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The Jets had a lot of injuries this year. What can they do about it?
Honestly not much.
Actually, there is something they can do to cut down on injuries – have their players not play football.
That might sound like I’m being flippant, but this idea that they can do a “deep dive” into this and fix what happened to them this year, is a little Pollyanna.
NFL football has a 100 percent injury rate. In other words, everybody in the locker room is dealing with something medically. It’s the nature of the sport.
The Jets ended the season with 20 players on injured reserve and ended up using 73 different players in 2019.
Obviously that is far from ideal, but you know what, a lot of other teams had injury issues. Just look at the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that made the playoffs. They were absolutely ravaged this past season.
Both the Jets and Eagles have state of the art training and rehab centers in their complex. Neither team is cutting corners in how they treat injuries.
You are going to have seasons like this.
Just like you are going to have season where you are remarkably healthy, like the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens this year. For the most part, it’s just the luck of the draw.
And while the Jets had a ton of injuries this year, that number of 73 players on injured reserve is a little (not a lot) misleading. Why? Because Christopher Johnson gave Joe Douglas the go-ahead to aggressively put players on injured reserve with injuries so the Jets could bring in more talent to check out. Two examples – linebacker Albert McClellan and cornerback Trumaine Johnson. McClellan had a concussion and Johnson ankle injuries. Neither player had season ending injuries, and both could have come back at some point, but Douglas put both on IR, so they could sign other players.
How do you prevent concussions and high ankle sprains? Pretty hard.
How do you prevent knee injuries (Kyron Brown) or shoulder injuries (Brian Winters)? Pretty hard.
Some people think that maybe you can do some things to prevent soft tissue injuries like groin and hamstring pulls, but the Jets stretch and hydrate like crazy. And in the case of Demaryius Thomas, he arrived with a hamstring injury, and the issue reared it’s ugly head all season on and off. That isn’t on the Jets trainers. C.J Mosley, a 250-pound linebacker, pulled his groin running way down field in coverage. It happens.
Douglas was recently asked about the injury epidemic.
“My initial thought is it was an anomaly,” said Douglas.
Bingo.
Of course they should do a study this off-season about what happened in 2019. It can’t hurt.
And maybe they will tweak a few things they do moving forward.
But you know what they will likely find out in their study? Nothing?
Just like Philadelphia will likely find out nothing
Well actually the Jets and Philadelphia will likely find out one thing.
Try to cut down on the number of older players you sign. The Eagles are a getting a little long in the tooth. A lot of older players. A lot of wear and tear.
Jets added players like 34-year-old center Ryan Kalil, who had been hurt a lot at the end in Carolina, and the same thing happened in Florham Park. McClellan is 33, and 30-year-old guard Kelechi Osemele had injury issues in Oakland, and then with the Jets. The Raiders didn’t think he’d play through injuries. The Jets former GM might not have researched this enough.
Maybe they need to get more rabbit’s feet in the building.
Because most of the time, teams staying healthy during an NFL season, is purely based on luck.
January 7, 2020
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