With teams about to take the turn to the halfway point I wanted to take a snapshot of how much teams are currently impacted by injury. What we did here was look at how much in terms of salary cap dollars and annual contract value were on reserve lists associated with being injured- IR, PUP, and NFI (Covid lists are not included) and what percent of a teams allocation on the season is sitting there.
There team most hurt by injuries is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have 30% of their salary cap sitting on reserve with just under 29% of the their total contract value sitting on the sidelines. Both are NFL highs. While Dallas is certainly having a disappointing year injuries are playing a big role.
The 49ers and Broncos are neck and neck for the next spot and both have done a good job overcoming adversity this year. Both squads are right around 27% of their roster value on IR and between 28 and 29% of their salary cap values on IR. The Broncos were higher earlier this year but did get their QB back. The teams rank 1st and 2nd in players on reserve the 49ers having 16 players hurt and the Broncos having 12 hurt. If I had to say which has it worse Id lean San Francisco who lost bigger value players whose impact is understated using salary metrics since they are on rookie contracts.
The Panthers are fourth with about 23% of their roster values hurt but they should take a big turn for the better next week when Christian McCaffrey is activated.
The Bengals have 19% of their roster value on IR and 17% of their cap value on IR while the Eagles are 4th in the NFL with $4M in contract value on IR but their roster value is so high it only makes up 18%, which puts them at 6th.
The Falcons are the healthiest team in the NFL which just makes their terrible start even more mind boggling. Usually a healthy roster leads to over-perfoming if anything. he Bills have some players on the sidelines but none hurt enough to land on IR. They have just 1.2% of their roster value on reserve.
The Lions and Rams have 2.1% and 2.2% respectively hurt. The Rams number went down yesterday with the activation of A’Shawn Robinson who had a questionable NFI designation. Teams should study what the Rams do because every year their team is generally healthy and its too consistent to just be dumb luck. The Chiefs round out the top five.
The following table has the full list as of this morning.
| Team | Players | Cap on Reserve | Contract Value on Reserve | % Cap on Reserve | % Contract Value on Reserve |
| Cowboys | 10 | $50,039,205 | $63,538,444 | 30.1% | 28.9% |
| 49ers | 16 | $55,797,531 | $65,489,628 | 28.1% | 27.3% |
| Broncos | 12 | $50,971,246 | $48,583,844 | 29.3% | 27.1% |
| Panthers | 8 | $34,243,640 | $41,912,639 | 22.4% | 22.9% |
| Bengals | 7 | $30,059,673 | $38,320,507 | 16.7% | 19.1% |
| Eagles | 10 | $37,862,058 | $44,128,336 | 21.1% | 18.0% |
| Vikings | 9 | $29,375,804 | $35,217,299 | 17.9% | 17.0% |
| Football Team | 11 | $26,518,658 | $29,623,710 | 15.9% | 16.4% |
| Cardinals | 8 | $41,256,234 | $34,442,275 | 22.9% | 14.9% |
| Patriots | 11 | $21,808,477 | $21,814,053 | 13.9% | 14.5% |
| Chargers | 8 | $27,185,425 | $30,788,074 | 14.7% | 14.4% |
| Browns | 8 | $21,269,986 | $26,467,458 | 11.6% | 11.9% |
| Raiders | 7 | $22,278,790 | $23,825,482 | 10.8% | 10.7% |
| Jaguars | 8 | $16,858,080 | $14,119,827 | 12.8% | 9.9% |
| Giants | 9 | $15,984,265 | $16,775,639 | 9.6% | 9.4% |
| Titans | 3 | $22,241,520 | $19,810,753 | 11.2% | 9.2% |
| Seahawks | 11 | $17,384,835 | $17,831,688 | 9.2% | 8.6% |
| Jets | 8 | $9,275,072 | $10,602,132 | 7.1% | 7.6% |
| Ravens | 8 | $11,227,555 | $13,073,193 | 6.6% | 7.0% |
| Packers | 10 | $10,631,336 | $13,700,028 | 5.5% | 6.5% |
| Texans | 5 | $11,404,216 | $14,758,343 | 5.8% | 5.6% |
| Bears | 7 | $7,657,345 | $10,620,931 | 4.1% | 4.9% |
| Buccaneers | 6 | $10,747,345 | $9,616,427 | 5.5% | 4.5% |
| Steelers | 4 | $9,409,538 | $8,782,853 | 5.2% | 4.2% |
| Colts | 6 | $11,097,045 | $9,075,806 | 5.1% | 4.2% |
| Dolphins | 5 | $7,087,151 | $6,926,375 | 4.1% | 3.8% |
| Saints | 9 | $8,247,613 | $9,251,634 | 4.7% | 3.8% |
| Chiefs | 5 | $7,843,639 | $6,556,397 | 3.9% | 2.8% |
| Rams | 6 | $4,090,778 | $4,665,027 | 2.5% | 2.2% |
| Lions | 6 | $3,271,416 | $4,438,060 | 1.8% | 2.1% |
| Bills | 4 | $1,893,488 | $2,670,472 | 0.9% | 1.2% |
| Falcons | 2 | $2,764,424 | $1,682,233 | 1.6% | 0.8% |