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It was an announcement that Jets fans didn’t want to hear.
Three days after the Jets concluded a draft that has fans in Jets Nation abuzz, Network’s Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero announced Tuesday morning that Quinnen Williams will likely have surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot, an injury suffered working out at One Jets Drive. The two men also announced that the player is expected to be sidelined 8-10 weeks.
Garafolo and Pelsissero made the announcement at the exact same time. It was a like a photo finish at the racetrack. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
People from the NFLPA will tell you this is a perfect example of why NFL team workouts in the off-season are bad and shouldn’t exist.
But then later on Tuesday, Pelissero and his NFL Network co-worker James Palmer, announced that Broncos right tackle Ja’Wuan James torn his achilles working out AWAY from the team, and will likely miss the season.
So honestly, these off-season workout injuries can happen at a team facility and away from one.
But the good news for the Jets is that Williams should be healed by the start of the season.
Now, some people reported today he should be ready for training camp. Perhaps, since it’s considered an 8-10 week injury, however, don’t expect him to be full go in camp. Expect the Jets to have him on a major pitch-count in camp, coming off foot surgery. Their goal is to have him ready for the opener.
However, should the Jets start to worry about Williams’ durability? He missed time in 2019 with a high ankle sprain and neck injury, and then he ended up in IR in December last year with another neck injury.
And now a broken foot.
Obviously none of this is his fault, but these injuries are starting to pile up.
What makes Williams durability issues even more of a concern for Gang Green, has to be the fact that they signed former Saints DT Sheldon Rankins to start next to him, and he’s had a bad injury history as well, missing a lot of time in New Orleans with injuries including serious Achilles, leg and knee maladies.
While both players are super talented, they aren’t huge interior defensive linemen, both around 6-2, 6-3 and 300 pounds (and maybe lighter), so these kind of guys can take even more of a pounding, playing on the inside, because they don’t have as much body armor, as let’s say Foley Fatukasi, who is 318-pounds.
Hey, they both could be just fine and have healthy seasons, but the Jets would be best served platooning them a lot and not overdoing their reps on game day, and I’m sure that’s the plan.
While anybody can get hurt at anytime, once you start getting hurt over and over, it can turn into a domino effect, especially when you start to favor a prior injury and that leads to another one.
For instance, the aforementioned James, has had one injury nightmare after the other.
May 4, 2021
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