Cincinnati Bengals DE Sam Hubbard played through a more serious injury than the team realized last season, it turns out. On Monday, he revealed that he had a “complete deltoid reconstruction”, via Ben Baby of ESPN. He also had a tightrope procedure done to repair the ankle. Baby writes that the injury proved “more severe than was initially believed”.
The six-year veteran missed two games in the middle of last season because of the ankle injury. However, he returned to play in the final seven games, roughly the same amount, but less effectively. He had four sacks in the first eight games, for example, and only two in the final seven.
“I’m thankful that I made it out with no cartilage damage and stuff like that, but it’s all fixed”, Baby quotes Hubbard as saying. He added that they found out later “there was a lot of instability” in his ankle, necessitating more extensive surgery.
Via Baby, Hubbard says he felt bothered by the injury as early as training camp. The Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with a similar issue with Cameron Heyward just last season. A minor preseason injury turned into something much more serious after trying to play through it. He required in-season surgery and missed a number of weeks.
Notably, Hubbard also told reporters that in hindsight the injury “probably should have been fixed earlier”. You can point to team doctors for this, but the reality is this is true of many in-season injuries. Players generally want to put off surgeries until the offseason as long as they can still play. Hubbard managed to play through his ankle injury, which would have been impossible if he had surgery during the season.
A former third-round draft pick, Sam Hubbard has 36.5 career sacks for the Bengals and 357 tackles. He has been a regular starter since his second season in 2019, adding five forced fumbles and 14 passes defensed.
While he has never recorded double-digit sacks, which he set a goal for the 2023 season, Hubbard tends to rush the passer well. He has at least 17 quarterback hits in each of the past three seasons, for example. That he managed six in 2023 while playing through this ankle injury is commendable.
“I kind of wanted to just be out there and was doing the best I could”, Baby quotes Hubbard as saying. “I did want to burn that film from the back half of the year, but I’m going to get back to my old self. Got a long offseason of work ahead and I’m excited to be back with the guys”.
The article doesn’t mention a timeline for recovery, but he’ll presumably be ready for the season. The absence of ligament damage obviously plays in his favor, and we are still five months out from meaningful games.
