After tweaking some rules in an effort to make the game safer, the NFL is reporting a “significant drop” in player-missed games in 2023, along with a decline in lower-body injuries, according to a report from NFL.com’s Judy Battista Friday morning.
According to the NFL’s numbers, player-missed games were down nearly 700 total though concussions were slightly up, increasing from 213 in 2022 to 219 in 2023.
However, the league is focusing on the 29% decrease in lower-body injuries such as strains and ligament tears.
“The primary driver of the decrease was the league hitting a four-year low in the number of lower extremity strains — there was a 29 percent decrease in strains during training camp. And with fewer initial strains, there was a 50 percent decline in recurrent lower extremity strains,” Battista writes.
That 29% decrease during training camp and 50% decline in recurring injuries is rather eye-opening, considering the changes the league has made in the name of player safety. There is now a ramp-up period in training camp over two weeks that has played a significant role in the decrease in those types of injuries, according to the NFL’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills.
According to Stills, per Battista’s reporting, lower=extremity strains keep players off the field more than any other injury in the NFL.
Along with those lower-body injuries, the NFL saw a 24% decrease in ACL tears on the season. That’s good news as those are devastating, season-ending injuries. The Pittsburgh Steelers had to deal with two ACL injuries this season as rookie cornerback Cory Trice Jr. suffered a torn ACL on the first day of pads in training camp while veteran linebacker Cole Holcomb tore his ACL in Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, ending his season.
Though concussions increased in 2023, the NFL is still encouraged by some of the new rules put in place to promote player safety, especially the changing of the rules on kickoffs, allowing returners to signal fair catch and get the ball at the 25-yard-line. On kickoffs, the league saw a decrease in concussions from 20 last season to just eight this season. That said, according to Battista’s reporting, that decline was due to the frequency in which kickoffs were returned — just 22% last season.
“When there were returns, there were concussions, league officials said,” Battista writes, according to NFL.com.
The NFL is going to continue to tweak the kickoff return. Though league officials don’t want to eliminate such an exciting play entirely, they are going to try and come to a compromise to not only make the play safer but increase the number of times returns are made in games.
“We believe that you can increase the return rate substantially and not increase the risk beyond that found on your typical rush or pass play,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president overseeing health and safety, said regarding the kickoff and the league’s view on it. “And so we need to design something to do that. I think we share the same perspective as the committee, which is to say that’s the goal. And we want to make that an exciting, fun play because kickoffs can be and yet extract the pieces of that play that provide the most risk.”
It will be a busy offseason for the NFL when it comes to making additional tweaks in an effort to make the game safer. That will include a focus on the hip-drop tackle, too, which was a play that once again showed a significant increase in chance of injury occurring. Per Battista’s reporting, NFL data shows the hip-drop tackle is 20 to 25 percent more likely to cause injury than a typical tackle.
A busy offseason lies ahead for the NFL. While the league saw some significant decreases in injuries across the board, there is still more work to be done in an effort to make the game safer.
