Locker clean outs, exit physicals have been completed, and press conferences have taken place all week following the AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Throughout the multitude of interviews, several injuries came to light with additional context provided to others.
Detailed below are the injury updates and news coming out after all the locker interviews and press conferences this week. There was a ton of injury news coming out of Brandon Beane’s press conference alone that provided plenty of updates. Make sure to check back as more injuries come to light in the coming days and weeks.
New Injuries
QB Josh Allen (Right Wrist/Hand)
On Monday, Allen revealed that he suffered a right wrist injury that was swollen throughout the second half. He injured it while trying to perform a quarterback sneak for the two-point conversion noted above.
Despite the injury, he still went 9 for 14 in the second half in the losing effort. It appears this was a generalized contusion or even a wrist sprain as we can’t really see how he injured the wrist other than assuming he banged it around. Looking at it from multiple angles, he gets his body bounced around before pulling his right arm out to toss the ball to Curtis Samuel. Considering his accuracy did not go down in the second half indicates the injury was not that significant or he’s Superman. During the press conference, you can see the wrist wrapped up indicates there’s swelling but we can’t glean much more from that.
However, on Thursday, Brandon Beane spoke out of both sides of his mouth. He initially said that Allen’s hand injury did not come up in exit interviews but then outright later stated that he did not break his right hand. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. There’s an injury but it’s not broken. We may get more information on this as the offseason progresses, but let’s say he did break his hand, Josh Allen still balled out. You’re going to have to rip him limb from limb to stop him from playing on Sundays.
Whatever the truth of the injury is, this isn’t something that should linger or affect next season but Josh is smart in not playing at Pebble Beach Pro Am considering the recency of the injury.
Injury Updates
TE Dalton Kincaid (Left PCL Sprain/Right Knee)
It was known that Kincaid was working through a left knee injury dating back to Week 10 when he fell on his left knee trying to catch a pass against the Indianapolis Colts. How he injured himself is seen below.
During that game, he did attempt to return but quickly realized that he was unable to push off the leg effectively and protect himself. Below are more clips of Kincaid’s injury and how it compared to Gabe Davis’s who suffered the same injury in Week 18 last season.
Prior to this injury, he was seen dealing with some knee issues for which he was on the injury report.
During locker clean out, Dawson Knox confirmed that Kincaid had been playing through the PCL sprain and also had fluid build up in his right knee.
A quick recap, the PCL is the other ligament in the back of the knee that runs in the opposite direction of the ACL. This ligament helps stabilize the tibia from sliding too far backward to the femur. This ligament is thicker, has a better blood supply, and traditionally does not require surgery.
The mechanism for injury for a PCL sprain is a direct blow to the anterior tibia. This is often seen in motor vehicle accidents when the knee collides with the dashboard. There are other mechanisms including how Kincaid fell with his foot plantar flexed and the knee driven straight into the ground.
This damage creates laxity when moving the tibia backward when performing the posterior drawer test as seen below. Kincaid ended up missing three games and four weeks total as he rehabbed. This is not something that will require surgery in the offseason and should heal normally.
On Thursday, Beane confirmed that Kincaid would not require surgery and that it held him back.
As for his right knee, we didn’t see any apparent known issues with the right knee until the end of the season when he had a sleeve on the right knee.
Looking back, there was one play where he landed hard on the right knee right before Christmas. It’s entirely possible he suffered an injury that he continued to play through to finish out the season. I will note that I am not certain this is the instance he suffered his right knee injury.
It’s not clear the exact injury he is dealing with as many injuries can cause swelling, but once the team gets an MRI, they’ll have a much better idea of what they are dealing with and how they want to proceed.
One final thought, Beane noted how Kincaid needs to build his body up to withstand the rigors of the game. To add to that, no amount of training would have necessarily stopped the PCL sprain, but we do see how staying functionally strong by working out in the offseason and recovery can help avoid compensation issues. It’s possible he did succumb to that, but that’s pretty telling when the GM outright stated that to the public.
CB Christian Benford (Concussion)
Benford was not part of locker cleanouts when the media was there as he was still recovering from his concussion. Even though the season was completed, he still needs to pass through the concussion protocol and be cleared before going off on his own for the offseason.
However, he did post this Instagram story as locker room clean outs were beginning indicating that he’s on the mend. These are the first two concussions of his career that I’ve seen publicly reported. He is now at risk to suffer further concussions but with plenty of time to rest in the offseason, the hope is that he makes a full recovery without any lasting symptoms.
On Thursday, Brandon Beane confirmed that Benford was still in concussion protocol but that he was doing well.
In hindsight, should Benford have played knowing the results? No, but the team did follow concussion protocol and he was cleared by an independent doctor. Could there be some bias from the doctor that is local? Sure. I honestly believe everyone did the right thing and it was an unfortunate outcome. I hope Christian is able to recover and have a successful offseason.
WR Amari Cooper (Left Wrist)
Brandon Beane confirmed that Cooper’s left wrist injury in Week 8 that caused him to miss two games was significant enough to require surgery. He wore a cast for nearly two months before he ditched it in the playoffs against the Denver Broncos.
Shortly after the injury, we got enough clues to determine that this was potentially a TFCC injury or triangular fibrocartilage complex injury in which there is a tear in the cartilage that provides stability to the ulnar side of the wrist.
I had detailed out the injury and the struggles he would have had following the injury originally back in Week 10. This is what I had said about the injury at the time:
This leaves a TFCC tear or an avulsion fracture to the triquetrum. The triangular fibrocartilage complex or TFCC is an area of cartilage on the ulnar aspect of the hand. It acts as a shock absorber and stabilizer of the wrist to the forearm. If this is torn, he would have difficulty gripping, clicking, and instability. Cooper did not that he didn’t have issues with grip, but the cast was impacting his ability to catch the football.
To read more, click here.
It’s not clear whether he will still require surgery, but considering he needed it at one time, there’s a good chance that he will require surgery to ensure the long term stability within the wrist complex.
WR Keon Coleman (Right Wrist)
Not much was added to the specifics regarding Keon Coleman’s right wrist injury that cost him four games and five weeks after taking a direct shot from Dolphins S Jordan Poyer.
After seeing how the timeline played out, it appeared that he did suffer a broken bone but we never got confirmation of that. The only real update is that Coleman will not require surgery.
Beane went on to state how Coleman essentially faded down the stretch and that he wanted to see more out of him.
Final Thoughts
It’s expected that we see news trickle in for injuries and surgeries once guys go under the knife. I’m anticipating possible but not guaranteed surgeries for Taron Johnson, Quintin Morris, Kaiir Elam, and potentially Amari Cooper.
I can’t determine why there were so many wrist injuries this year, it’s an odd thing, but it is what it is. Amari Cooper, Keon Coleman, DeWayne Carter, Christian Benford, Josh Allen, Dawuane Smoot, and possibly another one or two that I’m forgetting.
It’s always incredible the types of injuries and the severity that the players play through every week. Some injuries are more significant than others and are more apparent while others are subtle and aren’t noticed unless someone is looking for them.
Make sure to check back in the coming days for any updates including surgeries that may be revealed. There is lots of offseason content coming to further break down how this team manages injuries and what we can look forward to during the offseason including the draft and free agency.
Top Photo Credit: Buffalo Bills/Youtube
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