Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam says he tore ankle ligament in preseason and tried to play through it

[HardyBoy]

1 hour ago, NoSaint said:

big boomer energy here

 

would you prefer I said he take the scenic route and chat with the buff news on his way out the door instead of popping on X? 
 

no one thinks “yea it’s been hard playing through a torn ligament so I think I need to get better” is an excuse. Do you think he’s making excuses now? 
 

was just pointing out there was no upside in waiting a month, which is different than your reasons that match up to why he’d not talk today either 

 

It could have been something Beane requested? I would imagine he was never seriously a trade candidate, but people would call about him I'm sure and it could allow Beane to shift conversations to other players? 

[BananaB]

2 hours ago, NoSaint said:

I just don’t get why he’d wait so long to tell the story 

Some guys just don’t make excuses when it comes to stepping on the field. Once he was put on IR he probably didn’t have to talk to media

[HardyBoy]

26 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

If he was that injured, the team handled the whole situation very poorly.  He should have been IR'd at the beginning of the season.  This is Belichick level of messing with the injury report.

 

I have a feeling his dad/ family is very let's say involved... it might not have been Elam's choice? 

[NoSaint]

2 minutes ago, BananaB said:

Some guys just don’t make excuses when it comes to stepping on the field. Once he was put on IR he probably didn’t have to talk to media

he still doesn’t have to answer if that’s his thing 

[HardyBoy]

17 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

But even if it wasn’t a tear at the time, any injury is supposed to be reported. 

 

“All players who have reportable injuries must be listed on the Practice Report, even if the player takes all the reps in practice, and even if the team is certain that he will play in the upcoming game.”

 

https://operations.nfl.com/media/2683/2017-nfl-injury-report-policy.pdf

 

What's the definition of a reportable injury? There's gotta be more to the rule that is relevant. 

[BuffaloRebound]

That Buffalo News article is so vague.  I read it a couple times.  Did he get an MRI after the preseason game he said he injured it in?  I mean he was running behind Benford and Jackson in training camp so it’s not like the injury was the reason he was the #4 CB.  I highly doubt the Bills would play a guy knowing he had a torn ligament in his ankle.

More likely that Elam was already #4 on the depth chart, hid the injury, stunk so bad when he was called on to play with Tre injury then Benford injury, then got the MRI and Bills shut him down.  

[BuffaloBillyG]

50 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

I’m glad to see you’ve admitted to this. Recognizing your problems is the first step to recovery. 
 

Fortunately, the rest of us can carry on. 
 

🫡

Yes, carry on be it right or wrong😂😂

[BADOLBILZ]

A sprain is a tear.    

 

The Bills said he had a sprained an ankle and that was affecting his play when they put him on IR.

 

Nothing to see here.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Perfect now we can cut him!!!

[BuffaloRebound]

My guess is he’ll be traded in the off-season for anything Bills can get. 

[MPL]

"tore ligaments" is what I used to say in JV when I rolled my ankle. 

[Ya Digg?]

27 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

My guess is he’ll be traded in the off-season for anything Bills can get. 

He’s worth more than “anything the Bills can get” why would you trade him when he’s at his absolute lowest value? He’s on a rookie contract, there’s no reason to trade him in the off-season for nothing, keep him, see if he has something, and then if you need to move on in training camp there is always an injury and teams are looking for guys-you’ll have more value then 

[Milanos Milano]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

Proud graduate of the McDermott School of Accountability!

 

 

Beane gave him a nice bag to say this. This helps distract from the real reason that he Is just not good and thus makes Beane look bad, then if he doesn’t work out they can blame it on the injury… 

[Big Turk]

3 hours ago, fergie's ire said:

This actually does make a lot of sense.  I could get that he never learned to play zone effectively but what was weird is that his man skill had regressed to the point where he didn't seem to be able to cover anyone. An injury would explain the regression.

 

 

That's simply incorrect. He has played very well in zone coverage for the Bills and very poorly in man coverage.  PFF graded him as the best zone defender on the Bills last year and the worst man defender.  It matched the eye test and the breakdowns of youtube videos on him...

[pennstate10]

2 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

Either way, the team botched it.  Badly.

Not really. 
 

The obvious answer is obvious. 
 

Deltoid ligament damage is difficult to diagnose. These injuries are often missed for several weeks. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8500389/

 

My guess is he had a sore ankle for several weeks. When it didn’t heal, the medical staff was eventually able to make a diagnosis mid season. These things typically take 4-12 weeks to heal. 
 

So, no great conspiracy or cover up. The training staff isn’t perfect. It’s an uncommon injury that took a while to diagnose. 
 

Can any of the keyboard warriors out there tell us about any other players who have had deltoid ligament injuries?  Didn’t think so. 
 

it’s an uncommon injury. 

[damj]

Good to know. Kid has too much talent to give up on. Maybe a move to safety could help

[AuntieEm]

3 hours ago, Saint Doug said:

This still doesn’t make sense. If he has an injury that is severely limiting his ability to effective play or play at the level he is expected to, then you declare the injury and place him on IR. He comes back when he’s medically cleared and able to play. None of this double-speak by McD about playing the players who give them the best chance to win. None of the constant questions by reporters. What did they expect? We have a 1st rounder who showed much promise last year to then fall off a cliff his 2nd year and were only hearing about this now??

 

 

  Maybe it is possible he didn't let the trainers know he had an injury initially and he maybe did further damage to his ligament that now will need a longer rehab and we don't know when the zone he's learning makes it into his skillset as needed fir the defense we are running.  

 

  Initially got in mcds doghouse for not playing as well as they knew he could, then once the injury was identified they started proper treatment.  Did he require surgery?  We don't know unless and until Elam himself decides to share such medical info.  

 

[AuntieEm]

4 hours ago, Simon said:

 

Yeah, the whole thing was a riddle wrapped in a secret.

Injury made the most sense and they hinted at it, but pretty late in the game, and confirmed it very late in the game.

I wonder if they were being coy with the injury reports early in the season and then decided it was best for everybody to just keep quiet and not draw attention.

I don't know enough about injury reports to know if they had something to worry about.

 

Did anybody say it's healed? I don't have the BN.

 

Well he's been cleared to practice so I'd I'm a give it is in the latter stages of bring healed likely plenty if strength exercises to help as he works his ankle back to pre injury strength and flexibility.  Hopefully he was busy creating a new notebook on what he picked up watching tape with db coaches while he was rehabbing.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by AuntieEm

[Scott7975]

4 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

If he was that injured, the team handled the whole situation very poorly.  He should have been IR'd at the beginning of the season.  This is Belichick level of messing with the injury report.

 

What difference does it make if he is on IR or just a scratch?

[GunnerBill]

6 hours ago, somnus00 said:

That would explain why he looked so stiff switching from the back pedal to running with the receiver. I thought maybe he had a hip injury. But if you can't plant your foot and turn, your fluidity is gone and you'll lose a few steps trying to cover your guy.

 

In fairness that stiffness in the transition has been an issue pre-injury too. It was my biggest knock on him coming out and Brandon mentioned it in the presser right after picking him too that they would want to smooth his transitions. Of course the injury won't have been helping that, but that slightly mechanical transition style has been an issue for Elam throughout his career.