Commanders tight end Zach Ertz left Sunday’s game against the Vikings with a knee injury after getting hit in the thigh in midair. The team has released that he will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Often when we see ACL tears in football, the injury happens either as a player lands on the leg or with a twisting motion on a planted foot. Ertz’ injury was clearly different than either of those as the entire string of events happened with him up in the air, so let’s break it down. The role of the ACL is to stop the shin from sliding forward relative to the thigh bone, and to restrict rotation between the shin and thigh. When Ertz flew through the air, both thigh and shin were moving forward until the hit, when suddenly his thigh was abruptly forced backwards. The backward motion of the thigh while the shin kept going forward put more tension on the ACL than it could stand, causing it to tear. The way the knee hyperextended also puts other structures in the knee at risk. The tibial nerve and popliteal artery both cross the back of the knee, and the hyperextension puts them under tension, possibly causing stretching or tearing that can put the lower limb at risk. The possibility of damage to that artery and nerve are likely the reason Ertz was taken straight to the hospital instead of spending more time undergoing tests at the stadium with the team staff first. Additionally, there are other ligaments and tendons other than the ACL that play a role in knee stability, so we will see if the team releases more information on any additional complications to the ACL injury.
Ertz is no stranger to ACL injury recovery. In 2022 while playing for the Arizona Cardinals he tore the ACL in the other knee, had surgery and returned to play. The stats show that after returning from his last ACL injury, Ertz saw a 21% decrease in snap percentage per game with 1.25 fewer receptions per game. This resulted in an average of 17.07 fewer receiving yards per game, including 7.43 fewer yards after the catch. It’s also worth noting that Ertz recently turned 35 and is in his 13th year in the NFL, on a one year contract, which puts his return to the NFL a big question mark.
