
7:57maybe not really understanding how to bake all this injury stuff in to exactly how you should be drafting this year, don't worry. I keep my rankings
8:05up-to-date every single day with all this news on flockfantasy.com. And if you don't already have access to the site, we still have the $34
8:15flockfantasy.com season pass available for y'all, where you're going to get draft assistance to Sleeper, ESPN, Yahoo, all your redraft platforms. And
8:24when you use code flock, you're also going to be getting free questions that you can ask me in the live streams
8:29during the season, and also access to all of your other favorite creators' draft guides and sheets that they also post on flockfantasy.com. Now, let's
8:38move over to Bucky Irving, a player that actually has a fallen down boards quite a bit. About a month ago, Bucky Irving
8:45was a mid-fourth round pick with an ADP of pick 43, where now Bucky Irving is going at pick 53 in the middle of round
8:52five. Now, of course, there's a reason for this dip, and it was that we had a report and a quote coming out from the
9:00head coach in Tampa that Bucky Irving would be available sometime this summer or sometime during the fall, which obviously, just hearing that vague
9:08reporting is extremely scary as typically, these injured guys in the off-season, the injuries last longer than we've expected at least over the
9:17past few years. However, we did just recently get some good news with Bucky Irving. We can see him at OTAs running
9:24around, participating in drills. It's not like he's a full contact, it's not like he is without limitations, but just the fact that he's out there running
9:31around is great. And if we look at the timeline, he had the left shoulder dislocation subluxation.
9:38I don't think that's how you say that.
9:39In October 2025, in February 26th, he had the reconstructive labral surgery.
9:45And if we just do a little bit of research about this type of surgery, it is the timeline of months 1 to 3,
9:52protect and passive motion. I'm Bucky Irving spent the late winter months immobilized in a specialized shoulder brace to let the labrum anchor back to
10:01the bone. Passive physical therapy slowly introduced range of motion. Then by late May 2026, head coach Todd Bowles noted that Bucky Irving was coming along
10:10fine but remain limited. On June 11th, 2026, Irving hit a major milestone by returning to the practice field during OTAs, participating in light non-contact
10:19work and catching passes. Month 6 plus, this is where we're going to go into training camp and full contact. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Irving will not be
10:28cleared for full contact during mandatory mini camp. However, he is fully expected to graduate to full contact and be cleared at some point
10:36during training camp in late July or August. Coach Bowles clarified that his ultimate target for game availability remains late summer or early fall. So, I
10:46think that the round five price tag that we've gotten with the dip is appropriate. However, I would not push him back up to round four just because
10:53we're seeing him at OTAs. Now, Mekhi Leven did pop up on the injury report.
10:57We're going to keep this brief. He has a hamstring injury. He can miss mini camp.
11:01This happened late May. Like worst case scenario, it's a four to six week window. This was reported June 2nd, so he's going to be back early July, mid
11:09July. Not concerned about Mekhi Leven.
11:11Jonathan Brooks is steaming up draft boards right now. Every single night I go live, I see Jonathan Brooks go higher and higher and higher in these drafts.
11:23If I look at his most recent ADP and comparison to where it was a month ago, right now he has an an of 106 and a
11:32month ago he had an ADP of 129. If we give you the timeline for Jonathan Brooks, November 11th, 2023, this is
11:39while he was at the University of Texas, Hook 'em Horns, he had an ACL tear.
11:43December 8th, 2024, he tears it again after nine total rushing attempts between those two tears. Now, September 13th, 2026 is the first game for the
11:55Carolina Panthers, and this is almost two full years after his most recent ACL tear. So, he should be fully good to go.
12:05And with this as well, Jonathan Brooks is still a pretty young running back.
12:08He's like much younger than some of the rookies from last year's class like RJ Harvey as well as Jacory Croskey-Merritt. So, I know what a ton
12:15of people are is super optimistic and very excited. I am rooting for him. I want him to find success. I want him to
12:23do well. But for me, it is very difficult to spend significant capital into a player whose last meaningful NFL or collegiate game
12:34was really like early November, late October 2023. Like I of course am no professional athlete, but I don't know how you're going to hit the ground
12:46running and be the player that you were before when you effectively have to be forced to take three years off of
12:52football. Now, moving over to George Kittle, this is a very interesting setup. My gut reaction was, "Oh, torn Achilles for George Kittle in January.
13:03Rest in peace. We're not going to see him for a while." But the more that we look into this, the more it seems that
13:08honestly, the torn Achilles isn't as big of as a deal as it used to be, especially this specific torn Achilles.
13:15It was torn closer to the calf rather than the foot, which apparently there's more blood flow in that area, and that's
13:20going to allow a faster recovery for Kittle with the procedure they were able to have. And also, we actually recently heard from Kyle Juszczyk. I don't know
13:28if this is a reliable source, but regardless, that George Kittle is already running at 16 mph. Now, if we look at the actual um setup for him to
13:40come back this season though, it is interesting to note that he tore this Achilles January 11th. 3 days later, he had surgery. So, if he's going to make
13:51it back by September, he only has 8 months to recover. Now, the early reports are saying it's a 15-hour flight for that week one game in Australia for
14:02the 9ers. So, possibly George Kittle sits out that week one game. He doesn't go through that travel, and instead, he waits until the 9ers are back at home in
14:12week two, and then he makes his appearance. But, it is extremely difficult to know, and the reality of the situation is I don't think we have
14:19that much information about Kittle, but seems like most people are being significantly more optimistic about George Kittle than they are with some of
14:26those other late season injuries like Zach Charbonnet. Now, going over to Jacory Crossquemerit, Jacory Crossquemerit popped up on the injury report with a hamstring injury. Um this
14:34was reported June 11th. He's right now he's slow playing his return, but he should be 100% healthy by training camp.
14:41So, I'm not super concerned about JCM.
14:43Now, Chris Rodriguez, on the other hand, um this is maybe a little bit more interesting because according to a team source, Jacksonville Jaguars running
14:50back Chris Rodriguez had a procedure on his left foot following an injury earlier in the offseason program, but is expected to be ready for the start of
14:58training camp in late July. But, the timeline of this is if he had foot surgery late April {slash} early May, it's tough. I mean, he didn't
15:07participate at all in mandatory minicamp for the Jags. He spent this time isolated doing rehab at the team's training facility, but Liam Cohen is
15:17coming through and saying that he's progressing nicely and supposed to be a full go when Jags open up training camp.
15:23I will say though, we have seen Chris Rodriguez slide down draft boards a bit as of late, and honestly, it's probably
15:29for good reason. Now, a player that I've been drafting is Keneen Sedeeq. The reality of the situation is, in your ESPN and your Yahoo league, Keneen
15:39Sedeeq's not really going to matter this next year. He only matters in your Underdog drafts where you have to go pretty damn deep. He underwent a hernia
15:45procedure, but Aaron Glenn already says that he expects him to be ready for training camp, so um sucks that he missed rookie mini camp, but I'm not
15:53going to be too, too concerned about it.
15:54Now, looking at Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes is out there running around at camp with the Kansas City Chiefs, right?
15:59Which is a little surprising because Patrick Mahomes didn't just tear his ACL. On December 14th, Patrick Mahomes had a torn ACL and LCL. So, if we go
16:10through and look at the timeline for this, uh the typical median timeline for a dual ligament tear is roughly 9 to 10
16:17months. Both Mahomes and the team are firmly tracking a week one return against the Denver Broncos on September 14th, which marks exactly 9 months from
16:26the date to the initial injury, but again, that would be the optimistic side of things on the 9 to 10 month median
16:32outcome. So, there is an outside chance that Patrick Mahomes is slow rolled at the beginning of the season. Maybe he is
16:38running the ball less. Hell, maybe they actually do throw out Justin Fields for the early weeks, but it is a very good
16:45sign just to see Mahomes at camp running around, of course. Now, Tucker Kraft tore his ACL November 2nd, but he is
16:54anticipating to start camp on the pup, but Matt LaFleur left the door open for Kraft to be on the field to start
17:01training camp. He did have surgery 2 weeks after he tore his ACL on November 2nd. If we're looking at his current
17:07status, the last rehab progress update we got was on June 10th where Kraft revealed that his rehab has catapulted beyond initial expectations. He noted
17:17that his swelling is non-existent and that he recently hit 21 and 1/2 mph during straight-line treadmill running workouts. The training camp plan is to
17:26place Kraft on the physically unable to perform list while training camp opens.
17:30This is a standard precautionary measure and he expects to be activated to the active practice field sometime in early August. Kraft explicitly stated that he
17:38has no intention of being on a pitch count or snap limitation when the Packers open the regular season against the Minnesota Vikings. So, sounds all
17:45systems go for Tucker Kraft, especially in an offense in which you do lose a couple pass catchers this off-season with Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks.
17:54Sounds like he's great. Now, moving over to Travis Hunter. Travis Hunter actually suffered a non-contact torn LCL, not ACL, that's something I misspoke about
18:04in the past, in his right knee during a Thursday practice leading up to the Jags week nine matchup. He underwent full LCL
18:11surgical repair shortly after the incident in November 2025 to stabilize the outer side of the knee joint. He was limited to side field conditioning
18:19drills during OTAs and minicamp.
18:22However, his speed is fully returned.
18:24Head coach Liam Cohen revealed that Travis Hunter clocked running 22 and 1/2 mph during early June training sessions.
18:32And general manager James Gladstone stated that the ultimate goal is for Travis Hunter to be a full participant when training camp opens. So, it sounds
18:39like you do have concerns for Travis Hunter and his playing time on the offensive side of the ball, but where you don't have concerns is his injury
18:46availability. He will be good to go.
18:47Now, Zach Charbonnet was at mandatory minicamp day one, but it's not like super great, right? It's less than four months after surgery. Charbonnet shocks
18:58reporters by participating in limited on-field rehab work during the team's mandatory minicamp workouts. On June 11, 2026, head coach Mike McDaniel refused
19:09to rule about for the regular season kickoff against the New England Patriots on September 9th, stating that everything is possible regarding his
19:15availability. But, if we just go through and do a simple check where the standard ACL timeline ranges from 8 to 12 months,
19:24it projects him to be returning mid-October, maybe even into early November. So, similar here, I wouldn't expect that you have Zach Charbonnet at
19:32the beginning of the season. So, full systems go for Cedarian Price. Now, Tyreek Hill, we actually saw with a wrist brace and only his knee brace
19:42recently with a post. And if we look at the details of this, Hill suffered a gruesome non-contact injury in the third
19:49quarter of a week four Monday night football game. He completely dislocated his left knee, tore multiple ligaments, including his ACL and LCL. The surgery
19:59day was September 30th. Because a knee dislocation can cause limb-threatening arterial damage, he was rushed to a Miami hospital once blood vessel damage
20:08was ruled out. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, confirmed that Hill underwent a successful, comprehensive, multi-ligament reconstruction surgery the very next morning. So, if we're
20:17looking at his progress as of June mid-June 2026, Hill's been spotted training in a heavy knee brace alongside a minor wrist cast. His agent recently
20:27stated that Hill's working hard through his rigorous rehab program. There is currently no exact timetable for him to be cleared for full football activities.
20:35Um while his camp initially targeted a return by the start of the 2026 regular season, medical insiders suggested a mid-October {slash} November return is more
20:45realistic for Tyreek Hill. So, kind of best case scenario here for Tyreek, not the most likely outcome. But, best case scenario is he signs to like the Kansas
20:53City Chiefs halfway through the season.
20:55Now, going over to Tank Dell, Tank Dell is a year and a half out from his reconstructed knee and is at camp. He's
21:04running around, he's participating fully. Seems like he's fully good to go.
21:08This is only really relevant for those Underdog Best Ball drafts. You'd never draft him in ESPN or redraft leagues.
21:13Now, Quinton Johnston Judkins is at camp, he's running around. So, if you look at the timeline here, um I was actually surprised to be reminded that
21:21Quinton Johnston Judkins didn't get injured until week 16 this past season.
21:25I thought it was way earlier in the year. But, that's December 21st. So, maybe it'd be a little more concerning than like Cam Skattaboe. Well, also with
21:32Cam Skattaboe, we had a similar injury, but it happened much earlier. However, the timeline here is 4 to 6 months to
21:39return to football activities, and we already see him going like full speed.
21:44So, I mean, seems like Quinton Johnston Judkins, you don't really need to be too concerned about the injury. You mainly just need to be concerned about the
21:51Browns. Now, Rome Odunze, we got a very nasty quote about his new normal being he has to deal with a bum foot. I I
21:59think it was taken out of context.
22:01During June OTA workouts, Rome sparked heavy media discussion by stating that the way the bone fractured created calluses that permanently altered his
22:10foot structure. He described managing the shifting bone structure as his new normal, but clarified it is not cause him constant pain. Despite the modified
22:18foot structure, head coach Ben Johnson shut down any lingering injury concerns on June 11th, 2026, confirming that Rome looks like the same old self on the
22:27field. He faces no physical limitations and is entering late July training camp at 100% capacity. Now, Alec Pierce is a name that's been falling, I think for
22:37good reason. This is one of those injuries that I'm going to be monitoring, and I am concerned with. He has fallen from being a late sixth-round
22:44pick to now a mid-seventh-round pick, and I think we could see him fall to the eighth because the most recent video
22:49that we got was him walking with a brace on his left ankle. He's kind of limping around gingerly. And he had surgery in
22:56March, and the timetable that he was given was 4 to 6 months. So, if we look at the optimistic side, that means maybe
23:03he is good to go for training camp and he's back by July. But, the pessimistic side is if that goes six, maybe even
23:10seven months, he misses camp and he is back right at the start of the season, which obviously we're not excited about
23:17somebody missing camp. Now, the last injury that we have to talk about is going to be RJ Harvey. RJ Harvey, I did
23:23not know this until literally yesterday, underwent surgery this off season to repair a torn labrum suffered in the ACC Championship game. Now, of course, I am
23:32scrounging the internet trying to find all the information that I can on this cuz I'm no doctor, I'm an idiot. I did
23:38go back to that same account, Fantasy Footy PT. Says, "Good news on RJ Harvey.
23:42Research suggests a strong return to prior level. Timeline is 4 to 6 months recovery, which would put RJ Harvey anywhere from May to July. The data is
23:5294% return to sport at prior level after repair. Outlook, I don't expect this to impact his performance negatively moving forward. Buy the dip if you liked him
24:02before the injury." So, this was something that I was honestly very concerned about, but the more I read about it, honestly, the less of a
24:10concern it really is. But, I think that's all I got for you. I really appreciate you. I really hope I was able
24:14to help you out in some way with this.
24:16I'm going to be live every single night on this channel drafting fantasy football teams. I would love for you to come out, hang out with us. And also, if
24:22you need help in your ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper fantasy football drafts this year, by far and away the best thing that you can do is get the
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24:38sheets, all of my draft assistants, but also you get set up with everything for pretty much all your favorite creators you watch on YouTube. Links in the
24:45description. It's in the comment section. Code flockwall will get you set up with free questions that you can ask me during the live streams. But, much
24:51love. I really appreciate you. And I hope I get to see you out in the live stream later tonight.