Navigating NFL Player Rest and Injury Decisions Explained

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00:00Dr. Chibago back from a Montana ski vacation weekend during the holidays.

00:07Very popular guy on coast to coast and sports grid across the board.

00:11It's Dr. David Chow, everyone, from sixscore.com, sportsinjurycentral.com, very popular site.

00:20Not as popular as Dr. Chibago, though.

00:22You can follow him on X, at profootballdoc.

00:26My sources tell me Doc was spotted doing helicopter moves off of bumps, which is a nice way of

00:32saying he was doing full 360s off of moguls, skiing down the mountain and pressing his

00:38family and children with his style and grace in the air with the heli skis.

00:45I mean, he had it all going on vacation in Montana.

00:48Good to see you, Dr. Chibago.

00:50Let's start with this.

00:51How do teams weigh out playing guys and keeping their timing versus protecting them from getting

00:55injured when there isn't anything on the line, which is, in Portuguese, no one is playing

01:00in any of these games this weekend, and it sucks.

01:04Yeah, it's a tough decision, and it's hard because, you know, with 53 active players

01:11on the roster, 46 active, it's only seven that you really rest and maybe some practice

01:17squad call-ups, right?

01:19So you can't rest everyone.

01:20Let's take the Chiefs, for example.

01:22You know you're going to have to rest Chris Jones because of his calf.

01:25You know you have to rest DJ Humphries because of his hamstring.

01:29You're probably going to rest Pacheco because of his ongoing ankle and recovery.

01:34You know you don't want to risk Mahomes and Travis Kelsey, who's old, so you really only

01:38got two more spots.

01:39It's not like you can rest the whole offensive line or the whole defensive line or the whole

01:43thing.

01:44Someone's still got to play the game, and that's what makes it hard, et cetera, and

01:49then, as Bill Belichick said, how do you tell one person he's sitting and the guy next

01:54to him?

01:55You have to play really hard.

01:56So this is the toughest week of the year to predict who's in, who's out in injury relations,

02:03et cetera.

02:05What is the deal with Tua Tagovailoa?

02:08Yeah, that's worrisome to me.

02:12Look, the team is saying it has not related at all to the college hip dislocation.

02:19It's quote a different part, but when you dislocate your hip, it's kind of all the hip

02:24that's damaged, and let's hope it's not related to the hip dislocation issue.

02:30We went back and the team at Sports Injury Central looked at video week 15 and 16.

02:35We didn't see an injury that would be explained by this practice pattern.

02:39Tua says if they make it to the playoffs, he's definitely playing, but he's missing

02:43week 17 and 18, and they've got to win to even have a chance to get in this week, but

02:48it'll be Snoop Huntley at this point in time.

02:51So until we get the definition of what the hip injury really is, we have some worry for Tua.

02:57So is Higgins and Chase playing against the Steelers tomorrow night at 8 o'clock in Pittsburgh?

03:06Against your Steelers.

03:07Well, I'll give you the good news.

03:09I don't believe Chase Brown is playing for your Steelers, and obviously you've talked

03:15about the wind and the cold, and you're going to the game, and the Bengals need a run game.

03:20Why?

03:21He's got a mild high ankle sprain.

03:23What's the big deal?

03:24Patrick Mahomes played through a high ankle sprain, Justin Herbert played through a high

03:27ankle sprain, but Chase Brown is a running back.

03:30It's just different requirements.

03:32I think it's very difficult to play through a high ankle, and for a running back, there's

03:37no such thing, I think, as a mild high ankle sprain.

03:39So I don't think he goes, but T. Higgins should be able to go.

03:44The Bucs need to win, but have major offensive pieces banged up.

03:48What's the status?

03:49Yeah, they got some injuries on both sides of the ball, and I'm almost more worried about

03:55defense than their secondary.

03:57They've got a couple guys out.

03:58Winfield's going to be out again, and at least half their secondary is out.

04:04But you know what?

04:05They've got a lot to play for, and the opponent doesn't, and they don't have to cover the

04:09spread.

04:10They just need to win, and they're going to host a game, a wild card game.

04:16So the Packers are all kinds of banged up.

04:18What's their sixth score as a team, and who's in, who's out?

04:23Well, this is where we're going to wait until the final reports are out, because what we're

04:28doing this week for the sixth scores is, if a player sits because of rest, because

04:35of injury risk, we're treating them as injured.

04:38If Patrick Holmes is out, we're treating him as injured, right?

04:42And so we're going to look at the final numbers here.

04:45But yeah, Packers will be banged up some, but it still seems like they've got enough

04:49to beat the Bears at home, and let's face it.

04:53They don't want to end up in the seventh seed and go to Philadelphia.

04:57What do the guys in sixth think of Anthony Richardson's back problem that he's now saying

05:02he's had basically his whole life?

05:04Like what is happening here?

05:07Well, since I just got back from skiing, we've said all along at Sports Injury Central, we

05:12have worried about Anthony Richardson last year when he got hurt early in the season

05:17for running.

05:18Running is part of his game, and if you run as part of your game, the defenders are going

05:23to hit you.

05:24So it seems like if you keep skiing double black diamonds, you're more likely to get

05:28hurt than me, who's skiing greens and blues at this point in time.

05:32And a disc issue is not something to take lightly.

05:36Sometimes that leads to surgery.

05:37So I don't believe the rumors of, I know he's getting grief for, quote, tapping out earlier

05:42this season.

05:43This is not a tap out on his part.

05:45I think he has a real injury.

05:47But that brings up other real concerns.

05:49A disc, does he need surgery?

05:51How bad is it?

05:53And yes, I think there are some long-term question marks in terms of how available he

05:58will be, right?

05:59Your best ability is your availability sometimes.

06:03Is hurts going to be a problem for the Eagles with his concussion?

06:07I don't believe so.

06:09This is why I've been saying that I didn't think there was any chance that he would play

06:13in Week 17, and that extends to Week 18.

06:17Ninety-five percent of concussions clear by two weeks.

06:20I don't think the Eagles have pushed his concussion clearance yet, because what happens

06:24if he takes a hit in practice or in the game?

06:27A second concussion within a week or two will have him out for a month, which is all the

06:32playoffs, right?

06:33Look at Chris Alave.

06:34Look at Tua Tagovaiola.

06:35So the Eagles are just being safe.

06:37He'll be there for the wild-card round for the Eagles.

06:40Real quick, in terms of Brock Purdy, is he going to have elbow surgery again?

06:47No.

06:48This related injury to the elbow, when you do that Tommy John-type surgery on a collateral,

06:53you move the ulnar nerve.

06:54He just got his ulnar nerve dinged, and I don't think there's any worry for further

06:58surgery.

06:59I don't think there's any contractual worry.

07:02If the 49ers want to sign him, there's no reason not to with that elbow.

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