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According to the player . . .
he tore his pectoral muscle working out on his own, and team said he should have surgery, so he got it down, but then was cut shortly thereafter.
We are talking about running back Ty Johnson, who was released on April 26.
“I’ve had some Dark, dark days, man,” said the 25-year old Johnson on social media. “Told them [about the injury]. I told them even before this, I was like: ‘hey, was working out, [the torn pectoral] happened’ — saw the team doctor, he was like — ‘you need to get it fixed.’ Flew out the next day [to get surgery]. Came back happy that I got it done, even though I didn’t want to get it done. That following Wednesday, you’re outta there!”
Teammate D.J. Reed came to Johnson’s defense on Twitter:
 “Off-site injuries while working out should have some type of protection from the team,” Reed tweeted. “Same thing happened to me in San Fran.”
Let’s unpack this for a minute.
It’s not uncommon for teams to release players who suffer injuries working out away from the team.
They often get released with something called a “non-football injury.” As strange as that seems, that is what it’s called. Yes, the player was working out to get in shape for football, but since they did it away from the team, it’s called a “non-football injury.”
So Johnson being released after suffering an injury working out away from the team isn’t unusual.
The part of this story that perhaps raises some eyebrows is his version of this story that they told him to get the surgery, that he didn’t want to get, and then released him.
On the surface, that isn’t a great optic for the team.
It should be pointed out that we have yet to hear the team’s side of this story, and we might never hear it.
First of all, it’s not a given that somebody will ask Robert Saleh about this on Tuesday. This will be the first OTA open to the press, and Saleh will address this media, but who knows if he will be asked about this.
There are a lot of things not asked that you would expect. Nobody asked about RB coach Miles Austin being suspended by the NFL last season for a week after it happened. Nobody ever asked Joe Douglas or Robert Saleh about the report that the Jets told Derek Carr he could make the Hall of Fame if he came to New York to play for the Jets.
This is a different kind of beat.
But even if somebody asked, it’s possible Saleh would say that is a question for Joe Douglas, who isn’t scheduled to talk anytime soon. Once the draft wraps up, the next scheduled Douglas press conference would be at mid-season.
This would be a good situation for somebody from the Jets to give background on the team’s side of this story. We will see if this happens. I wouldn’t even know where to go for that. In the past, I did, but not in 2023. Covering the NFL is way different now than 10, 20, 25 years ago.
The release of Johnson was strange because they seemed to really like him as a change-of-pace back. After they released him, they were a little thin at running back, so they drafted Izzy Abanikanda.
May 22, 2023
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