League looks into injuries involving lower extremities

PHOENIX — Next to torn ACLs, the most time lost for injured NFL players is because of hamstring and lower extremity problems, of which there are far more than the major knee issue.

So the NFL will place even more emphasis on examining hamstring, groin, foot, ankle, and other such injuries, along with its heavy concentration on the knee.

While reducing concussions remains the most critical player safety initiative — they were down 29 percent in 2018 — Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, this week stressed the need to target the lower extremity injuries “the same as with concussions.”

“We are thinking about injury burden,” Sills said. “Not only how many injuries but how long a player missed. We plan by the end of year in hopes of making substantial savings of time lost [for players] with those injuries,” Sills said.

Some of those injuries occur because players push too hard when they aren’t in the shape to do so, particularly those who report late to training camp — or not at all, and then come aboard during the season. That’s particularly true of hamstrings; it’s not unusual for observers to wonder how soon, not if, such players will struggle with such problems.

“It’s how you train and when and how much intensity you bring to specific times you train,” Sills said.

The league will talk with team trainers and doctors, with exercise experts and researchers in a push to reduce what often are termed “nagging injuries.”

Sills and Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of health and safety initiatives, spoke about a variety of injury and player safety topics at the owners meetings. 

They were most encouraged, not surprisingly, by the decrease in the number of concussions, with one exception: Things were static during preseason practices, when 45 occurred in 2017 and 45 happened again last year. Many of those were incurred by offensive linemen, Sills said, and were specific to blocking.

“We’ll be meeting with position coaches to look at how linemen are training in camp,” he said. “We will make all the teams aware of the data we collect.”

Factors for the reduction in concussions include enhanced rules prohibiting lowering the helmet, fewer kickoff returns (also because of rules changes); players making adjustments to the new or stricter regulations; and players switching to the highest-rated helmets in a survey conducted by the league and the players union.

Miller noted that half of the league has changed helmets, and 74 percent of the players now wear helmets in the highest-approved (green) region of the survey and accompanying poster that is hung in every team’s facility. He credited training staffs, medical personnel, players, coaches, and team owners.

“The posters certainly were able to change player behavior,” he said.

APPEAL DENIED: A court is rejecting an appeal by the man convicted of killing former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith during a traffic altercation in New Orleans.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal in a ruling Wednesday affirmed the conviction of Cardell Hayes in the April, 2016, killing.

Hayes is serving a 25-year sentence for manslaughter in Smith’s death and attempted manslaughter in the wounding of Smith’s wife.

Hayes insisted at trial that he fired after a drunk, angry Smith retrieved a gun from his car and fired first. Hayes was convicted in a 10-2 decision.

THOMAS ENTERS PLEA: Former Denver Broncos and Houston Texans wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has pleaded guilty to careless driving in a February crash in downtown Denver.

As part of a plea deal announced Wednesday, Thomas’ attorneys say prosecutors dismissed a felony vehicular assault charge. Thomas was fined $300, must complete 50 hours of community service, and was placed on supervised probation for one year.

In a statement released by his attorneys, Thomas said he accepts responsibility and he promised to never again put anyone at risk with that type of behavior.

Police said Thomas was driving more than twice the speed limit on Feb. 16 when his SUV went off the road and flipped end-over-end after hitting a median.