Now that I am watching football weekly, I am noticing a common theme. Injuries. Injuries that are continuously taking out top starting players that either make the player out for several games or out for the season. Names like Aaron Rogers, Joe Burrow, and Kirk Cousins have dominated the field but are now in recovery mode to make it to next season. Injury in sports is a common thing but is becoming more of a norm. What’s going on this 2023 season?
What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
They say, “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.” Athletes wear this quote like a badge of honor when taking the field. Last season we saw some of the most gut-wrenching injuries of all time. Damar Hamlin, who was a twenty-four-year-old safety, tackled an opposing player, stood up and dropped to the ground. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and was given CPR. Many experts believe that the blow to Damar’s chest randomly put his heart into an arrhythmia which caused an irregular heartbeat to occur. With the help of the Bill’s medical staff and doctors and nurses who aided in his treatment, Damar is back on the field and inspiring so many from what became a tragedy to a triumph. Another shocking injury was to Dolphin’s quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who went through concussions last season throughout multiple games. It made the NFL take a step back and evaluate concussion protocol, educating staff more on concussions and how they need to be mindful of the signs and symptoms to look for. We know that football is a taxing game on the body both mentally and physically, but what is it worth?
The Numbers Tell the Story
Something I’ve learned in public health classes over the past two years is that the numbers tell the story, meaning the statistics tell you how much your population is being affected. Gitnux reported on many alarming NFL stats that have been reported throughout the past seasons. In the 2020 season, there were a total of 2,113 total injuries. This translated to about 3.08 injuries per NFL game during the 2020 season. To me, this seems exponential and growing as the seasons go on, but wait, we’re not done. Defensive players represent 53.7% of injuries during the 2020 season, which makes sense since they are taking a lot of the harder hits in the game. Wide receivers also had the highest injury rates in 2020, with a total of 302 injuries. Who was the most injured NFL team in the 2020 season, you ask? That would be the San Francisco 49ers with over 100 injured players. Now when you read these numbers what are your thoughts? Mine is that, the NFL is physically a demanding sport and injuries are a common reality for many players. It tells us that teams need to prioritize health and safety for their players especially ones that are more vulnerable to injury, which can be more dependent on their position.
& The Hits Keep on Coming…
According to Sharp Football Analysis, 258 NFL players are currently on the injured reserve list. Of these 258 that are changing every week, 14 of the NFL’s top players are sitting on that injured reserve list out for weeks or the entire season. Aaron Rogers and Kirk Cousins who are both starting quarterbacks are out for the season with Achilles-related injuries. Joining this list of top players is Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow who is now out for the season with a wrist injury. Although I would love to say that the NFL will have fewer injuries, with the way the season keeps playing out we are having a run of bad luck losing our starter players to weeks-long injuries or season-ending ones.
All sports deal with injury rates, it’s a matter of how they deal with them. Evaluating protocols, having qualified staff and keeping the athlete’s health and well-being in the best interest are the key issues. I think the NFL will need to continuously be updating protocols for the safety of their players especially with how high contact the sport is. I will be very interested to see how many injured players the 2023 season ends with.