Randall Cobb is expected to play against the Bears in Week 1 after suffering a sprained AC joint in his shoulder during Saturday's preseason game against the Eagles. The fifth-year wide receiver initially thought that he broke his collarbone, but X-rays came back negative and showed no signs of any real structural damage. This was great news for a Packers team that lost Jordy Nelson for the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL, just a week earlier. Cobb will likely become Aaron Rodgers' favorite target now that Nelson went down which is great news for fantasy owners. The 25-year old speedster caught 91 passes for 1,287 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2014, and a repeat performance could certainly be on the horizon.
Speaking of Jordy Nelson, the Packers placed him on injured reserve on Tuesday, and he's officially done for the season. The 30-year old pass-catcher has been spectacular for the Packers over the last few years and will certainly be hard to replace. Randall Cobb, Davante Adams, Jeff Janis, and Ty Montgomery will collectively soak up the targets left behind by Nelson.
Julius Thomas fractured his finger back in early August during a preseason game and was only expected to miss a couple of weeks if it required minor surgery. However, it was reported on Tuesday that Thomas will actually miss up to a month which will certainly cut into the first few weeks of the season. The 27-year old tight end signed a five year, $46 million deal with the Jaguars back in March after playing the last two full seasons in Denver. In those two years combined, Thomas hauled in 108 passes for 1,277 yards and 24 touchdowns which is exceptional production at a position where it can be very scarce. The Jaguars are excited about the offseason acquisition but they likely won't see him on the field again until Week 3 at the earliest. In the meantime, Marcedes Lewis will see the majority of the action at the tight end position.
Percy Harvin is closing in on 100 percent after a minor hip injury kept him out of the last couple of preseason games. He was participating in individual drills over the last couple of weeks before finally practicing at full speed on Tuesday. Harvin has mentioned that he'd like to play in the final preseason game, but Coach Rex Ryan has expressed some uncertainty as to whether or not that will happen. He was quoted as saying, "As much as I'd love to see us get some work in, I also want to make sure we're 100 percent against Indy." At this point, it's unlikely that Harvin will see the field until the Week 1 opener in Buffalo. It's hard to predict what sort of production Harvin will provide on a team that'll likely receive shaky quarterback play, but I'd certainly think they'll make a strong effort to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.
More news from Bills' camp includes some concern about whether or not LeSean McCoy is going to be ready for the Week 1 opener against the Colts. The newly acquired running back injured his hamstring during a practice in mid-August and he's yet to regain full strength. Early reports were that McCoy would be ready for the opener without a doubt, but as that time draws near, there is still plenty of uncertainty. The 27-year old playmaker has yet to practice at full speed which means the next 10 days are going to be very important. McCoy played his first six NFL seasons in Philadelphia with his career year coming in 2011, when he rushed for 1,309 yards and 17 touchdowns. It's highly unlikely that he'll ever see that touchdown mark again, but the yardage on the ground may not be all that unrealistic considering the fact that Rex Ryan loves to feed his running backs the ball with an extremely high volume.
T.Y. Hilton took a good blow to the head in the Colts' third preseason game but seemed to be fine immediately following the play. It wasn't until after the game that Hilton started to experience some of the symptoms that would closely relate to a concussion. He went through the NFL's concussion protocol and actually returned to practice on Tuesday as a very limited participant. The Colts fully expect him to be ready for Week 1, assuming he doesn't experience any setbacks. This is certainly something to keep an eye on as Hilton could be primed for a big season after catching 82 passes for 1,345 yards and seven touchdowns in 2014.