NFL Week 3 injury report: A.J. Brown, Deebo Samuel dealing with tricky lower body injuries

Greg Scholz of Inside Injuries runs through some of the most pressing injury concerns for Week 3 of fantasy football 2024.

Before we dive in, here's a quick glossary of terms commonly used by Inside Injuries :

A.J. Brown , WR, PHI

After missing Week 2 with a hamstring strain, the expectation currently is that Brown will miss even more time. Currently, his Optimal Recovery Time is around 21 days, so there is a chance he can avoid IR. That said, don't expect him to play in Week 4 either.

Hamstring strains have claimed — and will continue to claim — the seasons of some of the NFL 's best players. Part of that is that these players, like Brown, are explosive in their play-style. The other part of it can be chalked up to the nature of the hamstring. These muscles take a long time to heal because, as humans, we use our legs all the time. As a result, it is difficult to adequately minimize hamstring usage. Furthermore, it's not like we can put the hamstrings in a cast or boot the same way we could an ankle. Add all that up and you get long recovery times with high risks of re-injury.

Brown's Injury Risk will be High for the remainder of the season and his Health Performance Factor should return to Peak around Week 8.

Deebo Samuel, WR, SF

Somewhat similar to the hamstrings, the calf muscles can be trickier to treat when injured because of their usage. However, there are some options that work well to immobilize the muscle to allow strains to heal. This isn't perfect, though. The calf is in close proximity to the Achilles tendon — a structure that is crucial for a vast majority of lower body athletic movements. When the calf is injured, it's best to express additional caution for the Achilles.

When it comes to Samuel, there have been no reports that the 49ers are concerned with his Achilles. While this is great news right now, there weren't any reports early in Christian McCaffrey 's diagnosis that they were worried about his Achilles, yet it still became a problem.

We are watching Samuel closely, but until we receive more information, his Optimal Recovery is around 18 days. His Injury Risk will be High for the first few weeks, but his Health Performance Factor should be Peak when he returns.

Cooper Kupp , WR, LAR

Early reports suggest Kupp's ankle sprain is not season-ending and it won't require surgery. Based on video, he's dealing with an eversion ankle sprain. This means that the ligaments on the inside of the ankle are sprained. Eversion sprains generally take longer to heal because the ligaments involved are stronger and thicker, so they need more time to get back up to 100%.

For Kupp, this is yet another lower body injury, so the Injury Risk continues to grow. This doesn't necessarily increase his Optimale Recovery Time, which is currently around 25 days, but it does mean his Injury Risk will remain High for the majority of the season. His Health Performance Factor will get back up to Peak in time, but it's possible his play style shifts in some capacity in an attempt to avoid future injury.

Isiah Pacheco , RB, KC

To get the concerns out of the way early: we do expect Pacheco will play again this season. However, that statement is somewhat misleading because a return will certainly come later in the season.

Fibula fractures rarely require surgery, but Pacheco's did. This means the fracture likely occurred above the ankle joint. From a performance standpoint, the concern with this sort of fracture is long-term ankle stability. The surgery probably involved putting a plate into his ankle to address those concerns.

As for a return, it's possible he could return to practice around the Week 10 mark, but his Health Performance Factor is unlikely to return to Peak territory until the end of the season. There is a lot of rehab that goes into these sorts of fractures and it will take a lot of work for Pacheco to get back to those pre-injury levels.

Joe Mixon , RB, HOU

Mixon (ankle) did not practice on Thursday, which ultimately is not that surprising. We expect he will miss Week 3 and potentially Week 4 as well. Letting Mixon return to the game against Chicago in Week 2 — he suffered the ankle injury on a hip-drop tackle by Bears LB T.J. Edwards in the third quarter — was not a good decision because it added more time to his recovery window. Looking at the rest of the season, Mixon should return to Peak HPF around Week 6 and his Injury Risk should drop out of High territory and into Elevated around Week 7.

Nico Collins , WR, HOU

Collins landed on the injury report before Wednesday's practice with a pair of lower body injuries (hip and foot). He did manage to be a limited participant on Thursday, though, so everything appears to be heading in the right direction.

Without much information on either injury and no obvious plays where the injuries occurred, we don't have much to go on. Both injuries sound like they are soft tissue related, which is good. The concern comes from two injuries to the lower body. In these moments we start to examine if the injuries could be related or if there is something going on under the surface.

For now, we expect Collins will play in Week 3. His Injury Risk will be Elevated and his Health Performance Factor will be Above Average (this will rise into Peak territory if he can be a full participant on Friday.)

DK Metcalf , WR, SEA

The concern surrounding Metcalf was quashed fairly quickly after he was a full participant in Thursday's practice. This comes just one day after he sat out Wednesday's practice with a hand injury.

Given the timing of the injury report, his Injury Risk will still be considered Elevated for Week 3, but on the lower end. With that, his Health Performance Factor will be Peak.

Tua Tagovailoa , QB, MIA

Over the past few seasons, concussions have been a major discussion point. This is for good reason — concussions are serious injuries that look scary on TV and there are a myriad of short- and long-term side effects that need to be accounted for.

When it comes to the discussion surrounding Tua's retirement, we won't speculate. If he chooses to return to the NFL this season, his Health Performance Factor will be Peak around Week 7. With that being said, head injuries are highly variable and it is very difficult to predict how someone may return from one. His Injury Risk will be High for the remainder of the season.

(Top photo of A.J. Brown: Brooke Sutton/)