UPDATE: Sergio Kindle Has Fractured Skull, Expected To Miss Season Opener

Yup, the headline says it all. Earlier this morning, based on what I had seen in various places, I reported that Sergio Kindle, the Ravens’ top draft pick in April, would not report to training camp, but be ready in time for the preseason and regular season. Yeah, I was a bit off with that…

Click “Continue Reading” to find out more about Sergio Kindle’s injury, his timetable of return and how it will affect the team’s plans.

John Harbaugh said today to the media that Sergio Kindle has a fractured skull and won’t even be able to travel for a few weeks. This would mean that he misses training camp entirely. He’s also not expected to play in the season opener on September 13th. Coach Harbaugh said that the team would be careful with him:

"”We just have to play it by ear and see how it develops.  I know one thing, we’re going to be very careful with that.  You’re talking about a head injury and playing football.  That’s not something we want to mess with.  From a football standpoint, we’ll move on with the guys we’ve got."

Now, several people have asked me if I think this incident had to do with alcohol or drugs, basically all the usual suspects. Harbaugh said that Kindle is “not in any trouble.” With a past history of a DUI and a couple of other questionable decisions, the Ravens decided to take a flyer on Kindle after he vowed that those were one-time things.

Hopefully this doesn’t knock him out for longer than a game or two, but a fractured skull is pretty serious stuff. It can take a couple of weeks just for the bones to heal, and that’s what the restriction on traveling is probably due to. Beyond that, you don’t want to put a guy with an injured skull into a sport with a high concussion rate very quickly. As a rookie and with a crazy amount of potential, I see the Ravens being extremely, extremely conservative with him. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if he came back as the same time as Ed Reed.

If any more updates are available, I’ll post them as soon as I hear.