The medical professionals guiding your fantasy football teams
Take for example Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was sidelined after being tackled by a Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman in Week 2.
The video of how he was injured wasn’t immediately clear, leading Morse to think about a host of questions: “Was he walking?” [after getting hurt]? Was he on a scooter? Which foot was it? How did this happen? Was it contact? Was it contactless? Does he have an injury history regarding this specific injury or area of the body? Then from there you reduce the amount of injuries you can take in that area.
Initially, Morse wrote that it was a “left toe injury” that was a “turf toe fracture versus toe fracture versus toe dislocation.” It ended up being the first. Morse later said he “expected Joe Burrow to be out at least four weeks, but [the injury could be] potentially the end of the season. After Burrow had surgery, Morse wrote that “there is a small chance he could return in December.”
Burrow returned to the field against the Baltimore Ravens on November 27.
While fans crave instant information, doctors say they aim to not rush a diagnosis.
“You don’t want to jump in as fast as you can and make a mistake,” Christ said. “You want to be known for your accuracy. So I personally prefer to take my time and really evaluate the video and then express my thoughts.'”
Dr. Nithin Natwa, a board-certified sports medicine physician who now works at an urgent care facility in Chicago, said specific language is essential. It’s best for professionals to never say that a player has an exact injury or will be out for a while, as they ultimately give their best guesses.
“It’s really important to be measured in the language you use and just say, ‘These are possible outcomes, and it seems like it’s more likely to be this one, but without imaging results or a physical exam, it could definitely be one of those less serious cases.’ I try to give all available options.
Although they strive to be as accurate as possible, some other medical professionals say they are unsure whether the standard is met.
Stephania Bell is considered a pioneer in the field. Bell, ESPN’s senior writer and injury analyst, joined ESPN in the fall of 2007 after more than 17 years as a physical therapist and orthopedic clinical specialist. At that time, very few (if any) medical professionals wrote or spoke on television about sports injuries.
She first found inspiration from the members of her fantasy league.
“The guys I played fantasy football with knew (I was dealing with athletes) and asked me questions all the time, and that’s how I started to realize the information was probably marketable,” she said. “And I saw fantasy football growing.”
Today, she is considered one of the most trusted injury experts in sports media, co-hosting the popular “Fantasy Focus Football” podcast and making regular television appearances. However, the only place you won’t find it is on social media, which gives instant injury predictions.
Because she doesn’t have access to any imagery and doesn’t examine a player in person, she prefers to wait for a team to release an official update or for one of ESPN’s many “insiders” to provide the latest.
Being right matters more to her than being first.
“The doctors who cover the teams don’t like it when people falsify these diagnoses,” she said. “They’re frustrated because they’re like, ‘I can tell you how much more is involved in being there, and we still don’t always know that.’ So I understand there’s an appetite for quick information, but for me, in my professional life, that’s just not where I’m going to live.
Dr. Christopher Cooke went even further. Cooke, an orthopedic surgeon outside Detroit who was a team doctor with the Tigers and a consultant for the Red Wings, said fans should be skeptical of what they see online.
“There are a lot of armchair doctors making comments,” he said. “I don’t want to sound too loud, I don’t think the majority of them really know what’s going on.”
Cooke was completing a five-year residency in orthopedic surgery, followed by a one-year fellowship in sports medicine at Kerlan Jobe Medical Center in Los Angeles. This is where ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction – or Tommy John surgery – was first performed.
Cooke said experience is necessary to be able to properly diagnose an injury. Otherwise, health professionals are “disadvantaged.”
“They don’t have five years to study the body. They don’t have the hands-on experience. They’ve never held an ACL in their hand while they were rebuilding it. This is someone who could definitely play a role, but they’re not an expert in the field.”
“There are only so many people I really trust what they say,” he later said. “And often these people online don’t have the training to make the right comments, but they have enough knowledge to just say something. Often, in my opinion, they are very wrong.”
Although most are extremely cautious when making a diagnosis, specifically stating that a certain injury or timeline is “possible” or “probable,” sometimes medical professionals miss the mark.
After Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson suffered a knee injury on September 25, Natwa took to Instagram and said he was expected to return in five to seven weeks. Instead, two months later, the team announced that he would not return this season at all.
Dr. Tarek Souryal is an orthopedic surgeon who served as a longtime team physician for the Dallas Mavericks. While he agreed with Cooke that some online doctors may not have the proper credentials — and urged fans to be wary of diagnoses made from video alone — they are knowledgeable enough for what they’re being asked to give.
“If I only used video to operate on Kobe Bryant, it would be extremely dangerous and frankly malpractice,” Souryal said. “However, if I watch a video and say, ‘I think he ruptured his Achilles tendon, that’s what the video shows, and I wouldn’t count on him coming back in the next four to six months,’ I don’t think there’s any harm in making that kind of speculation.”
Colts quarterback Daniel Jones has arguably been the biggest surprise early in the NFL season. Jones, once the longtime signal caller for the New York Giants, led Indianapolis to an 8-2 start and generated MVP buzz early on. But injuries in recent weeks caused his play to decline, and things got worse on Sunday: He suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury.
Shortly after the match, Natwa took to Instagram for a full video.
“We see him take a false step backwards,” he said, pointing to a slow-motion replay. “That’s where you start to push back and your ankle is placed at an extremely acute angle, which really loads the Achilles tendon. As you push, the Achilles tendon is at increased risk of rupture.”
Natwa said he didn’t just want to give an injury label and a timeline. Its goal is to educate with longer videos, although it may take more work. He spends approximately 36 hours per week analyzing football-related injuries.
This brought him some fame, but not in his own home.
“A guy saw me at a cafe where we live and he recognized me,” he said. “He said to me, ‘Oh, man, you’re the fantastic doctor.’ And [my wife was] like, “Oh my God, is this that fantasy football thing that no one watches? And the guy at the coffee shop said, “No, no. We all watch it. We watch his videos. She was so bored.
Evan Jeffries, a San Diego-based physical therapist who treats injuries in all sports, not just football, has a little more sympathy from his family.
“My kids think it’s funny. They love it,” he said. “They think I’m famous and I tell them I’m definitely not.”
For Morse — who says he makes an average of $25,000 to $50,000 a year analyzing football injuries — money isn’t the reason he does it.
“I’m a fantasy fan first, then I’m a doctor, then I’m a sports medicine specialist. I’m just crazy about it. If you’re not, you don’t have time to do this,” he said. “If you were to call a random sports doctor [or] orthopedic surgeon and said, “Hey, what happened to Jayden Daniels yesterday?” There will be people like, “What are you talking about?” »
