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Florham Park – This is football . . .
If you talked to every starting offensive linemen in NFL right now, about how their shoulders feel after a slew of tackle football games, all of them would tell you their shoulders are sore. It’s the nature of the beast.
For goodness sake, look what offensive linemen do for a living – they come off the ball like 60 times a game, and ram their shoulders into a opponent, often a massive defensive lineman.
Do you think that any linemen in the NFL is walking around with shoulders that feel good, especially this time a year? I would say no.
You often see offensive linemen after games leaving the locker room with massive bags of ice on their shoulders. Jets GM Joe Douglas certainly knows that feeling after playing offensive tackle in college.
If you want to have healthy shoulders, don’t play offensive line, or actually, don’t play football.
Jets team physician, Dr. Ken Montgomery (pictured above huddling with trainer John Mellody at practice today), is taking some heat now after disgruntled guard Kelechi Osemele said about his shoulder: “Dr. (Ken) Montgomery says that he’s seen players play through this injury before.’
I am sure Montgomery has seen myriad players play with Osemele’s shoulder issues. I’m not saying Osemele’s shoulder is healthy, but I am sure Montgomery has seen tons of players play with the issue.
Different position, but last year I saw linebacker Jordan Jenkins wearing a shoulder strap over the second half of the season to get through the 2019 campaign.
The Jets have two other offensive linemen playing through shoulder injuries right now – center Ryan Kalil and guard Brian Winters.
People are making a big deal about Osemele having to take Toradol shots to play the first three games this season. That is being blown WAY out of proportion.
Toradol is an anti-inflammatory drug which makes players feel better entering games.
First off, teams don’t force players to take Toradol shots. They want to take them. There is a line in the trainer’s room to take Toradol shots before games.
I’m not condoning anything. I’m just telling you the reality of the NFL.
So to make Osemele into a martyr for taking Toradol shots before games is a absurd. If that’s the case, a big chunk of the players in the league are martyrs. And keep in mind – teams don’t force players to take Toradol shots. It’s done of their own volition.
And there is another factor here to consider about the Osemele situation, and remember we reported this in Jets Confidential Magazine in the spring. I do a radio show on SiriusXM NFL Radio every Saturday with Vic Carucci. Shortly after the Jets traded for Osemele, we had on Michael Gehlken, who was covering the Raiders for the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time. He is now covering the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News. I asked Gehlken why the Raiders would trade a Pro Bowl guard, in his prime, to the Jets. Here is what he said:
“As for why the Raiders traded [Osemele] to the New York Jets, I want to say it somewhat softly. But I’m going to give you what the Raiders believe, and I heard this weeks before the trade. It was not something anybody was saying after the guy was out the door, but essentially, they felt like he quit on them.
“Again, this is not me saying this. As a reporter, I don’t have an opinion. I’m the last person to say an NFL athlete is quitting. When it comes to [Osemele] who missed five games with various ailments, including a right knee injury, the Raiders felt last season he should have missed fewer than five. They thought he should have been on the field. He wasn’t.”
There you go. I’m not trying to lead the witness, but some might make the argument that history is repeating itself here . . .
October 24, 2019
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