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Lingering concerns? Sports physician explains how prior injuries could affect Justin Fields’ NFL Draft stock

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

A lot of eyes are going to be on Justin Fields this week.

The former Ohio State quarterback has been the talk of the NFL Draft, as his stock seems to have plummeted from the consensus No. 2 overall selection on Thursday night to possibly slipping outside the Top 10. It’s been one of the strangest evaluations in recent memory.

Could prior injuries be playing a role in why the ex-Buckeye leader is falling out of some of the higher spots? FOX NFL injury analyst Matt Provencher weighed in on that possibility.

“The question teams should be asking is, ‘How healthy is Justin Fields?’ He suffered a rib injury in the BCS Playoffs against Clemson, where he sustained a mid-section helmet hit which resulted in a rib injury vs. a hip pointer combination,” Provencher said. “His dad said he was diagnosed with a hip pointer, and a hip pointer is when you look at your pelvis it’s at the top where the muscles come in. And these are your oblique muscles which come into the top of the hip, and with a direct hit or strain to this area causes a lot of bruising, a lot of pain, and subsequently a problem with your core strength because you just can’t clamp down, you can’t twist as well and you just can’t throw the ball as well in his position.

“In addition, he’s also had a right thumb sprain in the Big Ten Championship in December 2020. He sprained his left knee MCL at the end of the 2019 season before the Big Ten Championship, but he still won the Big Ten Championship, however, he lost that next game to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.”

Fields has endured quite a few injuries during his two seasons as a starter at Ohio State. But he still started in every game, compiled a 20-2 record and played well enough to be named a two-time B1G Offensive Player of the Year and earn a trip to New York in 2019 as a Heisman Trophy finalist.

What’s Fields’ status entering this year’s draft and how healthy will he be for NFL training camp? Provencher also talked about that.

“Well, his ribs should be nearly 100% healed,” Provencher said. “The hip pointer as well should be almost 100% healed but there’s always the risk of re-injury to this area especially after a prior blow to these body parts. These injuries should have minimal impact in his draft stock. He showed in his pro day running a 4.4-forty that he still has the Justin Fields’ speed and dual-threat capabilities, and he was strong and accurate with his throws. He definitely wasn’t himself during the National Championship but now he’s had time to recover and he will be ready to go for the start of OTA’s.

“I would rate Fields’ health as overall excellent and no-factor for the NFL Draft.”

It’s going to be interesting to see where Fields lands on Thursday night.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB