You are worried about pretty much a single concussion to a RB in college, when we have 2 QB's with past Knee injuries, our #1 WR has had knee issues, back issues and a concussion. Our starting RB has two blown knees, to go with the 1 Blown knee on our starting TE, and past knee issues on our #2 WR. A starting Safety has a microfracture injury to his knee. We just traded away a LB that came into the NFL with at least 4 documented concussion, yet he never had an issue in the NFL.

Concerns about him not having the longest career because he has a head start in the concussion game is semi understandable. But a single concussion doesn't make a trend without a trend there is no way to measure his career. Considering that our last three starting running backs were basically lost to us because of ACL tears, a concussion is whining. If you have a worry it should be that he has human legs and not robot legs.

First of all, I'm not worried about anything. I'm only pointing out that we drafted someone very high given some very reason concerns about his health and ability.

Secondly, he had more than "one concussion." His injury history is as follows:

Two, back-to back, concussions, and one wasn't minor; and

A hip injury that cost him the last 3 games of his freshman season and required surgery in '07; and

A foot and elbow surgery following the '08 season.

Sure, players get banged up, and players that were injured in college can come into the NFL and not get injured again (i.e. Peterson/Willie Mac). However, in the NFL where the average age of a career of a RB is about 5 years, it's cause for concern that we've spent a first round pick on Best, ESPECIALLY given his injury history, size, how those two play together, and possible rolls that he may have on this team (pass catching back, 3rd down back, PR/KR guy, etc.). We spent a first round pick on a smaller Rb that has an injury history, a limited roll on the team, and that is undersized.

They were back to back because he shouldn't have been back on the field so shortly after the first we are talking like a week a part. To me that is a single concussion not a trend of them. A big one but still 1. Now you want to bring up his injuries, cool. But I haven't heard really anyone in this thread talk about those. People paid attention to the concussions not the other ones. Like I said he will more then likely have retired due to knee troubles (whether or not he had previous injuries for them) long before the concussions become an issue if they ever do.

This point has already been discussed:



It doesn't matter how or why he received the 2nd concussion. The fact that he received it makes him more likely to get another one.

Ernie Sims and Troy Polamalu each had at least five concussions before entering the NFL. Concussions have not been a significant issue for either player in the NFL. It is too difficult to predict that any player will have issues with concussions based on past history. If the player is still suffering ill effects from a past concussion, that's a different matter. I think we can probably assume that Best was put through all the necessary neurological exams, which would be standard procedure, and came out OK. That's what happened to Sims and Polamalu, which is why they were both drafted high in spite of concussion history.

Show me a single running back that retired due to concussion issues and maybe we should be worried about that.

But he could have never had an injury before I still would be worried about his knees. We need Best because Smith lost his knees. Kevin Jones lost his knees twice. Stewart basically retired after his ACL tears. That's our last three starters.

Just to point out that the other injuries were brought up much earlier in this thread. The people trying to write off the injury history in general were the ones who focused on the concussions. I have seen no whining in this...just legitimate discussion. There are real concerns here. I agree that there are any number of players on the Lions with these concerns but that doesn't mean its a good idea to draft a RB that shares them. I think Best brings a good dynamic to the team and will be more excited if he has a bigger role than third down back. By all means lets talk about the good with him, but at least acknowledge the bad. That was the whole point in the first place.

True, but by my count, Best missed only three games in college due to injuries other than concussions. That sounds pretty normal for any football player. If it wasn't for the fact that his "big" concussion was all over ESPN highlight reels, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Why does everyone thing he's undersized? He's 5'10" and 200lbs. That's not small. Running backs have a shelf life of like 7 years max, anyway. If he's not going to be an every down workhorse then he'll have a better chance of staying healthy.

I think he'll be around 207 when the season gets goin

Ithink it is just because he looks smaller than that. He looks thin, though it is obvious that he is not.

I'm excited to see what this kid can do. I'd love to see him bust off a big run on his first carry and put the rest of the NFC North on notice real quick.

I'm less worried about Best than I was about Sims and he seemed to do pretty well while he was here. If Best is healthy and doesn't produce, it'll be worse than him actually producing and being hurt constantly. I'm just hoping he performs, whether he stays healthy all the time or not.

Health issues or not, I think he'll turn some heads pretty quickly this year. He's going to make a sharp cut or turn the corner on someone and take it to the house and everyone is going to say "what was that?" It's going to be nice having another big play option. Since Barry's been retired CJ is the only big play threat that the Lions have had.

Agree. He will probably be one of our best running backs outside of Barry that is.