Breaking Down Injury Concerns for 2024 First Round Prospects

Latu suffered a neck injury in 2020 while enrolled at Washington. This required a cervical fusion which had him sit out the next two seasons as he was not medically cleared to play football. He transferred to UCLA and was able to play the past two seasons without any issues. Although his recent success is promising, cervical fusions do not do well long-term contact sports. The average career length after a fusion is 3.2 years (1).

The problem with Latu’s neck doesn’t involve the area that was fused, it will be the discs above and below the fusion. When one area is fused, the discs above and below will take on additionalforces and wear out more quickly, a phenomenon called cervical adjacent segment disease. These discs wear out and cause pain, numbness, and in the worst-case weakness in the arms.

He is already approaching four years post-surgery, which puts him past the 3.2-year average already. He likely benefitted from taking two years off from football, but the long-term outlook is bleak and uncertain if he can cash in for a second contract during his NFL career. Somebody will take a chance on him, which could pay dividends early, but as discussed, he is a high-risk prospect.

WR Adonai Mitchell (Texas)

Mitchell doesn’t carry an injury per say, but it was recently exposed that he is a diabetic. For those unaware, diabetes is an endocrine disorder that causes high blood sugar and must be managed via medication (insulin). There is a handful of NFL players who are thriving in their careers and have diabetes, which include; TE Mark Andrews, LB Chad Muma, TE Noah Gray, and LS Blake Ferguson. However, Mitchell has been reported as struggling to manage his blood sugar which has led to disruptive behavior. 

With that said, it appears Mitchell only drinks the process juice when he is managing his diabetes well. The problem with athletes and diabetes is that many allow their sugars to run high because they worry that if they are too low it will affect their performance (2). This creates a tug-of-war between medical staffand the athlete, creating difficulty for appropriate control. For the Bills’ staff, which ranked 29^th in the league in the most recent NFLPA study for Nutrition/Dietician, Mitchell might be too big of a risk for their first-round selection.

DB Cooper DeJean (Iowa)

DeJean is a CB/S prospect who suffered a broken fibula and hadsurgery to correct in mid-November. He apparently twisted his ankle in practice which led to the injury. DeJean missed the remainder of the season and was only recently able to perform his pro day in early April (4 months post-surgery). He was sporting a huge scar, which correlates to a Weber Type C fracture.

The Weber C fractures are the worst because they correlate to more instability, such as syndesmosis (high ankle ligaments), but generally have good results after surgery (3). Based on his high performance during combine drills, DeJean carries a low-medium risk. It should not be understated though; this injury would show up as a major crash in a Carfax report. 

WR Ladd McConkey (Georgia)

McConkey carries a laundry list of ailments dating back to high school. Although none of the injuries appear massive, the cumulative number of ailments is concerning. 

Dating back to high school, McConkey suffered both foot and collarbone injuries. He had a Jones fracture fixed after his junior season and had to sit out for a collarbone fracture his senior season.

In 2022, McConkey dealt with turf toe and knee tendonitis injuries for over half the season. In the SEC Championship, he had to leave the game because his knees were too painful.

Finally in 2023, McConkey missed the first four games with a back injury and another game with an ankle sprain. The back injury is unknown, but missing over a month is significant and could carry some long-term risks if his condition degenerates.Overall, at 6’0 185 and not much room to grow, McConkey’s injury history should create concerns for his durability.

Citations

1. Watkins RG 4th, Chang D, Watkins RG 3rd. Return to Play After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in Professional Athletes. Orthop J Sports Med. 2018 Jun 18; 6(6): 2325967118779672. doi: 10.1177/2325967118779672. PMID: 29977944; PMCID: PMC6024542.
2. Shugart C, Jackson J, Fields KB. Diabetes in sports. Sports Health. 2010 Jan; 2(1): 29-38. doi: 10.1177/1941738109347974. PMID: 23015921; PMCID: PMC3438860.
3. Robbins J, Jupiter D, Panchbhavi VK, Weiss WM, Hagedorn JC II, Chen J. Return to Play and Performance Measures for National Football League Athletes Following Operative Ankle Fractures. Foot Ankle Orthop. 2022 Nov 18; 7(4): 2473011421S00908. doi: 10.1177/2473011421S00908. PMCID: PMC9679823.