Oakland Raiders tight end Lee Smith and linebacker Ben Heeney suffered what could be season-ending injuries in Week 4.
In the second quarter against the Ravens, Raiders tight end (and honorary offensive lineman) Lee Smith broke his right ankle.
Smith was unable to get off the field on his own power, and was helped off by Latavius Murray and Derek Carr.
As soon as the replay was shown, it was a near certainty that Smith broke his ankle. I’m no doctor, but David Chao is. He said it was a fractured ankle, and that said it would require surgery, which would unfortunately lead to the injured reserve.
#LeeSmith @RAIDERS with right ankle fracture. Still made it off field on own power. Unfortunately surgery & IR. pic.twitter.com/eqA6Mr8za6
— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) October 2, 2016
It’s a big blow to the offense, as Smith excels in both pass and run blocking. Walford has made strides in these areas, but he’s greatly inferior to Smith in this regard. And the same thing can be said for Mychal Rivera.
Some have suggested the team sign Marcel Reece, but he can’t block either. Some have said to promote Gabe Holmes, but he’s already on IR. So the Raiders are stuck, barring some sort of trade.
Heeney also injured his ankle, and he too could be facing surgery and a spot on the injured reserve. Although after losing his job to Cory James, his loss is much less impactful than that of Smith.
In a press conference, Del Rio spoke on both injuries:
“Both guys are likely to go down (for the season),” Del Rio said. “That’ll be (determined) as they finish the work that is done on these guys, with all the doctors and our experts looking at it.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, Mario Edwards Jr. was already placed on injured reserve at the start of the season, and he’ll be the player the return designation is used on. NFL teams are only permitted one player per season to return from injured reserve.
We’ll have to wait and see if Reggie McKenzie has any tricks up his sleeve to replace Smith.
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