A midseason ankle injury slowed Cameron Jordan down in a big way last year. He’s since had surgery, and isn’t expected to miss a day of the Saints’ offseason program:
It’s no secret that Cameron Jordan didn’t look like himself in 2023. He played in all 17 games but only bagged two sacks and three tackles for loss, the lowest totals since his rookie season way back in 2011. The New Orleans Saints defensive end underwent offseason surgery to get right. Both Jordan and his coaches blame his poor production on that midseason ankle injury, but head coach Dennis Allen doesn’t expect him to miss any time in spring training while healing up.
“I don’t think it’s going to be anything that’s going to keep him out of the spring,” Allen told reporters at NFL owners meetings this week. Teams with returning head coaches, like the Saints, are allowed to open their offseason program on April 15.
While he doesn’t anticipate any setbacks from this ankle surgery, Allen did point out that the team plans on lightening Jordan’s offseason work to keep him fresh and rested when the season kicks off in September.
Allen continued: “I do think when you have a guy like Cam who’s getting a little older, how much do we do with him in the spring, how much do we do with him in training camp, I think those are all things that we’ve got to take into account when we’re dealing with a more veteran player.”
Jordan will turn 35 in June, making him one of the oldest players in the NFL along with his teammate Demario Davis. Their only senior among the league’s defenders is Calais Campbell. Left tackle Trent Williams and quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson are the other active players who can say they’re older than Jordan.
It isn’t unusual for the Saints to scale back practice reps for older players to save them for the regular season. They took that approach with Drew Brees in the final years of his career, too. Giving Jordan a day off here or there could pay off.
But the most important thing is recovering fully from this ankle injury. Jordan’s snap counts plummeted after he suffered both lower and higher ankle sprains in his left foot, and he wasn’t able to push the pocket on passing downs because of it. The hope is he can return to health and bounce back.
What complicates things is that both Jordan and the player he figures to split snaps with, Chase Young, are each recovering from surgeries. Any time they miss — and, again, Allen said Jordan should be back soon — is going to disrupt the chemistry in that group at defensive end. Hopefully everyone can heal up and get time in training camp to work together and develop a plan for attacking Week 1 in September.
Chase Young underwent neck surgery after signing with the Saints. He isn’t expected to be ready for training camp:
New Saints DE Chase Young, who signed his one-year, $13 million deal with New Orleans today, is undergoing a neck procedure that is expected to sideline him into training camp, per sources. The expectation is that he will return in time for the season. Teams were aware of his… pic.twitter.com/I2saUzLFhp
Schefter says that while Young is expected to return in time for the start of the regular season in September, recovery from this procedure will “sideline him into training camp.” So fans shouldn’t expect to even see Young on the practice field until August. Young played through the injury last season for two different teams but requires this now procedure in order to continue his career.
While Schefter says that teams were aware of this medical situation, and that “the Saints were comfortable moving ahead with it,” it’s very disappointing for a team with such a lengthy history of injuries at the defensive end position. Marcus Davenport and Payton Turner, both first-round draft picks, spent extensive time in trainer’s room early in their careers. Young is quite literally following in their footsteps. Hopefully everything will go as planned so that Young can hit the field in Week 1 and make a positive impact.
Cam Heyward has no patience for the haters who want him to retire.
2023 was a forgettable season for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward. An injury-riddled season forced Heyward to play basically on one leg but Heyward never gave up. Heyward posted this offseason that he underwent successful surgery and was looking forward to playing on two legs in 2024.
But this hasn’t stopped critics from calling for Heyward to retire. This comes from a combination of factors including his injury as well as his $22 million cap hit in 2024 on the final year of his current contract.
Heyward didn’t appreciate the armchair GMs and their hate for him after everything he has given this team and fired a shot at those cynical fans who want to see him gone.
Funny how you get hurt and kill yourself just to get back to play and not be 100 percent. Now they want you to retire cuz I was hurt all year🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️ Atleast I know where y’all stand. Yall quick to forget when I am healthy…. But I look forward to reminding yall
As far as we are concerned, Heyward can play for the Steelers as long as he likes and we will support him no matter what. He’s the Ben Roethlisberger of the defensive side of the ball and has earned that level of respect. We can’t wait to see a healthy Heyward back on the field this season.
Minnesota Vikings ILB Brian Asamoah II announces on Twitter that he had successful surgery.
After an injury-plagued season, Minnesota Vikings inside linebacker Brian Asamoah II announced on Twitter that he had successful surgery. Asamoah didn’t announce what he had surgery on and when it occurred but the fact that it was successful is important.
Surgery was a success. Can’t wait to attack this rehab and get back to work.
“Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a 1000 generations,” Deuteronomy 7:9 AS
Asamoah did miss significant time during the season with an ankle injury so it’s likely that it was the same injury. Even though it’s likely, it’s not something we can confirm 100% at this time.
It wasn’t a great year for Asamoah. He only saw the field on defense in six games with a paltry 36 snaps accrued. It was a far cry from the 121 snaps he saw in 2022, with the majority of them coming in the final four games.
In 2023, Asamoah only had three tackles but he did get one pressure on just three pass rush reps. Hopefully, it will be a better year in 2024 for Asamoah, as they will need him to step up with the linebacker room clearing out.
He started feeling some troubling symptoms: shaking, tremors in his hands, loss of appetite, chills, no energy.
HONOLULU, Hawaii – Gary Woodland never feared anything except the fear of failure. That is until he began being jolted awake with the fear of dying.
“I had gone four and a half months of every day really thinking I was going to die,” he said on Tuesday. “Every day it was a new way of dying, new way of death. The jolting in the middle of the night scared the heck out of me.”
It turned out he had a lesion on his brain, and on Sept. 18, Woodland underwent a craniotomy, slicing his head open all the way down to his ear and cutting about a baseball-sized hole in his skull to remove the majority of the tumor.
“Then put it back with plates and screws. So I’ve got a robotic head, I guess,” joked Woodland, who required 30 staples in his head.
“I had some people tell me this was a little optimistic to be here this week, but last week my family and I came over to Hawaii early,” he said. “Ramped up practice, ramped up the training and the body responded beautifully. Kept getting better and better.”
Woodland, 39, has won four times on the PGA Tour, with his biggest victory coming at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. But in late April, shortly after the Masters, he started feeling some troubling symptoms at the Mexico Open at Vidanta: shaking, tremors in his hands, loss of appetite, chills, no energy. It became so bad that he called his longtime doctor on May 24 and begged for help to deal with his anxiety.
“You think you can overcome stuff. I couldn’t overcome this,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, I need something to calm me down.’ ”
His doctor said he couldn’t prescribe any medication without Woodland undergoing an MRI. Woodland went to get an MRI that night and it revealed a lesion on his brain, which led to more testing and eventually an appointment with a specialist.
“The lesion in my brain sat on the part of my brain that controls fear and anxiety,” Woodland explained. “He’s like, you’re not going crazy. Everything you’re experiencing is common and normal for where this thing is sitting in your brain.”
Woodland was prescribed anxiety seizure medicine that he took twice daily but his fear of dying only got worse initially.
“It was Wednesday (May 31) or Thursday night (June 1) of the Memorial and I’m laying in bed at 1 (a.m.) grabbing the bed to tell myself I wasn’t falling from heights, I wasn’t dying, for an hour.”
Gary Woodland prepares to play his shot from the fourth tee during the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
When the mini-seizures continued, they upped the dosage. As the medicine started to increase, his brain slowed down and the seizures stopped.
“The meds I was on were working for the seizures but were horrible for me as a person,” he said. “I had horrible side effects.”
One of those side effects was short-term memory loss. “I would be standing over a club and forget which club I’m hitting. I would be lining up putts and think, this is taking too long. I’m just going to hit it,” he said. “Didn’t have the focus or the energy.”
Woodland kept playing because physically his game felt fine and competing provided a short respite from the fear and anxiety he dealt with, but after he failed to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs, his caddie pulled him aside and said, “You can’t play this way. You’ve got to go get help. You’ve got to get fixed.”
A biopsy showed that the tumor, which was diagnosed as benign, was up against his optic tract on the brain and it was too risky to remove all of it.
“They removed as much as they could,” Woodland said, noting there had been the risk of losing his vision or even control of the left side of his body, “and believe they cut off the blood circulation to what’s left.”
Woodland spent two days in the ICU. When he was released from the hospital, they brought a wheelchair to the ICU room but Woodland declined using it. “I said, I’m sorry, I walked in this place and I’m walking out,” he recalled. “I got out of bed and I walked straight to my car and got home, and it was amazing seeing my (three) kids. They didn’t come while I was in the hospital. We didn’t want to bring them to see me like that.”
Woodland immediately began plotting his comeback. Full Swing Simulators installed PuttView, its indoor putting green, into the dining room at his house and he began putting two days after surgery. He was cleared to hit golf balls four weeks later but waited an extra week. Woodland played so badly during his first nine holes that he phoned his teacher, Butch Harmon, and asked if he could come see him in Las Vegas. Within 30 minutes, the rust started to come off.
“G-Dub, you’re right where you’re supposed to be,” Harmon said.
This journey has been very hard but I’m extremely thankful to be progressing and for the unconditional love and support from everyone. You’ve all made this process a little easier for me and my family. Thank you to everyone and I look forward seeing you all next year. pic.twitter.com/ON16PuDUck
More than anything, Woodland is grateful for the love and support he’s received from his golf family as well as people he doesn’t even know who have been moved by his story.
“I realize there is a lot of good in this world,” Woodland said. “Even being back this week, seeing the guys, haven’t seen many guys. It’s been overwhelming how good it’s been.”
The question remains: Is he ready for seven days of mental focus and stress? Woodland said it is standard protocol to be on medication for at least six months, and he got a good report after an MRI a week and a half ago. He’s ready to prove that he can get back to being one of the best players in the world.
“I want to prove to my kids nobody is going to tell you you can’t do anything. You can overcome tough, scary decisions in your life. Not everything is easy. This came out of nowhere for me, but I’m not going to let it stop me,” he said. “I don’t want this to be a bump in the road for me. I want it to be a jump start in my career.”
Ryan Ramczyk is managing a career-threatening knee injury. All options are on the table, including offseason surgery and an early retirement:
Ryan Ramczyk’s injured knee isn’t getting better. The New Orleans Saints right tackle spoke with reporters on Thursday and shared some insight on the uncertainty he’s facing after missing the last two games (and likely a third this week). All options are on the table. That includes offseason surgery and, worryingly, an early retirement.
The 29-year-old has been managing cartilage loss in his knee for years. He wasn’t able to play in seven games during the 2021 season because of it and was only able to suit up last season after receiving regular injections. This year he’s been given a rest day to start each week’s practice. But time and wear and tear have taken its toll. It’s a really tough break for a player who was so durable to start his career, having missed just one start in his first four years (when he and the rest of the starters were pulled from the meaningless 2018 season finale) before signing a landmark contract extension.
For now Ramczyk is trying to remain patient and follow doctor’s orders. He isn’t expected to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday and is considered week-to-week while resting and receiving treatment, so he at least has a shot at dressing out for the regular-season finale with the Atlanta Falcons.
But the future is unclear. Ramczyk’s career could be over. There’s a possibility he’ll have lifelong knee issues because of this injury. If so, that’s something he’s already accepted, telling ESPN’s Katherine Terrell that “it’s what we sign up for. It’s part of the game, the passion we have to put ourselves through this. It’s worth it.”
What happens if Ramczyk is forced into retirement? Right now, he’s got a salary cap hit counting for north of $27 million in 2024. If the Saints release him outright they would take on more than $32 million in dead money. Their most realistic path forward would be treating his retirement just like they did Drew Brees’ and Malcolm Jenkins’: reducing Ramczyk’s $17 million base salary to the veteran minimum (in his case, $1.21 million) and processing his release as a post-June 1 cut, spreading out the remaining payments from his signing bonus over the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
That would ultimately result in about $16.3 million in dead money for each of those years, saving $15.79 million against the cap in 2024. But it’s by no means a simple solution. The Saints would have to carry Ramczyk’s $32 million dead-money figure against the salary cap through the offseason up until June 2, limiting the moves they could make in free agency ahead of the draft.
Another possibility: asking Ramczyk to return some of his signing bonus. It’s a dirty move for someone who’s already experiencing something as difficult as the premature end of his playing career, but the NFL can be a cold business. There’s precedent for it with players like former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland returning most of his signing bonus after a series of concussions, but some teams have taken players to arbitration over it. An arbitrator ruled that former Detroit Lions superstar Barry Sanders had to do just that, and another ex-Lions great, Calvin Johnson, publicly feuded with the team over a similar situation. None of those cases dealt with as much money as what sits between the Saints and Ramczyk. At the same time, an arbitrator may not rule in the team’s favor, making it a fruitless endeavor.
It’s unfortunate that this is what things have come to. Hopefully Ramczyk and the doctors he’s meeting with in the spring can find a way to better manage his knee and help him continue to play at a high level. But there’s a deadline. Ramczyk’s base salary includes $6.5 million that will become guaranteed on March 15 (the third day of free agency), and the Saints must reach salary cap compliance sooner than that, by March 13 (the start of the new league year). This won’t be a decision anyone involved can put off until the eleventh hour.
From @ToddBrock24f7: The 60-year-old coach plans to handle all his normal duties this Sunday night after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Wednesday.
Mike McCarthy is back at home after an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday. And while the Cowboys head coach isn’t fully up and around quite yet, just 24 hours after the procedure, he is still planning on manning the sideline Sunday night when his team takes the field against the division-leading Eagles.
“Full steam ahead,” said offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer on Thursday at the pre-practice press conference normally handled by McCarthy. Schottenheimer confirmed that McCarthy has already gotten back to work, doing what he can remotely on refining the Philadelphia game plans that were put in place earlier in the week and with an eye toward resuming normal playcalling duties for the Week 14 clash.
“We don’t anticipate anything different,” Schottenheimer explained. “Again, he’s involved in all the things. We’ll have a long conversation again this afternoon. He’s watching the practices and yeah, full steam ahead.”
McCarthy, 60, wasted no time in reconnecting with his staff after Wednesday’s surgery; Schottenheimer told reporters that he and McCarthy spoke by phone Wednesday night and again multiple times on Thursday, with the coach giving notes on the week’s game prep.
“He’s been very involved. He’s in good spirits,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s always good when he has a lot of suggestions when you talk to him on the phone: ‘Well, what do you think of this?’ That’s when I know he’s feeling good.”
McCarthy was not feeling so good Wednesday morning. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said that he saw McCarthy at the facility early and that his boss “just didn’t look good” while complaining of abdominal pain. After consulting with the team’s medical staff, McCarthy went to a hospital for further evaluation, where a diagnosis of acute appendicitis was given.
The players didn’t even find out what was happening until McCarthy wasn’t at the team’s midweek walkthrough; Quinn and special teams coordinator John Fassel led the day’s practice on next to no notice.
“There wasn’t much warning. It was like, ‘Here you go. You’ve got it.’ [Practice] was already scripted,” Fassel said, per the team website. “We just followed along with the plan that was already in motion, and we’ve got good bodies that can pick it up and keep it going.”
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The Cowboys staff quickly fell back on lessons learned during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, when any player, coach, or staffer was just a nasal swab away from being sent home.
“You always have to have a contingency plan. Mike’s great about that; he does,” Quinn explained. “I think we all learned a lot a few years back in COVID: when a coach is down or a player is down, how does that go? He’s done a fantastic job of mapping- not just him or me or anybody else- who could then in that same spot say, ‘Hey, this is the next step and this is how we go.’ So we’re super organized and ready for that.”
Adjustments were made on the fly, and the business of football has continued in Frisco. The Cowboys don’t seem to have missed a beat in prepping for the biggest game of the year, even without their recuperating head coach. And all indications are they won’t be missing McCarthy, either, when kickoff finally rolls around.
Joked Quinn: “Do you think that tough Irishman is going to miss this game?”
Dennis Allen says defensive tackle Malcolm Roach may need knee surgery after suffering an injury late against the Lions:
This could be a key loss for the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Dennis Allen said Monday that defensive tackle Malcolm Roach is exploring his options after suffering a knee injury that may require surgery in Sunday’s loss tot he Detroit Lions. With just five games left on the schedule, this could be a season-ending injury for Roach.
And that would be a crushing blow for him. Roach, 25, is headed for free agency in the spring and figures to cash in after setting new career-highs in tackles (38), assists (25), tackles for loss (3), and passes defensed (3).
Hopefully a second opinion and further evaluation leaves Roach in a more positive position. He’s brought a lot of energy to the rotation and is an active player in the trenches, ranking third on the team with 10 tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage despite playing the fewest snaps (290) at defensive tackle behind Nathan Shepherd (415), Bryan Brsee and Khalen Saunders (366).
If he’s going to be sidelined, look for the Saints to bring up preseason standout Jack Heflin from their practice squad or take a look at outside free agents to reinforce the position group. They’ve been gashed on the ground this season and may need more upgrades at defensive tackle regardless of injuries.
From @ToddBrock24f7: The special-teams ace will have season-ending pectoral surgery this week; Vander Esch is likely to also miss the remainder of the year.
Two valued members, leaders of the Cowboys’ defense and special teams who have been absent for weeks, may now both be done for the 2023 season.
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and cornerback C.J. Goodwin both went on injured reserve in the hours before the team’s Week 6 game against the Chargers in Los Angeles. At the time, it was hoped that both would be back before the season was out.
According to a report from Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, that is now off the table for Goodwin. And it’s not looking good for Vander Esch, either.
Goodwin suffered a pectoral injury in Week 5’s loss to San Francisco and now plans to undergo surgery later this week to repair the damage. There had been slight hope that strengthening the area around the muscle through rehab could delay the need for a procedure, but Gehlken reports that the special teams ace has had a recent setback.
“I knew it was a long shot anyway,” Goodwin said, per Gehlken. “They said they never had somebody come back from it, but they gave me the opportunity to try, and I tried. It is what it is, but I’m looking forward to getting it better and rehabbing.”
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As for Vander Esch, a course of action has not been decided regarding his latest neck injury, also suffered in Week 5. The veteran linebacker has already had one fusion procedure, in 2020, to treat a bulging disk. A second surgery to address his current injury is still a possibility, according to a person close to the situation.
Both Goodwin and Vander Esch could have had their 21-day practice windows opened on Monday. Instead, the door has closed on Goodwin’s season, and what’s behind Vander Esch’s is very uncertain.
Jim Irsay told ESPN that Anthony Richardson is ‘probably’ done for the season.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is expected to miss the rest of the 2023 season with the possibility of undergoing surgery in the next week or so because of an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder, owner Jim Irsay told ESPN’s Stephen Holder.
It was reported over the weekend that Richardson was heavily considering season-ending surgery, so the latest report doesn’t really change much, but Irsay did mention they would try to get the surgery done in the next week or so.
“There’s debate going, but it’s probably going to lead toward surgery in the next week or so,” Irsay said via ESPN. “We’re just trying to figure out exactly how and when and what we want to do and what Anthony wants to do.”
Richardson suffered an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder during the Week 5 win over the Tennessee Titans. Further tests revealed it was a Grade 3 sprain, and while that doesn’t necessarily require surgery, sometimes it’s better for the long-term prognosis.
Irsay also told ESPN that no decision has officially been made yet, but that the likely outcome is he misses the remainder of the season.
“The most likelihood is he’s probably going to be gone for the year,” Irsay said. “I mean, it’s not definite, but [he] probably misses this year and we’re going to have to contend with that factor.”
Holder also reported Irsay said that the final decision comes down to the rookie quarterback. What he ultimately wants to do will be the decision the team follows, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team opt to go with the cautious direction.
It’s a tough way to end Richardson’s rookie season, which was filled with so much promise, but the Colts certainly will keep his long-term health as the priority.
