NFL: Biggest Injury Concerns Around the League

Last Updated on agosto 18, 2026 5:17 pm by Erwin Noguera

Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons tore their ACLs on the same day. December 14, 2025, in separate games. Eight months later, Mahomes is practising and targeting Week 1. Parsons is targeting Week 6.

That gap is the story of this preseason. Same injury, same date, two entirely different seasons.

With three weeks until the NFL opener, the injury list around the league is long enough that several contenders will start September without players they built their offseason around. Some of it is bad luck. Some of it is going to decide divisions.

En Gambyl, you can follow every step of the road to Week 1. Check out all the latest NFL news, predictions and betting odds while enjoying a complete Online Casino experience at Casino Gambyl, with fast action and intuitive gameplay.

Here is what actually matters.

The Two ACLs

Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in the Week 15 loss to the Chargers. He has been cleared; he is practising, and Andy Reid has held him out of the entire preseason purely as a precaution. Mahomes says the knee is solid enough that he forgets about it. He is targeting Week 1 against Denver on September 14.

Eight months from a torn ACL and LCL to a season opener is a fast recovery by any standard.

Parsons tore his ACL and meniscus the same day and is targeting a Week 6 return. Green Bay will play the first third of its season without its best defensive player, and the supporting cast is not intact either; Javon Bullard is dealing with a foot problem, Carrington Valentine with a hamstring, and Lukas Van Ness with a shoulder.

The lesson is not that one recovery was better managed. ACL timelines vary enormously, and anyone pricing in a Mahomes-style return to every comeback is going to be wrong more often than not.

Washington: The Single Most Damaging Loss

Laremy Tunsil tore his left triceps and has had surgery. Dan Quinn says the Commanders hope he returns this season. The reporting consensus is that he misses most of it, and possibly all of it: recovery from that injury typically runs four months at minimum and can reach six or seven.

The numbers explain why this matters more than a standard tackle injury. Tunsil allowed 15 pressures on 449 pass-blocking snaps in 2025. Brandon Coleman, the man in line to replace him, allowed 11 on 203. That is not a small drop-off, and Washington has five other important players banged up on top of it, including projected starting centre Nick Allegretti and starting cornerback Trey Amos.

Washington built an offensive line to protect a quarterback. It starts the season without the best piece of it.

San Francisco: Almost Everyone

The 49ers have the longest list in the NFL, and the timing could not be worse.

Christian McCaffrey has not been practising with what the team calls tightness. George Kittle is still working back from a torn Achilles. Nick Bosa, who missed much of last season with a torn ACL, has not practised in weeks. Mykel Williams, a projected starter, remains on PUP recovering from his own November ACL tear. Ricky Pearsall is out for the season after knee surgery.

Bosa and Kittle may not practise at all before Week 1.

That Week 1 is against the Rams in Melbourne, Australia; a 32-hour round trip against a team most books have as the Super Bowl favourite. Six projected starters are currently managing injuries. Kyle Shanahan has three weeks to get a functional roster on a plane.

Chicago: The Signing That Has Not Played

Coby Bryant was Chicago’s marquee free agent addition, a three-year, $40 million deal to anchor a rebuilt secondary. He hyperextended his left knee on August 3, sustaining a bone bruise and a small fracture. The initial read was that surgery could be avoided. It could not. He had the operation on August 7 and is out for four to six months, which puts his earliest realistic return in mid-December.

The Bears are hoping he is available if they reach the playoffs. That is the entire regular season without the player they paid to fix the defence.

Around him, Kyler Gordon is nursing a calf, and the offence has problems too. Luther Burden III is targeting Week 1 with a groin injury, running back Kyle Monangai will miss multiple weeks after hyperextending a knee on Monday, and Ozzy Trapilo will not be ready to start the season after patellar tendon surgery, leaving Caleb Williams’ blind side unresolved.

The Running Back Problem

Four teams are genuinely short at the position, and one of them is the defending champion.

seattle lost Kenneth Walker III in free agency. Zach Charbonnet, Jadarian Price, and Emanuel Wilson are all currently hurt. That is the entire room.

Arizona watched third overall pick Jeremiyah Love suffer a high ankle sprain on his fourteenth touch of the first half against the Raiders. He is unlikely to play again in the preseason. The Cardinals hope for Week 1 against the Chargers on September 13, though Mike LaFleur has offered no long-term prognosis, and the team has not publicly confirmed the high-ankle diagnosis. Behind him, Trey Benson has a knee problem, and James Conner has a foot injury, which could push Tyler Allgeier into a significant early workload.

Carolina has Chuba Hubbard week-to-week with what Dave Canales called a legitimate hamstring injury.

New York’s Jets saw Breece Hall leave practice Monday with a groin injury. Aaron Glenn is calling it minor for now.

Already Gone for the Season

The confirmed season-enders, and there are more than usual:

• Jalón Walker, Falcons edge rusher — torn ACL in camp
• Ricky Pearsall, 49ers receiver — knee surgery
• Roy Robertson-Harris, Giants defensive tackle — torn Achilles
• Bryan Bresee, Saints defensive tackle — believed torn ACL
• Jamal Adams, Vikings safety — knee, in the preseason opener
• Michael Deiter, Broncos centre — torn quadriceps
• Dillon Radunz, Saints offensive lineman — torn ACL
• Julian Hill, Patriots tight end — knee
• Robbie Ouzts, Seahawks fullback — neck
• Nic Scourton y Chris Brazzell II, Panthers — both on IR from the first fortnight of camp

Walker is the most costly of them. Atlanta drafted him to be a foundation piece and now pairs that loss with continued uncertainty around Michael Penix Jr.’s knee.

Contenders Managing Something

Los carneros are the best team in the league on paper and have the most to lose. Myles Garrett is already managing knee swelling. Puka Nacua is sidelined with a core muscle injury, and the club is also waiting on NFL clarity regarding both Nacua and left tackle Alaric Jackson, who has not practised since July because of blood clots.

Los Chargers have one major injury, and it is a significant one. Rashawn Slater, who missed all of last season with a ruptured patellar tendon, has been out since early August with what the team is describing as a flare-up and soreness in the same knee. He is the second most important player on that offence behind Justin Herbert.

Las Eagles got DeVonta Smith and Quinyon Mitchell back to practice on Monday, but Cooper DeJean is still out with a groin injury and first-round receiver Makai Lemon is dealing with recurring hamstring problems. Philadelphia traded A.J. Brown and needs Lemon on the field.

Los Steelers are watching their secondary come apart. Jalen Ramsey is on PUP with a knee injury from July. Joey Porter Jr. has not practised since aggravating a back problem. Jaquan Brisker has been out more than a week. On offence, DK Metcalf, Michael Pittman Jr., and first-round tackle Max Iheanachor have all missed over a week.

The Rookies Who Cannot Get On The Field

A rough summer for high picks.

Jeremiyah Love, the third overall selection, has played one half. Saints receiver Jordyn Tyson will miss roughly two months with a hamstring injury: the exact concern scouts pointed out during the draft process. Makai Lemon cannot stay on the practice field. And Arizona will lose two of its picks for the whole year: second-round guard Chase Bisontis, hurt on his seventieth preseason snap while competing for a starting job, and fourth-round defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, on IR since July.

What to Watch Before Week 1

Preseason Week 3, August 20 to 22. Starters get their longest run of the summer. Watch who is on the field more than what the scoreboard says; particularly Bosa, Kittle, and McCaffrey in San Francisco, and whether Aaron Rodgers finally plays for Pittsburgh against the Jets on August 21.

Cutdown day, August 30. Rosters go to 53, and the waiver wire briefly fills with players who can solve somebody’s problem. Expect Seattle, Arizona, and Washington to be active.

The veteran market. Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Jadeveon Clowney, and Joey Bosa remain unsigned. Washington needs a tackle. Seattle needs a running back. That market usually moves in the final week of August.

Three weeks out, the healthiest contenders are the Titans, Raiders, Cowboys, Browns, and Vikings, and only one of those is a genuine threat in January. The teams built to win this season are, almost without exception, the ones counting bodies.

The opener is September 9.