This stuff is so annoying. It's such an easy fix for the devs. All injuries from the previous season need to just be wiped on WK #1 of the offseason. That's not technically the most "realistic" thing, but Madden heals all players in the offseason anyway, so they should just do this simple move to prevent dumb roster management by the CPU.
All they have to do is have the CPU look at its actual roster instead of depth chart when drafting.