Chigozie Anusiem was carted off the field with a leg injury in the third quarter Thursday night, cutting short a preseason game in which the Raiders were already trailing the Texans 20-3. He had a vacuum splint on his leg before leaving for the training room.
Anusiem, a Raiders cornerback, was on the punt team when he was dragged down from behind. The injury looked serious enough to stop play, and teammates gathered around him as he wore a towel over his head and was wished well before he departed. The cart and splint did not answer the biggest question around him: how badly the leg is hurt.
That uncertainty matters because this was not a starter being wrapped in caution after a harmless scrape. Anusiem has worked in the Raiders’ special teams group, playing 54 special teams snaps in three games last season, and Thursday’s injury came in live action when those reps were again part of the plan. For a player trying to keep a roster place by doing the hard, unglamorous work, any leg injury that requires a cart is a setback that can change the rest of the night and possibly much more.
The Raiders did not provide a diagnosis, and the vacuum splint suggests the club was treating it as more than a routine stinger or bruise. But there is still no clear word on the extent of the damage, only the visible part of it: Anusiem could not walk off, needed immediate support, and left with teammates watching from the field. What happens next will depend on whether the injury proves to be temporary or something that forces him out for longer than one preseason game.
