Eagles Make a Much Needed Change to Their Medical Staff
It’s no secret there was significant frustration with the staggering amount of injuries the Eagles suffered last season. Now, the Eagles are making changes to their medical staff in an effort to cut down on the number of their players getting hurt.
Just last season, the Eagles attempted to make the transition from their old medical staff and hired a new medical team. Just one year later, the head of the group, head team physician and internist Stephen Stache, has been relieved of his duties. This move seems to be a signal of things to come for the medical staff.
Stache’s replacement will be Arsh Dhanota, who will serve as the team’s chief medical officer. Dhanota will now be tasked with the all-important duty of keeping the team’s best players healthy and on the field.
Over the last two seasons, the Eagles have been one of the hardest-hit teams in the NFL when it comes to injuries. In 2017, the Eagles witnessed Carson Wentz (torn ACL & LCL), Jason Peters (torn ACL & MCL), Darren Sproles (broken arm & torn ACL), most notably, be lost for the season due to injury. The slew of injuries caused the Eagles to hire new medical staff in 2018, which was a fairly surprising move considering the team was just coming off of a Super Bowl victory.
Over the course of three months, the Eagles hired Jerome Reid as head trainer, and they also hired Cristopher Dodson, along with Stache. Dodson and Stache’s biggest move was creating the position of director of rehabilitation, and they hired Shireen Mansoori to fill that position.
There was hope the sudden changes would bring the Eagles some good fortune with their injury troubles, but instead, the opposite happened. The Eagles witnessed a 50% increase of injuries in 2018, and the injuries significantly hindered the team from reaching it’s second-straight Super Bowl.
Wentz returned week 3 from his knee injury, which was after his targeted date of return, but even a week 3 return received some scrutiny as being too soon. Wentz played solid in his return, putting up similar numbers to the previous season, which was nearly won him MVP, but it was clear he wasn’t the same player.
Over the course of the season, Wentz had some struggles with back stiffness, causing him to be limited in a few practices, but the team insisted they were just managing his workload. After the week 14 loss in Dallas, Wentz did not participate in the teams first practice of the week. It was the first time Wentz had missed an entire practice, and the alarms were quickly sounded.
The injury quickly transitioned from being labeled as back stiffness, to a fractured vertebra. The injury forced Wentz to miss the remainder of the season, but it was a problem that could have been avoided. Wentz reportedly suffered the injury within the first few weeks of his return, but the team failed to detect it, despite taking frequent x-rays in the region.
Wentz’s injury was the most notable, but he was far from the only one on the team who experienced difficulties with the medical staff.
Sproles was kept out of all preseason games, but in the team’s Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sproles received a very large workload. Sproles caught five passes on seven targets, while also carrying the ball five times, and he even returned three punts as well. 13 touches don’t jump off the page, but it’s more than what a player coming off of a significant knee injury, who hadn’t played in any game action prior, should receive.
Sproles missed the next 10 games due to a hamstring injury. At one point, the team reported that Sproles would begin practicing again, but he was rushed back too soon, causing him to have a setback.
The Eagles also watched another running back, Jay Ajayi, struggle with staying healthy. Ajayi suffered a back injury in week 2, causing him to miss one game. Then, in week 5, Ajayi suffered a season-ending torn ACL.
Then, there is the case of Mack Hollins. Hollins underwent sports hernia surgery during the offseason, but he was expected to be ready for training camp. Instead, Hollins and any updates on his status fell off the face of the Earth, and he inexplicably missed the entire season.
On the offensive line, Peters (torn bicep), Isaac Seumalo (pec injury), Jason Kelce (broken foot, partially torn MCL, torn elbow ligaments), Brandon Brooks (torn Achilles), and Lane Johnson (sprained MCL), all dealt with their fair share of injuries.
Second-year defensive end Derek Barnett was lost for the season due to a torn rotator cuff, and in the secondary, Ronald Darby (torn ACL), Rodney McLeod (torn ACL & MCL) and Jalen Mills (foot), were all lost for the season. Sidney Jones also missed multiple weeks due to a hamstring injury.
The list of key injuries the Eagles suffered last season is never-ending. Even this season, the Eagles are experiencing some injury trouble early on with one of their most coveted young players. Miles Sanders, who was selected in the second round of this year’s draft by the Eagles, missed all of OTAs due to a hamstring injury, and he now has been ruled out from participating in the team’s mandatory minicamp this week.
Being able to get rookies on the field with the already-tenured players is key, and missing a player like Sanders, who is viewed as the running back of the future, is a big hit. Sanders will have the luxury of picking the brain of running back coach Duce Staley, so all is not lost, but field time is what’s most important for Sanders. With training camp more than a month away, it will be a long time before the team will be able to see Sanders on the field.
The first goal of Dhanota, as the teams lead physician, will be to ensure Sanders’ health and that he is able to get back on the field both safely and in a timely fashion.
In order to be successful, the Eagles need their best players to be healthy enough to be on the field, and that duty starts with their medical staff.
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