Training Camps are starting to head into full gear now and with that comes the unfortunate but unavoidable injury bug.
In the past two days alone 3 starters went down with season ending injuries.
It doesn’t get much worse than losing a valued member of the team just as the summer starts and in some cases before full pads are even on.
For the Eagles, Panthers, and Bengals who were the teams to suffer these injuries and now have to deal with them we feel your pain.
Kemoeatu (torn Achilles tendon) was one of three players to suffer season ending injuries recently
Let’s start with Stewart Bradley, middle linebacker of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bradley tor his ACL in practice on Sunday but actually walked off the field under his own power but the injury proved to be much more serious.
Bradley led the Eagles in tackles last season in only his first year as a starter. Many expected a breakout season from Bradley but that will have to wait a year. He wore the defensive headset and his leadership will be missed.
The Eagles will replace him with Omar Gaither, who actually started in the middle in 2007 but is not the same caliber player that Bradley is. The Eagles also just signed former Chargers linebacker Matt Wilhelm for depth.
Next to bite the injury bug was Reggie Kelly, tight end of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Kelly went down with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon on Sunday and will be placed on injured reserved shortly.
Just looking at Kelly’s numbers doesn’t tell you the whole story. His value extends much further than the box score.
His blocking is invaluable and something the Bengals mainly Carson Palmer will miss.
The Bengals have a handful of replacements though, who will need to step up. Ben Utecht and rookie Chase Coffman will handle the receiving duties as neither is much of a blocker. That duty will fall to Daniel Coats. Coats played some fullback last year but that should change now with Kelly out.
The last starter to get injured was Ma’ake Kemoeatu, defensive tackle of the Carolina Panthers.
Ma’ake Kemoeatu went down on Monday after tearing his Achilles tendon. The team has not yet decided whether to put him on I.R. but they likely will.
Kemoeatu is a beast in the middle clogging up the running lanes at 345 pounds. No one will miss Kemoeatu more than Jon Beason. Kemoeatu took on double teams allowing Beason to roam and do his thing. Now more lineman will get up to the second level and block Beason limiting his play making ability.
The loss is crippling for the Panthers who don’t have a lot of depth on the defensive line. His current backup is Marlon Favorite, a undrafted free agent from LSU where he wasn;t a full time starter. To make matters worse the Panther are strapped up against the cap and have little wiggle room.
