gtb1943
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Real good work there. Thorough and to the point.Kincaid’s back injury isn’t anything that will linger, like a herniated or slipped disk. Those are the kinds of issues that will just keep coming back like LaFluer’s or Charles Haley’s. Kincaid didn’t try to lift too much and he wasn’t pushing against another player and get bowed backwards. In fact, he wasn’t bending at all. That is where you do structural damage is getting bent wrong or trying to lift up too much weight.
Kincaid hurt it by jumping up high for a pass (catching a TD BTW) and landing flat on his back. It wasn’t bending in any way, it was just the impact of the ground that gave him a small fracture on his transverse process.
In fact, it was so minor that he went ahead and played in the next game, which was the PAC-12 Championship game. You don’t do that with a herniated or slipped disk. It just hurt him to play… there was no danger of further damage like there would be with a serious back issue.
In the above pic, you can see the transverse process is just a bony protrusion off of the vertebrae. It isn’t near the disk or the spinal cord. It is, just like any other bone, there for the muscles to attach to.
His cracked from the impact of landing on his back. He got clearance from doctors to go ahead and play in their last game, and then he just had to let it heal.
There was no surgery because doctors said it wasn’t necessary, so Kincaid has just been resting it and letting it heal up. The timeline that the doctors gave him for working out was after the combine, so he didn’t work out in Indy. He still went through all the medical though, so all the team doctor’s know that is isn’t much.
Then about a week before Utah’s Pro Day, the date arrived where he could begin working out. However, with no time to get ready for the event, he declined to work out there, but was still available for interviews with teams. It was smart not to work out when he hadn’t been preparing for the pro day. I wouldn’t have either. Not with what he has already put on tape at Utah.
He may or may not try to schedule a workout before the draft, but like they said the other day on the NFL Network… Kincaid’s body of work in college is so good that teams will probably be fine with him not working out prior to the draft.
So, he should be as good as new by the time the mini-camp rolls around, and his back will be no more worry than any other rookie’s back.
Here is what has been written prior to the combine about his injury:
Utah Football’s Dalton Kincaid, considered one of the better tight end prospects in the NFL Draft, is dealing with an injury ahead of the Scouting Combine. Kincaid will not participate in drills at the Combine, sources told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
The Utah football star suffered a small fracture in his back, an injury he played through in the Utes’ Pac-12 Championship game win over USC.
Orthopedist Robert Watkins determined that surgery on Dalton Kincaid’s injury was not necessary.
Garafolo reports that the Utah football star will meet with teams at the NFL Draft Combine instead of doing anything on the field.
Fortunately for Kincaid, the injury likely won’t affect his NFL Draft stock, as the Utah football star is expected to be cleared in the next few weeks, as Garafolo notes.
Kincaid enjoyed a career year for Utah football in 2022, tallying 70 receptions for 890 yards and eight touchdowns in 12 games played. His standout season included a monstrous, 16-catch, 234-yard effort in an October win over USC.
Link:
https://clutchpoints.com/utah-football-news-utes-dalton-kincaid-nfl-draft-combine-injury
I would never trade for or draft any player that has a problem with discs.
