Raiders Rumors: Denzel Perryman Shut Down for Final 2 Games with Shoulder Injury
The Las Vegas Raiders reportedly will keep linebacker Denzel Perryman sidelined for the final two games of the regular season because of his dislocated shoulder, according to Jordan Schultz of The Score.
The report doesn't come as a major surprise. Head coach Josh McDaniels had indicated that both Perryman and edge-rusher Chandler Jones (elbow) could be done for the season with their respective injuries.
"They both, I'd say, incurred some injuries that could affect their ability to play again this year," he told reporters Monday. "We don't have all the things we need in terms of imaging and those kinds of things. So, that's all being done today, and we'll have more information obviously after this afternoon."
Perryman suffered the injury in Saturday's 13-10 loss, which dropped the Raiders to 6-9 on the year and all but officially eliminated them from postseason consideration. Even if they beat two of the NFL's best teams to close the season, the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders would still need plenty of help to sneak into the playoffs.
It's hard to imagine them beating the slimmest of odds with Perryman and Jones unavailable. The 30-year-old linebacker leads the team with 83 tackles to go along with 14 tackles for loss, two interceptions, two passes defensed, one sack and five quarterback hits.
Jones, meanwhile, has provided 4.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits.
Given the almost impossible odds of making the playoffs, it's possible that other players could be held out of the final two weeks of the season as well, including quarterback Derek Carr:
"The guys that got injured here this week or have some things that are nagging them, I think there's a lot of things that you start to talk about relative to taking care of the people that are dealing with things like that," McDaniels told reporters regarding decisions about whether or not to have certain players suit up. "Injuries or contracts, what have you, I think you got to consider all that stuff."
It sounds as though the decision has already been made on Perryman, at the very least.
