Clayton: Conway getting waived might be a sign of things to come
Aug 6, 2021, 12:52 PM
The Broncos made a roster move that slipped through the with very little attention. They waived-injured tackle Cody Conway.
When you waive an injured player, he goes to the injured reserve list for the rest of the season if he’s not claimed after a day, unless he heals or reaches an injury settlement. Conway suffered a knee injury.
Where this may sound like a minor deal because he probably wasn’t going to make the team, his situation is one of the things that is a big part of a start of an NFL training camp. Whether it’s going to meeting room to OTA, OTAs to minicamp or the first practices in training camp, ACL tears and Achilles tears are going to happen. You can usually expect five or six in the first week of camp.
There is a decent chance Conway suffered an ACL tear. If he did, he would be the second ACL tear since the start of training camp and the fifth of the offseason. Cam Akers of the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants tight end Levine Toilolo blew out their Achilles. There will probably be a few more in the next few days and more when the preseason games begin for all teams. And don’t forget Broncos wide receiver DeSean Hamilton blew out his ACL working out on his own in mid May.
Last year, NFLPA president J.C. Tretter predicted a lot of these type of soft tissue injuries once training camp started. Everyone remembers the last time there were no offseason workouts in 2011 when there was a lockout. ACL and Achilles tears were almost at record level that year. As it turned out, the ACL and Achilles tears weren’t as bad as expected in training camp. There were nine ACL tears and five Achilles tears.
The bigger problem occurred in the regular season. There were 33 ACL tears, which was a record since the league started tracking these injuries. That’s 12 more than 2019. The most regular season tears between 2013 and 2019 was 27 in 2016.
Understand ACL tears and Achilles tears are mostly non-contract injuries. One bad turn on a leg can result in this injury. With players training on their own before OTAs, and many veterans not showing up for OTAs, that could lead to more tears. One of the keys to avoid them is to do extra work on the tendons.
It’s all part of the NFL every season.
