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The severity of rookie CB Darryl Roberts' wrist injury has just come out into the public sphere, and it is not good news for the New England Patriots. The Patriots picked up Roberts in the 7th round (247th overall) of the draft. Roberts built up momentum over minicamps and the early portion of training camp. He got the nod in the first preseason game against the Green Bay Packers and played well before suffering the injury. Coming into the season, I believed that Roberts would be a core Special Teams performer and get a small handful of snaps before assuming the starting role next year.
This tweet initially surfaced last week, from Trevor Dorsey who is a Marshall alum.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/MikeReiss">@MikeReiss</a> Mike I'm hearing dislocated wrist for Darryl Roberts, possible surgery ahead.</p>— Trevor Dorsey (@TDorsey_MU) <a href="https://twitter.com/TDorsey_MU/status/633968460385665024">August 19, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Then this tweet came out today about the status of Roberts.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Per <a href="https://twitter.com/caplannfl">@caplannfl</a> and me: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Patriots?src=hash">#Patriots</a> rookie CB Darryl Roberts (7th round, Marshall) has significant wrist injury that could threaten his season.</p>— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/635854215483670528">August 24, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Assuming that Roberts gets surgery to correct the dislocated wrist, he's going to be out for at least eight weeks. That amount of time missed from the field is a major setback for the development of a young and promising player. I believe the Patriots will place him on the injured reserve list following final cuts. I don't think it will come with a designated to return tag because because he's a rookie and not a veteran. That likely makes him the first major casualty of the 2015 season. In his place, look for Bradley Fletcher and Logan Ryan to assume the #4 and 5 CB jobs.