by John Miller
Brian Westbrook has swelling in that same knee he's dealt with for years. He's still not recovered from his two cracked ribs from 6 weeks ago. And he has a nagging high ankle sprain too. The Daily News reports Westbrook looked "alarmingly hobbled" at the team facility on Monday.
Westbrook has missed two games already, and in his other 8 games he's averaged 3.2 yards per carry or less on 5 different occasions. This year he averages a 20-yard play every 78 touches. Last year he averaged a 20-yard play every 23 touches. The man is a wreck. He's out of our top-20 for this week, maybe off the weekly rankings entirely by Friday. Some of you might need to dust off Correll Buckhalter and use him, though the Ravens are a terrible matchup (at home).
The injuries are piling up after 1,400 total touches (including playoffs) since 2005. Is he suddenly nearing the end? Not likely. He's a warrior who will come out swinging next year after a restful offseason. But if I'm picking at the end of the 1st round next summer and Westbrook is there, I'm passing. He just collected $13 million in guaranteed money on that new extension and he'll be 30 at kickoff 2009.
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