06-05-2017, 12:40 PM
(06-05-2017, 10:44 AM)ochocincos Wrote: You're right in that Burfict hasn't played a full 16 game season since 2013. However, there are valid reasons that that was the case.
Obviously in 2014 he suffered his knee injury five games in and had to get the microfracture surgery, so he was out the rest of the season. It's obviously a very lengthy recovery time, so Burfict was placed on PUP to start the 2015 season. However, he returned after the minimum games missed (six) and played the remainder of the 2015 season. He only played 11 games last year, but he had to miss three games due to suspension, not because of injury. Only two games were missed from injury (concussion, missed last two games).
Eifert has suffered multiple concussions too, so the concussion thing is a wash between both.
There's also no guarantee that the microfracture surgery is a "ticking time bomb". Sure, there have been multiple athletes who have not been able to really have any career after the surgery (most notably Greg Oden) but there have been plenty others who have (Steve Yzerman, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Amare Stoudemire). In the NFL, Hall of Famer Bruce Smith played six more seasons following microfracture surgery. Both Burfict and Clowney had the surgery in 2014 but came back to play double digit games the following two seasons. So while there is obviously that risk of not fully regaining your pre-surgery abilities, you can't yet determine how long a player will be able to play on said surgery or how effective he/she will be post-surgery.
At this point, Burfict has not shown signs of issues with said surgically-repaired knee, so I say he deserves a 4-year contract extension that would make him a Bengal until he's 31.
I think the thing with Eifert is it always seems like it's one injury after another. If it's not a concussion, it's an ankle. If not that, it's his back. Yada yada yada. And it's felt more like he's been out at more critical moments. I still would like to see Eifert stay healthy for a 10-game stretch and perform well during that stretch. We've already seen that with Burfict the past two years. We haven't seen it with Eifert since his injury against the Steelers in 2015.
All true. My point though is that for some weird reason no one is asking Burfict to play a healthy year before talking contract. You can say with Eiffert it seems like one thing after another, but for Burfict it has been for the last couple years too. The concussion thing isn't a wash because Burfict literally hits people with his head multiple times every game, it is not a requisite of Eifert's game to hit someone with his head every game. Not saying either should have to play a year first or not, just saying it is weird that Burfict's lengthy injury history is being somewhat ignored in this discussion.
My personal opinion though is both need to be resigned, and in both cases there should be some incentive tied to games played.
