OTA injuries reflect poorly on strength staff

Dennis Pitta’s career very well may be done if it proves that he dislocated and fractured his hip for a third time in four years.
Maybe at this point, the Ravens need to take a deep, hard look at their strength and conditioning staff and process. While Dennis Pitta has dealt with an injury to his hip for quite some time and has missed about two full seasons because of it, the number of injuries the Ravens have been suffering over the past few seasons is cause for concern. Even more worrisome is the number of severe injuries happening in non-contact drills during OTAs.
In back-to-back days in the second week of the team’s OTAs the Ravens lost cornerback Tavon Young for the season with a torn ACL and now fear the worst with another injury to Pitta’s same hip that has been devastatingly injured before. If is believed that Pitta’s career is probably over after suffering a third injury to the same hip.
Michael Campanaro was also injured. Again, these are all in non-contact drills. In 2015, first round draft pick Breshad Perriman suffered what proved to be a season-ending injury in OTAs.
When factoring in the terrible injury history of players like Campanaro, Jimmy Smith, Lorenzo Taliaferro, Max Williams, Crockett Gillmore, Benjamin Watson, it might be time to look at what is really going on.
And it’s not just a worry about a handful of injury-prone players. Each of the past four seasons the Ravens have had to deal with a litany of injuries. In 2015, the secondary was so beat up they had to start guys they signed off the street. The offensive line never seems to be able to hold three of the same starters throughout the entire season anymore. Last year third round draft pick Bronson Kaufusi was on injured reserve from the first day of training camp, second round draft pick Kamalei Correa joined him on injured not too long later. Willie Henry also dealt the injuries. Carl Davis and Brent Urban have dealt with serious injuries that have prevented them from getting on the field much either. Former project defensive lineman DeAngelo Tyson showed promise but had his run with the team ended because of injuries.
It seems just a bit too coincidental that so many defensive linemen and tight ends and defensive backs and receivers just keep getting hurt.
Football is a violent game, and the hard crashing of 200 and 250-plus pound men running into each other at full speed is going to weaken player’s bodies. Maybe guys have to keep their bodies in better shape in the offseason to be able to better endure simple running and falling on the grass early this year.
Corey Johns
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