Those were some of my concerns as well, Spud. But, as I found on falling over,
handle bar and or cylinder head will hit the ground first. Or me. As far as debris kicked up by the tire, there is a better chance of holing the front engine cover than hitting the filter.
All that said, I cleaned up the original filter housing, and have that in the trunk with a spare stock filter 'cuz ya never know'.*
*Which is why my garage looks like it does.