SS Mike Minter - Broken tibia - Out for season- Excruciating -Mike Minter is a 5'10" Safety with 83 Awareness and 87 Speed. He has started in the both last two years for the Panthers had has recorded over 70 tackles in each season. He's a reliable player for this defense, and his loss is going to be felt for the rest of the season.
Before you tell me to get the fuck out of here with a safety being designated as the most extreme type of injury, I'm going to point out a couple of things.
First things first, and that's the fact that it's only the first week of the season. Instead of playing a month or two without their safety, the Panthers are going to have to suffer all 16 games in addition to any playoff games.
The second thing is that unless GM Darryl Breckheimer brings in reinforcements(which for these articles I assume he won't) the Carolina depth at safety is virtually non existent. FS Dante Wesley looks like the lesser of liabilities, and the young safety is still a 69 overall player with 55 awareness.
If this injury occurred later in the season, then it wouldn't have been so serious, but in week one with zero wins recorded, this injury alone may lose them just enough games to keep them out of the playoffs.
Safeties may be an underrated and under appreciated position in this league, but no one on defense wants a player like FS Dante Wesley guarding their half of the field. Especially against teams like the Chiefs, Falcons, Broncos and Eagles, who all come up next on the Panthers schedule.
CB Julian Battle - Severe concussion - Out for season- Distressing - The second of the two season ending injuries comes to the Browns with CB Julian Battle leaving with a concussion after recording 1 tackle and 1 deflection. The 6'2" second-year player has been favored in Cleveland despite being drafted in the fifth round.
GM Tom Collins has been putting a lot of time and effort into transforming Julian Battle into a starting caliber player, and this injury is a major setback for him. Normally, I wouldn't classify a 75 overall player even this high, but Julian Battle desperately needs that progression and every season without it is a wasted opportunities that brings him one year closer to regression and retirement.
Ravens TE Todd Heap - Broken jaw - 7 weeks- Mild -GM Norbert Huszti releases an article that props up his own TE as one of the best at his position under 25 and just days later gets told that the same player is going to be gone for over two months with a broken jaw.
In a move of almost divine insight, TE Kellen Winslow II was drafted in the fourth round just weeks ago, which should minimize the impact of this injury by quite a bit.
Still, Heap is the better player, and any two TE formations are going to suffer because of this injury, so it's still going to have an overarching effect on the Ravens season. Still, I don't think it's that severe.
Panthers LT Cornell Green - Pinched nerve - 2 weeks- Trivial - Panthers might need to find a new conditioning coach, because these players clearly weren't ready for a full contact sport.
Cornell Green is an interesting player. With only 55 Awareness, he needs some work, but he's got the athletic stats to compete at tackle. At 28 he's already getting up there in age, so I don't know if Carolina will have the time to get the man where they want him. Still, he's better than any of their other options.
The man isn't a superstar, and the relatively short nature of this injury means I can't classify it as anything but Trivial.
Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck - Broken ribs - 2 weeks- Uncomfortable - annnnd the reward for the first QB to get injured goes to Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck. The fear of GM's everywhere targets Rock Hewko first. 2 Weeks however is getting off lightly.
The Seahawks were already set to be the underdogs for the next two weeks against the Buccaneers and the 49ers, and this injury might just turn both of those games into freebies for their opponents.
The effect of what could be two guaranteed loses is huge on a season, but with or without Hasslebeck, these games would probably be predicted as loses.
It might be better that these next two weeks are opponents that they would have had trouble against with or without their QB.
This injury might not change much for the future of the Seahawks, but it probably would have been nice for Seattle fans if they still thought they had a chance for the next couple of weeks.
But hey, it's football. Anything could happen.
