Injury, after Injury, after Injury seems to be the story of the NFL this year. With big name players going down weekly, the coaches, players, and the fans are curious to why there are so many injuries. 

Chritian McCaffery, Nick Chubb, George Kittle, Micheal Thomas, Chris Godwin, Dak Prescott, Saquan Barkley and Nick Bosa are just a handful of big name players that have gotten injured.

These injuries have impacted the league standings, fantasy football teams, and personal statistics throughout the whole year. Through week 8, the NFL is on pace to shatter last year’s injury totals by nearly 50%. 

The NFL in 2019 had 47 total ACL tears and 109 MCL tears. These numbers were down from 2018. This year on the other hand, through eight weeks, the numbers of ACL tears are already at 34 and MCL tears are at 67 which is significantly higher than week eight of last year, stated the NFL injury report. 

Other injuries including broken bones, hamstring injuries, and concussions are also notably above average. With the NFL adding rules to keep the players safe, it can only make you wonder why these players are getting hurt week after week. 

A study by the NFL states, “the reasons for all these injuries are too much high intensity practices and not enough high intensity practices.” What they mean by this is the fact that the NFL had too much practice in such a short period of time but at the same time, didn’t have enough practices over a longer period of time due to shortened training camp. 

When asked about this issue, wide receiver Mike Evans said, “People don’t realize how important the preseason is. It gets your body mentally and physically prepared for the next 5 months.” He also added how his body has definitely taken a toll more than usual this year than past years.

These injuries have definitely impacted the league standings. The 2019 NFC Champions San Francisco 49ers have had over 25 injuries this year which has resulted in them being last in their division. The Cowboys who were projected to win their division based on ESPN power rankings, have fallen too third in the division as a result of losing their starting and backup quarterback this season.

San Francisco 49er’s coach Kyle Shanahan expressed his frustrations with all the injuries. “Weekly it seems we lose 3 to 5 important guys and it causes a lot of game time and in game adaptations which can be difficult at times” 

Fantasy Football has also taken a huge hit with all these players going down. With first and second round picks being placed on the injury reserve every weekend, it is leaving people hesitant to bet money and many aren’t gambeling with the team’s best players getting hurt. 

One more major impact it had on the NFL were players’ personal stats. Last year, Chritian McCaffery led the league in total scrimmage yards and touchdowns, Micheal Thomas led the league in receptions. Both them got hurt in the first two weeks. Dak Prescott was leading the league in passing yards through the first five weeks before he got injured.

With all these injuries, it puts a lot of pressure on the NFL. They keep changing the rules to protect the players and use science towards the field and sidelines to make it safer. They are creating these rules and precautions to help the players and to keep everyone healthy.