Injury update: Patriots right tackle LaAdrian Waddle suffered minor knee sprain, might return later in the playoffs

The New England Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans rather convincingly yesterday to move to their seventh straight AFC Championship Game. However, the team lost their starting right tackle along the way: LaAdrian Waddle exited the contest in the third quarter because of a knee injury.

While initial reports were not overly positive and it was speculated that Waddle might miss the remainder of the season, the latest report by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport sounds more encouraging:

#Patriots RT LaAdrian Waddle suffered just a minor knee sprain in the win over the #Titans, source said. He hasn’t been ruled out for the AFC Title game and will be re-evaluated later in the week.

This is obviously good news for the Patriots, as Waddle had a productive season as quarterback Tom Brady’s right side protector and looked good on Saturday before leaving the game due to the injury. And while it remains to be seen whether or not Waddle will be ready to practice this week or play in the AFC title game, a sprain certainly looks like the best possible outcome of the injury.