Cooper Kupp injury analysis; NFL's 5 healthiest, most injured teams

By Matt Provencher
Updated Nov. 16, 2022 6:40 p.m. ET

The reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams have been in the middle of the pack in health score this season. With a top ranking of No. 12 and falling to a low of No. 26, they have fluctuated due to players such as Joe Noteboom, Van Jefferson and Matthew Stafford gracing the injury report. Their latest blow came in the form of a high ankle sprain suffered by All-Pro receiver Cooper Kupp this past weekend. 

Kupp was injured coming down while attempting a reception on Sunday when he was rolled into by an Arizona Cardinals defender. Rams coach Sean McVay confirmed that Kupp will need surgery and head on the IR. This will be a tightrope procedure, which uses strong sutures to stabilize the ankle but allows some movement, and act anatomically as the syndesmosis ligament would in a healthy ankle. 

This type of surgery takes 4-6 weeks of recovery time. Due to the forces required on the ankle of such a high-impact player when pivoting, jumping and cutting, this could lean toward the 5-6 week return window. 

With that, we move to this week's game preview featuring Kupp's Rams against the Saints (Sunday on FOX at 1 p.m. ET).

The Saints enter as the home favorites in a clash between the 3-win teams. The Saints have struggled this season both with their record and their team health. They dealt with injuries to Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry and Alvin Kamara early on, while their defense has had some scattered injuries as well. Overall, the Saints have been stationed in the bottom half of the health rankings all season — coming in as the most banged-up team in the NFL in the BUS rankings and never climbing past No. 23. 

As injury reports come out this week and information is released, be sure to check @NFLonFOX and @SportsDocMatt on Twitter for the latest BUS scores Sunday morning and head over to ThePredictors.com for additional injury information on all your favorite teams.

As we look for some clarity in team health, we go to Dr. Matt Provencher for the Weekly Banged Up Score (BUS) rankings. 

Healthiest Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars: BUS - 87.6

2. Philadelphia Eagles: BUS – 83.9

3. Chicago Bears: BUS - 83.9

4. Minnesota Vikings: BUS - 83.3

5. Kansas City Chiefs: BUS - 80.1

Least Healthiest Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

1. Los Angeles Chargers: BUS - 50.6

2. Arizona Cardinals: BUS - 57.7

3. New Orleans Saints: BUS - 59.1

4. Denver Broncos: BUS - 59.7

5. Tennessee Titans: BUS - 60.1

We continue to have some shifts in the rankings. The Eagles fell from the top spot and then subsequently suffered their first loss of the season in falling to the Commanders, who had jumped from 20 to 12. 

Meanwhile, the Saints dropped into the bottom 5 again after previously climbing out of it. Prior to their loss on Sunday, the Bills had also dropped from sixth healthiest to 10th as a result of Josh Allen's injured elbow. The Rams have been slowly but steadily declining in health and found themselves ranked 24th prior to Kupp's injury this past weekend.

Renowned orthopedist Dr. Matt Provencher and his company, ThePredictors.com, deliver data-driven injury insights to football fans. In this first-of-a-kind role as Athlete Injury and Performance Analyst for FOX Sports’ digital platforms, Provencher provides important predictive player health and recovery information about post-injury performance, the impact of weather, field conditions and more.