Welcome to our weekly review of major injuries, roster moves, and other miscellany related to the WFL, organized by team for your viewing pleasure. Today’s entry is the first after all teams in the league have had a week of rest.
#AMS
Whatever you do, if you want stay away from the doctor, don’t play QB for the Lions. Facing new injuries to Bill Munson and Matthew Stafford, newcomer Bobby Layne steps directly into the #3 role for Amsterdam’s next game. They will welcome back starting LB Paul Naumoff, who will be a welcome sight.
#CTO
The performance of Andre Ellington helped ease the pain of the long-term injury to Adrian Peterson, but now Cape Town has more to contend with as both Tyrann Mathieu and Chandler Catanzaro–perhaps the best kicker in the league over the first 3 games of action–will miss at least 4 months. The Makana have brought in Jim Bakken to handle the kicking duties.
#BOS
Rob Gronkowski could be out for as much as 4 months for Boston. That is not good news, as the combination of Jeff Cumberland and Rich Caster are unlikely to make up for Gronk’s production.
#DUB
It was not a good break for Dublin’s reserves, as Morgan Burnett, Micah Hyde, Jadeveon Clowney, and Nick Perry will all be out for at least 2 months, with Perry perhaps having seen his last action of the year.
#IST
With Ed Reed out for one more week, Istanbul will be without both of their starting safeties as Jack Butler is due to miss about a month of time. The Janissaries will be looking to Troy Polamalu and Will Hill to step into the starting lineup. There was some more bad news for the Turkish side, as Timmy Jernigan and James Harrison are both due to miss about a month, and Lorenzo Taliaferro may be done for the rest of the regular season.
#LOM
Jim Kelly will be out for at least 3 months, leaving the Dzidudu to turn to Austin Davis or E.J. Manuel at QB, while hoping that newly signed Doug Flutie never has to put down his clipboard. Three other starters will miss next week’s game: Cornelius Bennett, Ruben Brown, and Isaiah Robertson. None of them, however, are looking to be out for more than the one game.
#ROM
For three weeks, the Roman Empire had dodged the injury bug, but the break was hard on them: T.Y. Hilton, Arthur Jones, and most impactfully, D’Qwell Jackson, are all set to miss at least a month.
#SFO
Nagging injuries to the receiving corps sees Bruce Ellington and Lance Moore likely to be in action for the first time for the Sea Lions week 5 game.