Surgery for Crabtree Presents Low Risk

by: Mike Parker

The whirlwind of Combine news continues today with Mike Sando reporting that Michael Crabtree's injury is a Jones fracture, which is actually good news for the college standout's hopes in the draft. (Props to Sando for his A-level reporting of the Combine this week.)

A Jones fracture, as described here, is a type of injury that 89 percent of NFL football players in a study conducted from 1998-2002 have recovered from, with only 50 percent of those injuries being treated surgically.

Also, Crabtree has said that the injury will not bar him from running a 40-yard dash for NFL scouts before the draft, which only further implies that the injury is minor and shouldn't be a huge cause for alarm.

If Crabtree's 40 time is fast enough, it should instill a fair amount of confidence in GMs and coaches that he's worth the hype. If his time is slower than expected, it could prove quite the opposite. Either way, he could be the fastest man on earth and still not be able to run a proper route in professional football, or stay injury-free when guys like Brian Dawkins and Ed Reed are crashing at full-speed into his legs.

There is still a lot that remains to be seen, but I'm hopeful that Crabtree is still worthy of being taken at No.4 overall. Skepticism, however, is none the less necessary. -END-