Ryan Griffin Injury: Updates on Texans TE's MCL and Return

The Houston Texans are already facing a shortage of healthy tight ends through one regular-season game, and that situation worsened Tuesday thanks to Ryan Griffin’s MCL injury. The tight end was placed on injured reserve with the designation to return. 

Continue for updates.

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Griffin Could Miss 'Significant Time'

Tuesday, Sept. 15

The tight end sprained his MCL in the fourth quarter of the season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, per John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. But the silver lining is he won't need surgery, and he will “miss just a few weeks,” according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.

However, head coach Bill O’Brien commented on the injury and said Griffin will miss a “significant" amount of time, per Drew Dougherty of Texans TV.   

Griffin only tallied 91 receiving yards last year and boasts two touchdown catches in his entire career. He notched one catch for 18 yards against the Chiefs.

Despite the lackluster receiving totals, Griffin’s improvement as a blocker was one reason he saw the field, per Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com: “Griffin got better. What was once one of his weaknesses became a big part of why he's getting more opportunities in a Texans offense that needs its tight ends to be well-rounded. Blocking NFL defenders wasn't Griffin's forte at first, but he's grown that part of his game.”

Losing out on an established blocker like that will hurt, especially since Deepi Sidhu of HoustonTexans.com noted the team only has two other tight ends on the active roster in Garrett Graham and C.J. Fiedorowicz. Anthony Denham and Mike McFarland are both on injured reserve, and rookie Eric Tomlinson is on the practice squad.

As entertaining as it would be to watch defensive end J.J. Watt—who caught three touchdowns last year on three targets—line up at tight end on a regular basis, he is too important to the defense to risk injury on offense.

At least Graham and Fiedorowicz are listed among the top three tight ends on the unofficial depth chart on the team’s website, but Houston will need more healthy bodies than that with 15 regular-season games remaining. Look for it to make a roster move following Griffin’s setback.