Genesis Smith is a really good CFer. We could have had him over Rolder. The problem is Smith is a wretched tackler and that just won’t fly with us.
Can we just Shanghai Parker Meadows and take his knee and give it to Kerby?
I know one of you guys have woken up after a night in the Big City in a bathtub full of ice with a scar above your kidney….we need your skills!
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He got $36m guaranteed?
Send me two million and he can have one of mine.
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It’s the choice of words too. He’s been vocal about the team doing everything they can, and he’s done everything he can. It’s like he’s already writing the obituary and getting ahead of any potential blame game from fans or media. You don’t even have to read between the lines - Dan knows Kerby is done.
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I will say at least that safety is a position that players do come available at the deadline sometimes.
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it’s sad because I think his career is over. Them knees SHOT!!
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You guys are all-in on the worst-case scenario. I think you’re reading Dan’s ‘report’ on Kerby wrong.
I believe Dan when he says: he doesn’t know what they’ll have yet in Kerby.
We know he has a serious, chronic knee issue. Given their experience last year - setback after setback until they shut him down – I take him at his word: they’re taking an extremely conservative approach with the knee, and will take all the time they have to do what can be done until training camp.
Why would they stress-test it now, when they still have time to strengthen it and generally do the best they can to maximize Kerby’s chance of success come training camp and preseason? The question is whether the knee will hold up then.
Kerby’s experience last year makes it hard to be super optimistic about the future of that knee. But I didn’t hear Dan say anything to darken the clouds any further.
P.S. I also think that, even without Branch and Kerby, the safety room is better than many of you seem to think. We don’t just have a lot of bodies in there. We have guys who performed well last year.
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We can hope for the best but plan for the worst.
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Yeah man. Dan is too honest sometimes. I love that about him.
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I can see Kerby coming back slowly and playing Q#1 & Q#4.
He starts the game and sits for 2 quarters.
I’m even okay putting him on PUP for the 1st 4 games and ramp him up for the 2nd half of the season.
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You mean reality?
As soon as the reports came in last season that Kerby’s knee had a degenerative condition, I knew he was done. The Lions may try to dispute that its a cartilage issue, and that portion may be inaccurate, but how they are handling it shows it IS a degenerative condition. We can look at easy facts.
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They cannot perform surgery to address the issue. If it was a matter of surgery, he would’ve had it already.
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They have already tried to rest it as much as possible, but every time he tested it last year, his knee immediately swells up. This is what we saw all of last year. Remember, he was going to practice with a giant ass brace to try to play for the Dallas game in December. He didn’t make it a full practice, and the knee clearly blew up again. That’s when the Lions shut him down for the season.
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He has now had an entire offseason to rest, and yet they cannot put him on the field. That shows they have zero confidence that the knee has healed or that his condition has improved.
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Name one player ever, who had a knee injury that just magically got better with time and rest? It doesn’t happen. Gurley had a known degenerative knee problem and while he had a few very good years, the damage was done and he was out of the NFL very quickly for a player of his talents.
Use LaPorta as a good contrast. LaPorta had a significant back injury, and had surgery. Backs are also extremely tricky, and require a lot of rest and rehab. Chances are still high LaPorta may not be the player he was pre back injury. However, at OTA’s, the Lions have him out there working out with the team. Yes, he is taking it easy but that’s what we expect to see from a recovering player.
The most optimistic, pie in the sky scenario I have for Kerby is this. The Lions could try to sit him all camp and preseason, and then prep him for the regular season. That’s almost a full year of rest from the injury. Even then, I don’t see Kerby making it out of September. He will play, and may even play solid to well, but the knee will immediately swell up because it’s damaged, and Kerby will then be done for the season and career.
For the record, I think Brian Branch CAN come back from his achilles injury, but I do think it’s very likely his days of deep safety are over. Branch was never the swiftest player anyways, a big part of the reason he dropped, but he is very strong at working in space. I think Branch will eventually become a full time nickel corner, and there’s truly no shame in that. He played excellent in that position as a rookie and I get why they tried it, but I think it was a mistake moving him to deeper safety. Even if Branch didn’t have the achilles, I wanted to see him playing the role he played as a rookie which was let Kerby and Iffy play deep and let Branch rush and cover the middle.
Even if assume this is hypothetically possible and you are ok losing a gameday roster spot for a player who can only play half a game, I think you would have to sit him until after the half, warm him up in the 3rd quarter and then play him quarter 4. I think having him play early, then sit, would cause his knee to begin hurting and swell up.
If it was for a game like the Super Bowl or NFCCG, that’s how I would handle it anyways.
he’s done.
Joint looks jammed
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To be fair Dan has been very noncommittal about everything in the two press conferences so far.
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I assume they’ve tried to butter it, usually the first step.
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I do think it’s risky to read between the lines in what Dan says. Seems to me it could go either way and, like he said, we won’t know until he Kerby is ready to give it shot in camp. Doesn’t sound good but I will retain a tiny sliver of hope just for the sake of it.
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At least we put him back in that Kansas City game after he couldn’t walk last year.
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