The NFL preseason is in full swing and with Week 2 coming to a close with the Giants and Colts playing on Sunday and the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night and one of the biggest concerns for teams heading into Week 3 is getting their players through healthy.
There have been a number of significant injuries this offseason with players like Danario Alexander and Dennis Pitta going down and now there could be some more concerns, including for players like Eddie Royal, Derek Wolfe and Dustin Keller, who all were injured this past weekend. Keller had a tough looking injury against the Houston Texans and the newly signed tight end had his knee snapped back the wrong way after getting tackled. His leg bent back after being tackled in the game on an incomplete pass and finished the game with one catch for 14 yards.
Keller is one of the top free agent signings for the Dolphins along with Mike Wallace, Dannell Ellerbe, Philip Wheeler and Brent Grimes. Another important offensive player was injured in Houston Texans rookie DeAndre Hopkins, who suffered a head injury and left the game on Saturday against the Dolphins. Hopkins was the 27th overall pick in the draft in April out of Clemson and Hopkins is being looked at as a possible number two receiver behind Andre Johnson. Raiders cornerback DJ Hayden was cleared for contact after being held out all preseason and training camp and now he could be on his way to starting in the opening game of the regular season.
The Denver Broncos are also dealing with another injury after losing some players over the summer for the season, as defensive end Derek Wolfe had to be put on a board and taken off the field with a neck injury against the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night. Wolfe is an important player for the Broncos after they lost Elvis Dumervil this season and it happened in the first quarter of the game when he was being blocked on a running play and the Broncos said later that he was being evaluated for a spine injury.
The Broncos lost 40-10 in the game and Wolfe was injured after being initially blocked by Luke Wilson before he was knocked into by Michael Robinson and he remained on the ground afterwards and was looked at by the medical staff. The Broncos are dealing with other injuries after the game as well, including to Champ Bailey, who suffered a foot injury in the game, as well as guard Louis Vasquez, who injured his knee.
