Doctor Says Darren Waller’s Injury Situation Doesn’t Make Sense
It has been a difficult season for Darren Waller and for the second consecutive year, it has been menacing injuries that are holding back the Raiders’ Pro Bowl tight end.
There has been a lot of speculation about Waller and his ongoing hamstring issues, but facts are hard to come by in situations like these. Even a respected medical professional hinted this week that there seems to be missing details to Waller’s injury situation.
Ask about Waller’s injury by Q Myers on his weekly radio show, Dr. David Chao didn’t have answers for why Waller has been on the mend for so long.
“This one doesn’t make sense to me,” Dr. Chao said on Raider Nation Radio’s http://podcasts.apple.com. “But I always said when something doesn’t make sense from the outside, it usually does from the inside. We just don’t know what it is. Come to training camp, played some, got a contract, played some and then was out, and then late add to injured reserve. It doesn’t all add up… I don’t want to speculate. I think we all see that it doesn’t add up completely, but there’s usually an explanation and I think ultimately it will come out.”
The first thought that comes to mind is that if the Raiders thought Waller was intentionally sabotaging his availability, surely they would have traded him for a second round pick at the trade deadline. Even though he just signed a contract extension in September, the deal was structured in a way that it can be relatively easily traded.
The other detail to Waller’s contract is that he has a $75,000 bonus for every game he is on the active roster. So as the doctor said, there’s a lot to Waller’s situation that simply doesn’t make sense without all the details.
Maybe he just doesn’t heal well?
