I was helping my pops replace the tenants’ broken kitchen exhaust fan this afternoon and things took a little longer than expected. And while that’s a bummer because it took up a chunk of time I would’ve allotted to something else, I got to bust up some concrete with air compression chisels. So … net win?
When I got back to my work station, I feared the worse knowing that the first injury report of Week 10 was coming up. But much to my surprise, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
Behold:
Three DNPs and one limited? I’ve seen worse to start a week.
Let’s discuss:
Cornerback Kindle Vildor sat out practice due to an ankle injury. If you’ll recall, an ankle injury took Vildor out of Sunday’s 35-32 loss to the Dolphins and limited him to just two defensive snaps. Clearly, this is a serious injury and I don’t expect Vildor to make some sort of miraculous recovery. For most of the year, Vildor has been a pleasant surprise. Once seen as a cornerback on the bubble during the summer, Vildor played his way onto the roster and has earned a grade from Pro Football Focus that ranks 41st among the site’s 113 cornerbacks that qualify for the leaderboard. With that in mind, it would be nice to see him back sooner, rather than later.
Also missing from practice was defensive back Dane Cruikshank (illness) and defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad (knee). This knee injury didn’t pop up during last week’s game. And there wasn’t a significant drop-off in Muhammad’s playing time. So … I’m not quite sure what to make of this development. But with Muhammad out of action, it could present an opportunity for an increase in snap share for Dominique Robinson, the toolsy rookie defensive end. Robinson is still a project, but leveraging his size and length is something we’d all love to see develop in game situations.
Cornerback Josh Blackwell appears to have carved out a niche as a special teams regular. But a knee injury limited him during Wednesday’s practice. We’ll monitor this stuation as it develops.
In other injury news, linebacker Matt Adams has been designated for a return from IR:
Adams, 26, is another core special teams contributor who has been in on at least 71% of that phase’s snaps in the three games he has been healthy enough to play. Unfortunately, Adams has been healthy for just three games. And it has kept him out of his other role, which was to be part of that linebacker rotation. With Roquan Smith out of the picture, the Bears could use as many healthy bodies as possible to throw at the position.
We’ll hope for a better showing from the injury report tomorrow. And, hopefully, I don’t injure myself on a ladder while finishing up the second part of a home improvement project.
NEWSLETTER
