Admittedly, I’m not a professional athlete.

However, when I first dislocated my shoulder in ‘01, I tore the labrum. It’s a partial tear. The main effect was to make the shoulder more likely to come out again, and I had a loose shoulder for six years, until I blew it out again.

I had surgery last year to tighten up the joint. I’ve lost some mobility, but it doesn’t feel like it’ll come out any more.

You don’t lose strength, or anything crazy like that. But it does make you want to protect the shoulder, and it increases the chance of further injury. Yeah, a labrum tear isn’t the end of the world, but it’s not good, either, and if he has surgery to correct the problem, then I suspect he’ll be gone for the rest of the year.

Looking at them; both Patrick Kerney and Julian Peterson are as impressive physically as anyone in the NFL and as ridiculously fit as they come.

What makes Peterson a lot less likely to be broken down by injury than Kerney??

Athleticism?

Injury (Achilles vs Chest,Shoulder)?

Nature of position?

as for the signing itself, Kerney has been playing at a high level this year. He’s playing a lot like he did last year. So at least we’re not seeing the rapid decline in skill. A labrum tear for a non-pitcher isn’t necessarily the kind of repetitive stress injury you usually associate with an aging player. It might just as easily have been Spencer on his way to Birmingham and I doubt any of us would be all that surprised if it were. Trufant has had his share of shoulder problems in his younger day as well.

To his credit, Ruskell has drafted for the future at DE. Unfortunately, developmental clocks are notoriously unpredictable. Baraka Atkins and Lo-Jack are still taking their lumps (though both look solid), while Tapp has shown glimpses of real pass rush ability but has yet to develop much game to game consistency.

You’d be a fuckin god in the sports world. Every big-name athlete who got injured would owe you big time.