The Season is upon us and as we finally head into week one we take a final look at some bigger injuries that happened during pre-season that could have some ripple effect with teams performance this upcoming season. As we know healthy teams win Superbowls and injuries add up throughout the season. Being a heavily injured team early can have large impacts later on.
Tyron Smith – Left Tackle
One of the biggest stories during this preseason has been the loss of 8x pro bowler, Tyron Smith, from the Cowboys offensive line. Smith suffered a hamstring avulsion fracture August 24th during practice. This injury comes to an offensive line that is strong and as high as number 6 or 7 in some pre-season rankings but losing a stud like Tyron at the most important offensive line position is still a huge blow. An optimistic outlook has Tyron returning in December but realistically he will miss the entire season due to his injury recovery. He needs to let the fracture heal and then the soft tissue before starting to really strengthen and get back to football activities. The importance of the hamstring is key in terms of explosiveness and leg strength, especially pushing on the line. In his absence Dallas has moved Tyler Smith to starting left tackle to start the season and have signed veteran Jason Peters to add depth. Unfortunately, barring a miraculous recovery I don’t foresee Tyron making the field this season and if he can his productivity will be way down as he will most likely experience symptoms that will affect play as he returns.
Kayvon Thibodeaux – Edge Rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux’s injured his right knee during the August 21st pre-season game verses the Bengals. Further testing did show some damage to the MCL. Thibodeaux, a first-round draft pick out of Oregon by the Giants was set to make an immediate impact on their defense. This injury will set him back some but luckily not much more than that regarding his performance. The injury will require heavy rehabilitation to the surrounding musculature in the knee to provide stability so that he performs his job. If he returns to the field too quickly, he will set himself up for further injury so he and the medical staff will have to be careful. Assuming he takes the necessary precautions, he should return with little affect to his performance. As a rookie though he will have to adjust to the NFL game speed and continue to adapt and learn his new defense which could affect his playing having missed a few weeks for the injury but the MCL itself shouldn’t cause him any decrease in performance.
Harold Landry – Outside Linebacker Outsider Linebacker Harold Landry, the Titans 2021 sack leader-- is done for the season after tearing his ACL. We have talked about ACL’s a lot in the past and most know that it is a season-ending injury. A nine-to-twelve-month recovery is now ahead of Landry as he rehabilitates with the medical staff. Ola Adeniyi will take his place as the “next man up”. The Titans will have to fill not only his physical role but figure out how to address play calling schemes with Landry’s versatility out for the season. Coach Vrabel still has a dominant defense but will have to take a hard look at next steps to replace the missing piece successfully.
Brian Robinson – Lower Extremity Brian Robinson was looking to make a splash this season as a big piece of the Commanders backfield. Luckily, he will still have that chance after surviving a carjacking in which he was shot twice in the lower extremity. The Commanders have come out and placed him on the reserve/NFI list that will allow him to miss the first four weeks and focus on his recovery instead of rushing back to the gridiron. Brian will have his chance to show his talent when he recovers and luckily what we have heard is that the bullet missed any portions of the knee/joint that will substantially prolong his healing. Once he is ready to return there is no doubt that the team will ease him back and snap percentage to see how he responds to NFL action.
Aaron Stinnie – ACL/MCL Injury Aaron Stinnie suffered an ACL/MCL tear in August and will be done for the season. This comes as a huge hit to an offensive line that has already lost Ryan Jensen and can’t afford much more in terms of loss of depth. This Is a unit that started high on the rankings list even after some departures but has slowly fallen some with the injuries. Stinnie though out for the season should be able to help those stepping up into his position. When he returns next season he will likely experience some fatigue in the muscles in his injured extremity that he will need to work through as well as having to get over the mental hurdles to trust his knee again and get back on the field. Once he gets through those he should be back to full go for the 2022-2023 season.
Byron Jones – Achilles Injury Byron Jones was placed on the PUP list at the end of august meaning he will miss a minimum of the first four games of the season for Miami. After a procedure to his Achilles he has slowly progressed but not as quickly as everyone had hoped. Originally, he was supposed to be ready for week 1 and now will be out until at least week 5. It was specified that the surgery in March was not for an Achilles “tear” but to clean up the lingering injury. The good news is neither the team nor Byron is interested in rushing him back which is a great sign that the athletes are taking the time they need before returning to the field for action. Even with the lengthy recovery, we will still see a drop in performance upon return until Byron feels comfortable and pain free. He may have some symptoms such as swelling and soreness as well as muscle endurance issues he has to deal with on the field when he does come back. The Dolphins will look to Noah Igbinoghene in his absence
