Oakland Raiders Shouldn’t Count Jaylon Smith Out

Nerve Damage not as Severe as Lattimore’s

There are varying degrees of nerve damage to the knee and it’s generally relative to the damage to the knee. In other words, the worse your injury, the greater chance you have of suffering nerve damage. And if you have nerve damage, the amount of nerve damage is still relative to how bad the injury is.

Dr. Andrews, also Adrian Peterson’s surgeon, said of Lattimore’s injury, “That was about as bad an injury as you’ll ever see in football. Once inside the knee, one of Marcus’ tendons was so obliterated, it had the appearance of spaghetti. We had to figure out what went where, it was so torn up.”

Smith’s surgeon, Dr. Dan Cooper, said, ” I’m optimistic that his knee itself will be stable and a good knee and he’ll get all his strength back. And I also think he has a very good chance of getting his nerve recovery back. The lateral damage stretched Smith’s nerve enough to make it go to sleep, but it wasn’t stretched enough to be structurally elongated or visually very damaged.

This is the most important information we can get in regards to comparing Smith’s injury to Lattimore’s. Tell me how bad the nerve damage is and I’ll tell you if the player can get back on the field. How well a person heals also counts but all torn ligaments and stretched nerves aren’t created equally.

Next: Possibilities and Timetable to get Back