Sobering Stats re: Cooper's Injury

[Patler]

A few decades ago, Cooper's injury was considered career ending. Not so now, and as Rodgers explained a few years ago, surgical techniques are constantly improving. That said, the stats are a bit sobering, especially for Cooper. From an AI summary:

A multi‑sport study found 72.4% returned to play again following torn Achilles tendon repairs.
A study of 676 NFL players found only 66.2% returned to play again.
Only 27.1% were perceived to have regained previous performance levels.
Players returning from torn Achilles repairs had significantly shorter overall careers, on average.
Among NFL players, running backs and linebackers showed worse results than players at other positions.

I was not able to determine how far back in time the NFL study went, or if it included many players injured before surgical repair techniques began to achieve successful results.

[texaspackerbacker]

That didn't exactly sound right, so I Googled "athletes with torn achilles". Mostly the articles talked about basketball players - a sport that arguably requires more speed and mobility than football, but there were some football players too and some pretty far back time-wise - well before the modern surgical techniques spoken of. For example, Dominique Wilkins returned from his achilles tear and scored 29.9 points the next season. Kobe Bryant also did pretty well. The most direct comparison to Cooper might be Terrell Suggs, also mostly a linebacker. He returned 5 1/2 months after his injury and played effectively. He had a 17 year NFL career, 7 of them after his achilles injury.

I also read that as much as a fourth of players with achilles have their careers ended, although the article didn't give any examples. The same article said return from a complete achilles tear either with or without surgery is usually 6-12 months, 4-9 months if it is a partial tear.

Do we know if Cooper had a complete tear or just partial? I would think being as young as he is would bode well for a successful comeback for Cooper next year and beyond.

[pbmax]

That didn't exactly sound right, so I Googled "athletes with torn achilles". Mostly the articles talked about basketball players - a sport that arguably requires more speed and mobility than football, but there were some football players too and some pretty far back time-wise - well before the modern surgical techniques spoken of. For example, Dominique Wilkins returned from his achilles tear and scored 29.9 points the next season. Kobe Bryant also did pretty well. The most direct comparison to Cooper might be Terrell Suggs, also mostly a linebacker. He returned 5 1/2 months after his injury and played effectively. He had a 17 year NFL career, 7 of them after his achilles injury.

I also read that as much as a fourth of players with achilles have their careers ended, although the article didn't give any examples. The same article said return from a complete achilles tear either with or without surgery is usually 6-12 months, 4-9 months if it is a partial tear.

Do we know if Cooper had a complete tear or just partial? I would think being as young as he is would bode well for a successful comeback for Cooper next year and beyond.

Suggs was an EDGE, he rarely dropped of the line of scrimmage. Pass rusher first, second and third. Occasional drop to coverage like Peppers in GB.

[texaspackerbacker]

Edge aka Outside Linebacker. Cooper was rushing the passer or so it seemed when he had his non-contact injury. Either way, it's about the same amount of athleticism required, not like O line for example with relatively immobile yokozumas.

[Patler]

That didn't exactly sound right, so I Googled "athletes with torn achilles". Mostly the articles talked about basketball players - a sport that arguably requires more speed and mobility than football, but there were some football players too and some pretty far back time-wise - well before the modern surgical techniques spoken of. For example, Dominique Wilkins returned from his achilles tear and scored 29.9 points the next season. Kobe Bryant also did pretty well. The most direct comparison to Cooper might be Terrell Suggs, also mostly a linebacker. He returned 5 1/2 months after his injury and played effectively. He had a 17 year NFL career, 7 of them after his achilles injury.

I also read that as much as a fourth of players with achilles have their careers ended, although the article didn't give any examples. The same article said return from a complete achilles tear either with or without surgery is usually 6-12 months, 4-9 months if it is a partial tear.

Do we know if Cooper had a complete tear or just partial? I would think being as young as he is would bode well for a successful comeback for Cooper next year and beyond.

None of that differs from what I wrote. In fact, in what I found, Wilkins, Suggs, Bryant and others were mentioned as examples of players who did have good results. That doesn't change the overall stats. Somewhat surprisingly, NBA players had generally better results than NFL players.

[NewsBruin]

On the good side, the ortho-surgical world's always evolving and everyone involved has incentives for better results.

Aaron's surgery used smaller tools, leaving smaller wounds with less scar tissue and faster time from surgery to starting rehab. That's how it's progressing, but it's still going to take Cooper at least most of a year to have the Achilles anchor in and survive the explosiveness of full burst on a snap or changing directions with 200+ pounds of person and gear.

I just want him to be all right and intelligently aggressive in rehab.

[bobblehead]

Dre Greenlaw would be the direct comp. He blew his in the Owl. Returned middle of 2024 forcing former packer De'Vondre Campbell to walk off the field mid game. Played 2 games and had to sit back down. Stumbled through 2025. Back to SF this season where they say he is "still recovering" from all his injuries. Sounds like he is improving, but nowhere near the elite player he was before the injury. This timeline sounds about perfect for Coop to have a modest ok, somewhat healthy season in a couple years so Gutes can overpay him before his injuries prove to be too much.

Edit: The big difference is that SF cut bait when it was clear he would probably never be the same. GB will probably give him the Bak/Jaire treatment of paying him for a lot of unproductive seasons before letting him walk. Given his youth he may recover and be solid, but it won't be next season.

[Fritz]

I think a part of the bigger picture in all this is that human beings who play professional sports today are (thanks to nutrition science and body training science and an evolving world in which the focus is on practice and improvement constantly) probably over-developed. Their bodies are like tightly strung guitar strings, pitched for maximum results but always on the cusp of snapping. Many of the achilles injuries, for example, occur without contact. Cooper's was that. When Watson was hurt, same. Parsons I think too.

This is the result of pushing the human body too far. They can do incredible, incredible things, but it comes at a cost.

[call_me_ishmael]

This is going to be an interesting one. I do think that surgery being cleaner, his age, and BPC 157 becoming a thing the past few years will give this a better than historical shot at success. Hopefully this dude goes and spends some time in Europe and avoids drug tests and gets the Kobe treatment.

[Joemailman]

I think a part of the bigger picture in all this is that human beings who play professional sports today are (thanks to nutrition science and body training science and an evolving world in which the focus is on practice and improvement constantly) probably over-developed. Their bodies are like tightly strung guitar strings, pitched for maximum results but always on the cusp of snapping. Many of the achilles injuries, for example, occur without contact. Cooper's was that. When Watson was hurt, same. Parsons I think too.

This is the result of pushing the human body too far. They can do incredible, incredible things, but it comes at a cost.

Yep. Guys used to come to training camp to get in shape. Now they're expected to stay that way year round.

[texaspackerbacker]

None of that differs from what I wrote. In fact, in what I found, Wilkins, Suggs, Bryant and others were mentioned as examples of players who did have good results. That doesn't change the overall stats. Somewhat surprisingly, NBA players had generally better results than NFL players.

ok, but I haven't seen any counter examples either from you or from media pukes - good or great players, football, basketball or whatever who had achilles injuries and either had their career ended or took way over a year to come back or were drastically worse when they did come back. Overall stats, like PFF and similar crap, can be misleading, especially without specific examples.

[texaspackerbacker]

I think a part of the bigger picture in all this is that human beings who play professional sports today are (thanks to nutrition science and body training science and an evolving world in which the focus is on practice and improvement constantly) probably over-developed. Their bodies are like tightly strung guitar strings, pitched for maximum results but always on the cusp of snapping. Many of the achilles injuries, for example, occur without contact. Cooper's was that. When Watson was hurt, same. Parsons I think too.

This is the result of pushing the human body too far. They can do incredible, incredible things, but it comes at a cost.

True I guess. I say this without sarcasm (just to make that clear to bobblehead). Probably a lifestyle more like Fuzzy Thurston or Max McGee would work as good or better.

I of course am not a professional athlete, not even a talented amateur, but I've been practicing pretty strenuous stuff for well over 60 years and spitting in the face of nutrition science bullshit or body training crap, and I've literally never had any injury of consequence whatsoever, knee, ankle, calf, achilles, shoulder, nothing, not so much as a minor sprain.